Confusing experience after losing some weight

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jacki865
jacki865 Posts: 122 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Im 5;2 This is my second go around at weightloss. Last time I lost about 30lbs when I was in high school. I originally started at 170 and dropped down to 140. I wore a large in shirts and an 11-13 in pants.

Since high school I eventually gained up to 235 which is an xl in shirts and 16 in pants and now I am trying to lose again. I have lost about 25 lbs and 3 inches off my waist and hips and now I'm at 211. I can't really notice the change in myself until I went clothes shopping with some friends and realized I am large in shirts now. Im still the same height and I am still a 16 in pants though they fit me better. How am I a large in shirts at 211 and at 140? I was wondering if anyone has had a similar experience or confusion in their weightloss journey?

Replies

  • RobD520
    RobD520 Posts: 420 Member
    edited March 2016
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    I am not sure how long ago H.S. was for you. Having lost weight over different decades I found that (5'5.5'' male) that the max weight in which I could wear 36 jeans was around ~180 in 1988 and ~205 in 2012. Some of it could be explained by the fact that I have "filled out" over the time, and so have greater muscle weight. But my sense is that 36 pants are a bit roomier these days.
  • mitch16
    mitch16 Posts: 2,113 Member
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    Vanity sizing. Sizes nowadays are much larger than they used to be in the past (hence the emergence of size 00 and 000). I have some size 8 pants from four years ago that are similar in size to some size 4 pants that I recently purchased--both fit me about the same. If you want to hear something really crazy, I still have a size 12 skirt from the Gap that's about 20 years old. It fit me well when I purchased it (at the time I weighed about 124 pounds). I weigh about 10 pounds more than that now, and now I wear a size 6 at the Gap usually. Size also varies from brand to brand and even within the same brand (even within the same style sometimes!).
  • missyfitz1
    missyfitz1 Posts: 93 Member
    edited March 2016
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    It all depends on your overall body composition and how clothes fit you in general. SML-fitting clothes are intended to cover quite a range of sizes. When I went from 205 pounds to 145 pounds, I was constantly changing pants sizes (from a 16 down to a 6), but I was a large for shirts only at the very high end of my weight and a medium basically from 200 down to 145. At the low end I could have worn a small in some things based on the fit of the shoulders and waist, but the girls sometimes got in the way. :)
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,011 Member
    edited March 2016
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    Was the shirt made by the same company in the same factory on the same day? If not, it's not you, it's the shirt.

    Women's clothing sizing is ridiculous. I have two size 18 capris made by the same company, bought in the same year, from the same store - the first one fit me when I was 30 pounds heavier and I am just now getting into the second one, which I had ordered online, and is a different style capri from the first, which should not have made a difference.

    I am no where near the same size underwear across brands.
  • minizebu
    minizebu Posts: 2,716 Member
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    Sizes vary widely between manufacturers, and sometimes even within the same brand, but in different styles.

    And, what someone above posted about vanity sizing is very true.

    I'm also 5'2", but I'm much older than you. When I started college, I remember wearing a size 12 jean. At the time, I think I weighed somewhere on the order of 117 pounds. Right now, I weigh around 147 pounds, but I'm wearing a size 6 jean. Go figure.
  • KorvapuustiPossu
    KorvapuustiPossu Posts: 434 Member
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    I'm same height as you, 139 lbs and wear XS or S shirts depending on the brand. I do however carry most of the extra weight in my thick legs :D
  • murp4069
    murp4069 Posts: 494 Member
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    I'd agree with a lot of the above, sizing has changed a lot even over just the last 8-10 years. I am wearing a size 8 in pants now, and I could never have fit into an 8 in HS (and I tried!), even though I'm about 20 lbs heavier now than I was then.

    I'm also going down to a size small in some shirts. I don't think I've been a size "small" since like middle school. I was not overweight in HS and still wore a medium. But women's clothes, at least in my observations, have gotten a lot roomier since then.
  • equinones86
    equinones86 Posts: 4 Member
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    A lot of it has to do with vanity sizing. Plus I find the juniors dept runs smaller so if you were shopping there as a teen and now have moved on to women's clothes, the cuts and measurements would be different...
  • equinones86
    equinones86 Posts: 4 Member
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    mitch16 wrote: »
    Vanity sizing. Sizes nowadays are much larger than they used to be in the past (hence the emergence of size 00 and 000). I have some size 8 pants from four years ago that are similar in size to some size 4 pants that I recently purchased--both fit me about the same. If you want to hear something really crazy, I still have a size 12 skirt from the Gap that's about 20 years old. It fit me well when I purchased it (at the time I weighed about 124 pounds). I weigh about 10 pounds more than that now, and now I wear a size 6 at the Gap usually. Size also varies from brand to brand and even within the same brand (even within the same style sometimes!).

    It really is nuts. I have pants anywhere between a 4 and a 10. They all fit me the same.
  • SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage
    SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage Posts: 2,668 Member
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    Vanity sizing. I have clothes in my closet that range from a size 4 (which I am not, but it sure makes me feel good), all the way up to Large. I'm 5'10" and 145lbs so figure that one out. Women's clothing sizing makes absolutely no sense.
  • CalorieCountChocula
    CalorieCountChocula Posts: 239 Member
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    I'm 5'11" 224lbs (male). I'm wearing exactly the same pants I wore when I was 250lbs. They feel a little less snug but it's not night and day. So where exactly did I lose the weight? My fingers apparently since my wedding ring feels looser. It's crap and makes no sense. I'm convinced losing another 20lbs will land me at a whopping size 36 pants. 50lbs to drop one size. Because that makes sense.
  • rhtexasgal
    rhtexasgal Posts: 572 Member
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    Everyone here is giving good answers and what I would have said. I am 5'5", 44 years old and currently weigh 118 pounds. I am safely a size Medium in most tops (6-8 number size for ladies). However, pants? I have several sizes and they ALL fit great and form-fitting ... I have size 2 all the way to size 10, depending on brand. Unfortunately, I cannot order bottoms online (unless they are generic S, M, L) because of the huge size discrepancy. And I really hate clothes shopping! Now that I am confident I am at my new normal after a year of maintenance, I truly need more clothes but I don't want to shop ...

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