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    My weight and my clothes size don't make sense to me

    Posts: 239 Member
    edited November 2024 in Goal: Maintaining Weight
    Can someone explain this to me? I am 42 yrs old and 5.6 and 150 lbs. I just got myself into a size 6 which I'm thrilled about (lost 133 lbs so far). Last time I was a size 6 I was 18 and 120 lbs. My figure is waaaaaay different than back then. I figure that's post kids and hormones etc... I'm fine with it. But how can I be 30 lbs more and the same clothes size? Is it the age difference? Body composition?

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    • Posts: 2,256 Member
      I’d guess body comp. My mother and I are similar weights and heights, but I work out and have a reasonable amount of muscle, whereas she’s disabled and hasn’t been able to exercise in years. She wears a size 16 top, and I wear a size 12.
    • Posts: 539 Member
      either body composition or the difference in sizing, or a combination of both?
      I've tried on my grandma's old dresses and some of my mom's old skirts, I'm like 1-2 sizes bigger in stuff from the early 80s than what I normally buy (at least going by the rather small sample of the stuff I've tried on)
    • Posts: 25 Member
      In the 70's and 80s', the smallest ready-to-wear size for women was 6, if I recall. Now, the smallest size is 2, in most brands targeting 35-65 years-old, and 0 and 00 in brands catering to the younger crowd.
    • Posts: 41,865 Member
      A size 6 then is not the same as a size 6 now...it's called vanity sizing.
    • Posts: 239 Member
      I wondered about vanity sizing. But we're talking 1995 not the 70s and 80s. Has it changed that much in the past 20 years? I was reading about how different labels size their clothes differently. So you could be a 6 in one store and a 8 or 10 in another.
    • Posts: 239 Member
      Btw, I read that Marilyn Monroe would have been a size 4 or 6 today. She was like a 12 in her day. But that was decades ago. Crazy to think sizes might have changed that much even in the last 20 years!
    • Posts: 212 Member
      I'm with the people who are calling it vanity sizing...
    • Posts: 239 Member
      Wow! That's crazy. So it has changed a lot recently. That is kind of depressing and sad really. That size matters to us so much. I've also noticed that sometimes it's hard to find size 6's. There's a lot more 10s and 12s on the rack. It used to be the other way around.
    • Posts: 2,577 Member
      Vanity sizing.
      I was never a size 10 at 140 in the 70's
      Now size 10 at 149
    • Posts: 7,492 Member
      lisawolfinger wrote: »
      There was a pre-1958 chart, then the federal government update sizes in 1958, 1970 and then 2001 and 2011, with new size standards. Basically, the size chart has change by half in the last 50 years.

      Marilyn Monreo 1958-size 12 2018 size 6
      Brigitte Bardot 1970-size 8 2018 size 0
      Queen Latifah 2001-size 18 2018 size 14

      Hard to believe she was a size 8 back then. Makes me wonder how many people actually were a size 0/2. Bardot-early-1950s.jpg
    • Posts: 730 Member
      Back in the 70s/80s I weighed 120-125 and poured myself into size 7 pants. After kids, I weighed 145 and was size 12. Lost that weight, got down to 115 and was a 5. That was in the 80s. Fast forward to a few years ago. I weighed 190 and wore 18 or XXL. I must be the only throw back. When I shrunk out of my 14s at maybe 150#, I offered them to a friend who was also losing and had maybe 30# on me. She was down to a 10! What? Granted, I keep most of my weight in my belly. Now I am keeping steady at 116# and comfortable in a size 4.
    • Posts: 16,011 Member
      Right now I have some pants that fit well that are a size 6 and a size 8. I sometimes try on 8s and I can't get them past my hips. Add that discrepancy to the fact that your weight distribution is probably much different now from when you were 18 and then vanity sizing and that explains a lot!
    • Posts: 25 Member
      edited February 2018
      I would not mind the "vanity sizing" if it was consistent from a brand to another.

      Consistency. This is one of the many reason I love sewing my own clothes: no vanity sizing there. Sewing patterns companies changed the sizing in the mid-seventies, but since that time, the size charts have been consistent. They're based on actual measurements (centimeters and inches). I am 5'4, 126 lbs, and I am a 12-14 (or 38-40) in sewing patterns, no matter if it is a US or European brand. And guess what the smallest regular women's size is? Size 6. :-)
    • Posts: 7,682 Member
      Im a sz 6/8 even at a higher weight, in the 80s and early to mid 90s I was 140 and wearing a 9/10,even pregnant and weighing 180 I could wear the same size jeans(which now even sizes are womens and odd sizes are jrs.). I can wear a sz 6 dress though now. but some jeans I wear are a 10 depending on how they are made.

      I have big hips,thighs and butt so if a pair of jeans fit me in those areas they are too big and gap in the waist. Im more than 140 now and can wear smaller sizes,Im sure it is vanity sizing as every brand is different so I have to try EVERYTHING on. Last time I lost weight in 2004 at 175lb I was a sz 10. so yeah a lot has changed in less than 20 years.
    • Posts: 7,682 Member
      mk2fit wrote: »
      Back in the 70s/80s I weighed 120-125 and poured myself into size 7 pants. After kids, I weighed 145 and was size 12. Lost that weight, got down to 115 and was a 5. That was in the 80s. Fast forward to a few years ago. I weighed 190 and wore 18 or XXL. I must be the only throw back. When I shrunk out of my 14s at maybe 150#, I offered them to a friend who was also losing and had maybe 30# on me. She was down to a 10! What? Granted, I keep most of my weight in my belly. Now I am keeping steady at 116# and comfortable in a size 4.

      yeah in 1986 I was 12 and was about 120lb and could wear a 5 and had a 25inch waist. my waist is now 28 inches. when I was 13-14 I was closer to 130-135 and wore a 9/10. same size clear up to my mid 30s at 140.because I didnt gain until I hit my 30s lol. I weighed around 140 before and after I had kids. until those dreaded mid 30s lol
    • Posts: 239 Member
      My weight is definitely distributed differently now than at 18. I always used to have a small waist, flat stomach, big boobs and big hips/rear. Now I have a small rear end and legs, my boobs went from triple D to D when I lost all my weight. But they are droopy with loose skin and very hard to find a bra for right now. My waist is pudgy with loose skin and stretch marks from babies. I haven't had any trouble fitting my rear into jeans which is completely new for me! I think maybe it's because I don't eat sugar and bread. I eat very clean. But also I don't have a lot of muscle and I did when I was 18. Very different shape.
    • Posts: 466 Member
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanity_sizing Yeah, both vanity sizing and the fact that different designers size differently are issues, but vanity sizing is definitely a thing, and big changes have definitely happened in 20 years. 20 years ago I was a medium even in stretchy clothes, and now I'm a small in stretchy stuff even though I'm 20 pounds heavier than I was then.
    • Posts: 3,985 Member
      So I’m a 2, moving into a 0. Them what? Where do you even buy smaller clothes? Are petite sizes smaller, or just shorter?
    This discussion has been closed.

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