Your goal is adding muscle mass. I can help with that.

@diannethegeek - you make a good point, I rarely shopped at thrift stores before because of the limited selection in my larger sizes, but now that I am starting to find more in my size, this will become even more frustrating.

You see, the thing with vanity sizing is it's psychologically normalising being overweight. There's a thing in most peoples psyche that will see a certain as "slim". Usually around 8/10UK 6/8US. Relabelling things a couple sizes up and suddenly those aren't actually healthy sizes at all when we look at average body fat and weight for those.

So it's not just about shopping. Retailers are deliberately making us erroneously feel good about our weight and size.

VintageFeline wrote: »

You see, the thing with vanity sizing is it's psychologically normalising being overweight. There's a thing in most peoples psyche that will see a certain as "slim". Usually around 8/10UK 6/8US. Relabelling things a couple sizes up and suddenly those aren't actually healthy sizes at all when we look at average body fat and weight for those.

So it's not just about shopping. Retailers are deliberately making us erroneously feel good about our weight and size.

Yep, and it's a complete pain in the butt. I find the discrepancies between what is considered S, M, L etc to be the worst, even within a single store and brand. I have stuff ranging from XS to M. The idea that I'm an XS is ridiculous. I'm 5'6" and smack bang in the middle of healthy BMI. That's medium, or at least it should be.

TL;DR - no, I am not flattered by being able to buy XS clothing, it's stupid.

SueSueDio wrote: »

diannethegeek wrote: »

Vanity sizing is different between stores and between labels. It's demoralizing being a size 10 in one brand and a size 14 in another.

But really, I'm glad that you're happy with current vanity sizing. It must be working out fine for you. I, on the other hand, will continue to try on dozens of pairs of jeans from different decades across three sizes at Goodwill and hope that one of them works for me this time.

I know that feeling well! I recently needed a pair of jeans that actually fit rather than being gathered up with a belt that's also too big, and tried several pairs in my local thrift store. The ones I bought are a size 12 that fits perfectly, but I tried a 16 in another brand that I couldn't get over my hips. Go figure.

I run into this all the time! The whole sizing thing is definitely not universal even if you factor in vanity sizing. Some labels put a smaller size on a bigger piece of clothing, but with jeans it's often the opposite. Especially if the jeans are a really popular brand with a hefty price tag. It can be demoralizing. It's as if they are saying you must be rich and skinny to wear these or get lost.

A few years back I walked into a high end jeans store (starts with D, rhymes with easel) and the size 0 sales clerk flat out told me they didn't carry my size before I even started looking around. At the time I was probably a US 14. I slunk out the door and never went back. So it's not surprising that people have issues around sizes of clothing. Our culture in the US clearly promotes it.

As much as I hate to be a size-ist, I do get a little thrill when a smaller size fits me. Conditioning like Pavlov's dogs.

watts6151 wrote: »

I'm currently 220lb would love
Another 10lb of muscle without
It taking forever

Take drugs and lots of them and eat lots of food.

I'm sad OP hasn't come back to help me with ma gainz.