Ladies - How many pounds for YOU to lose a pants size?

About 15 pounds for me. I wear jrs. They just fit better. At 5'5 155 I wear a 9. Misses are just way to big in the hips and legs. However some jeans like Silver jeans are numbered by waist size and have several different designs like tuesday jeans and suki. I find a better fit with this brand.

I have lost 27 pounds and have gone down one size. My stomach apparently doesn't know I have lost so much weight.

I think I'm in the minority here because of how high my start weight was. That being said, at my highest of 380+ lbs I was wearing a very tight 26 jeans. I was likely a 28, but I just wore sweat pants and rarely left the house rather than face the shame of buying the next size up.
Now I am 110lbs down from that (274lbs) I only just started to feel comfortable wearing a 24.
I've lost around 13 inches from my hips.
Also, I'm 5'6.5 tall

Phoenix_Down wrote: »

The less you have to lose, the more significant of a difference in jean size you'll see with less weight loss. I mean, it will depend on genetics on how fat loss is distributed but it seems that way.

I think you are right. I started with 12 lbs to lose. I'm normally a size 8 but with the extra weight I could only wear a size 10 or my size 8s that have lots of stretch to them. Lost 5 lbs so far and the size 10s look too baggy in the thighs and waist. So I'm back in a size 8 but still have about 7 lbs to go before I fit in my "happy pants" they are a cotton Capri that zip on the side and have a flat front. They are the type Mary Tyler Moore used to wear in the dick van *kitten* show--just SERIOUSLY dated myself. I have them in 5 different colors in the back of my closet. I've never gotten more compliments on a piece of clothing in my life than when I fit in those.
Thing is, when I fit into them I wasn't just my happy weight of 140 at 5'9", but I was the workout queen and was tight and toned. Don't know if I'll ever look that good in them again,but on the days that I want to give up on the workouts and clean eating I go pull out a pair of them for motivation and get my azzz to work!

I want to say about 10, but it's nonsense. Sizing is so messed up for everything. I guess it might even out to about 10 now. When I was heavier it required much more weight loss. Then again, when I was heavier, I wore a lot of pants with elastic waistbands.

At least 10 pounds. I'm at a point now where I might be able to drop a size in 5 pounds though. Makes a bigger difference under 130.

Of the 53 lbs I lost I went from a 22 to a 16...

I've lost 54lbs and only lost 2-3 (depending on the brand) sizes. I'm 5'10"

5'9". I wore a size 22/20 at 270 lbs. Today I'm 18/16 and 215. So 2 dress sizes in 55 lbs. Kinda matches up with what I'm seeing a lot of folks here.

As has been pointed out, small sizes are spaced together a lot closer. Also, they're based on circumference, but they're really measuring cross-sectional area. So
Area = π* (radius)²
Circumference = 2 * π * radius

Using US Standard size clothing,
So there's been a change in the area of 6.625 inches²


Now looking at the sizes 18 and 20 (top of the ASTM D5585 11e1, 2011)

Between Size 18 and 20 there is a change of 14.968 inches²

Now go up to the upper end of Lane Bryant's catalogue and look at the difference in a 30 and a 32:


Between Size 18 and 20 there is a change of 18.790 inches²

Obviously in a 3 dimensional human being, that change in internal area on a single cross-section, multiplied by all the cross-sections in a body, would mean you would have to lose a LOT more weight to effect a size reduction, because dress sizes are not equal in volume changes. At all.

I'm 5'8 and went from 341 to 326, dropped 2 scrub pant sizes and 1 jeans pant size. I hold most of my weight in my gut and thighs.

tomteboda wrote: »

5'9". I wore a size 22/20 at 270 lbs. Today I'm 18/16 and 215. So 2 dress sizes in 55 lbs. Kinda matches up with what I'm seeing a lot of folks here.

As has been pointed out, small sizes are spaced together a lot closer. Also, they're based on circumference, but they're really measuring cross-sectional area. So
Area = π* (radius)²
Circumference = 2 * π * radius

Using US Standard size clothing,

Size 4
Circumference = 36.375 inches
Radius = 5.792 inches
Area = 105.338 inches²

Size 6
Circumference = 37.5 inches
Radius = 5.971 inches
Area = 111.963 inches²

So there's been a change in the area of 6.625 inches²


Now looking at the sizes 18 and 20 (top of the ASTM D5585 11e1, 2011)

Size 18
Circumference = 46 inches
Radius = 7.325 inches
Area = 168.471 inches²

Size 20
Circumference = 48 inches
Radius = 7.643 inches
Area = 183.439 inches²

Between Size 18 and 20 there is a change of 14.968 inches²

Now go up to the upper end of Lane Bryant's catalogue and look at the difference in a 30 and a 32:

Size 30
Circumference = 58 inches
Radius = 9.236 inches
Area = 267.834 inches²

Size 32
Circumference = 60 inches
Radius = 9.554 inches
Area = 286.624 inches²

Between Size 18 and 20 there is a change of 18.790 inches²

Obviously in a 3 dimensional human being, that change in internal area on a single cross-section, multiplied by all the cross-sections in a body, would mean you would have to lose a LOT more weight to effect a size reduction, because dress sizes are not equal in volume changes. At all.

That's really interesting - I wonder if it works like that here in the uk. I'm off to compare clothes sizes here - and am hoping that I'm much closer to my goal size than I thought!

I dropped 2 sizes after 15 pounds. Started lifting weights seriously and dropped five pounds and another pants size. Squats make you drop sizes faster!!

I lost 15 pounds, no change to size. Lost another 1.5 pounds and suddenly down two sizes. Which makes me think it may be random. :-)

Today! I'm wearing 32 Hudson skinnies which would be a 12/14 I think and they are almost falling down around my knees when I walk. No need to unbutton or unzip! And belts aren't working great because I can't seem to cinch them tight enough. MFP says I've lost 10.5 but it's probably closer to 15 because I started with a janky scale giving me inconsistent weights. I think it changes about every 15 or so for me...

About 6kgs or 12 lbs for every clothes size down. I went from around 78 to 60 kgs, and size 16 to 10 UK sizes.