What is a typical pant size for a woman whose 145 lb?

unawind · March 2016

Depends. Are you a muscular and trim 145? Or a skinny fat 145?

MissMonicaC4 · March 2016

When I was 145 I wore approx a 5 or 6. I am more of a curvy petite stature if that make sense. And around 5'2...

lmflorhy · March 2016

I was a pants size 7 and height 5'4. I was OK with my weight then. Need to go back

. I need 35 lbs to drop since my tremendous pregnancy weight gain

WakkoW · March 2016

augustremulous wrote: »

Vanity sizing is just getting out of control these days. I'm 228 pounds and wear a size 16. When I was 185 pounds and inches smaller i wore a 16 too.

Back when I was 140 I was a size 10, but with vanity sizing these days that might end up being much smaller.

There's generally less vanity sizing with more expensive clothes, too.

Maybe this thread will be around for another 5 years and we can continue to see the downward trend in sizes.

I'm 5'4. 15 years ago I was an 6-10 at 135 pounds (higher number for more expensive stuff).

Today I range from 0-6. I weigh 142.

tomteboda · March 2016

Nice necro. Actually I mean that as a compliment because there's something to be gained from this thread.

I love this image. It shows several women who are all 150 lbs.

In America, the sizing standards have been adjusted several times over the last 80 years because they want to make clothing that *most* women can buy. They're interested in selling clothes. I'm not saying vanity sizing isn't real; what I mean is that the government, private, and ASTM standards have changed significantly so you cannot compare clothing sizes directly without consulting the change to say whether an item is "vanity" sized or follows the ASTM rules.

There were significant problems with the way clothing sizes were standardized for women in the 1930s by Woolworth's. This standard was revised in the 1950s by the Department of commerce but relied (as did the 1930s sample) almost entirely on poor white women.. who wore corsets!. Obviously this was a serious problem for clothing fit not long after as the corset went into the annals of fashion history.

It was revised again in 1971, but this time they used women in the military (and we all know highly athletic 18-21 year olds are a widely representative sample!). Thus standard sizes remained problematic as many women simply didn't fit clothing well. The 1995 revision corrected some of those problems and the 2011 revision included women of more than one ethnicity for the first time ever. Sizing for women's clothing is challenging because we have a lot more variation in our body shapes than men do, and most clothing manufacturers choose one body type that they will design for. And then you add onto that deliberately "sizing down" clothes and you have what is the well-known guesswork of women's clothing. Or just randomly sizing things as this wonderful image from the New York Times (April 2011) shows:

This is not a uniquely American problem. In 2008, the government of Spain surveyed and measured thousands of women and determined that a full 40% of the women had difficulty purchasing any clothes due to the rigid sizing and exclusionary shape of the standards.

Some interesting reading:

"Sizing Up America" (New York Times, March 2004)
"Why Clothing Sizes Make No Sense" (Slate, January 2012)

texasf1ght · March 2016

This thread is so interesting!! I'm 5'4" 1/4 and I also have a goal weight of 145. I'm currently 169 and wearing size 10 in pants. When I started out I was 220 and wore a size 16.

girlwithcurls2 · March 2016

So... anywhere between a size 4 to a 14. Hope that was helpful

augustremulous · March 2016

So I guess the lesson learned from this thread is to look at the size chart of the individual brand and figure it out by inches, not dress size.

Still hard for people like me, who gain weight in their middles ie apples. My problem is that to get a size that's big enough in the waist, I have to buy pants that are huge and saggy in the hips.

vegasleo79 · March 2016

At 145 I was a size 6. I'm 5'8 and have a "spread out evenly" type of build.

sugaraddict4321 · March 2016

Great thread. I gave up on trying to be a certain size for just this reason. It makes no sense and we ladies put enough pressure on ourselves as it is. I have pants that range from sizes 10-18 that each fit nicely, and tops that range from M to XL. I head for the middle range of 14-16 and L to start with and then adjust up or down depending on the brand and style or cut. No one knows or cares what the tag says anyway. Buy what you want, as long as you're comfy and the clothes fit properly.

pandabear_ · March 2016

I would wait until you're at that weight and can try stuff on.

I have never lost pants/trousers size ever. I've consistently been a size 12 when I was at 125 lbs or at 150 lbs... My bum just doesn't want to lose weight. Only my size in skirts/dresses changed from a UK 12 to an 8.

kristen6350 · March 2016

It will greatly depend on how tall you are and what your shape is like. I'm 5'11, 153 and wear an 6/8. My Mom is close to 150, 5'4 and wears an 8.

VintageFeline · March 2016

I'm very compact, which I can't complain about. Currently 172lbs ish and UK12-14/US8-10 with things still big in the waist at the lower size due to my bust/waist/hip ratio. 145-50 at 5'5 is about my goal and the upper end of the healthy BMI chart. If my current size is anything to go by I expect to be about an 8 (US4) which is pretty darn small for that weight! I knew I was smaller for my weight than most but I didn't think I was that much of an outlier until these forums.

Moral of the story? Get onto resistance training ASAP, I was a gymnast and dancer so had good base musculature that kept me smaller for my weight and reigniting those muscles since losing weight only highlights just how much good it can do.

hoorayselma · March 2016

145 at 5-2" size 8-10

Francl27 · March 2016

Depends on height, shape, genetics, and brand, lol.

I'm 5'5" and 136 pounds and I wear a 6. They're loose on the butt and thighs, but I have a large waist so they give me a bit of a muffin top still (but everything does, even if I can take it off without unbuttoning it. So weird). 8s are just too loose. That's Lee brand... I don't really buy much else so I can't compare (I think I have an Old Navy size 2 somewhere that fits fine though). Otherwise, I wear a S.

I'm guessing that in Europe I'd be a medium at least, as I have a medium/large frame.

Paiger816 · March 2016

5' 8" and at 145 I was a size 4. I'm about 5 lbs away from that right now. 6's are getting big, but 4's are still a little tight. It 100% depends on your height and body type though.