What do you consider to be "plus size" or "full-figured"?
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We must have the same body type! At 5'1" and 130 pounds, I had 41" hips also (with very similar other measurements) and wore a size 10. I don't think I'll ever see below a size 10 again... even well into a healthy body weight. I am astonished by taller people who fit into a size 4 or 6 way before they hit their goal weight. And irritated when they make comments like, "Wow when *I* weighed (insert mid-range healthy BMI weight here) *I* wore a size 4! I can't believe you were in an EIGHT then!"
I certainly wasn't plus size at that weight and body shape though. I have to agree that plus size starts around size 16 or so. I also think it depends on your body... it is only recently that I have had to start wearing "plus size" for shirts (and I can sometimes still fit into an XL) but I can't remember the last time I didn't have to shop in plus-size for pants (and petite at that... which is SO hard to find).
I am not sure how tall you are but I think you need to stop where you are happy and healthy too. I am setting my goals for my max healthy weight by BMI right now... but I also know that last time I was there I was barely out of my teens and it is pretty unlikely that clothes will fit me the same as they did then even at the same body weight. (Sigh... like I need my hips to get any bigger!)0 -
We must have the same body type! At 5'1" and 130 pounds, I had 41" hips also (with very similar other measurements) and wore a size 10. I don't think I'll ever see below a size 10 again... even well into a healthy body weight. I am astonished by taller people who fit into a size 4 or 6 way before they hit their goal weight. And irritated when they make comments like, "Wow when *I* weighed (insert mid-range healthy BMI weight here) *I* wore a size 4! I can't believe you were in an EIGHT then!"
I certainly wasn't plus size at that weight and body shape though. I have to agree that plus size starts around size 16 or so. I also think it depends on your body... it is only recently that I have had to start wearing "plus size" for shirts (and I can sometimes still fit into an XL) but I can't remember the last time I didn't have to shop in plus-size for pants (and petite at that... which is SO hard to find).
I am not sure how tall you are but I think you need to stop where you are happy and healthy too. I am setting my goals for my max healthy weight by BMI right now... but I also know that last time I was there I was barely out of my teens and it is pretty unlikely that clothes will fit me the same as they did then even at the same body weight. (Sigh... like I need my hips to get any bigger!)
I'm 5'4", so even a few extra pounds looks like a lot on me! I'm still within the healthy BMI range, but feel a bit uncomfortable at my current weight--like I should lose a few. More importantly, though, I want to tone up so I don't always have to suck my stomach in! It's unnerving because I was wearing a size 7 jean (in juniors) four months ago and now I'm up to a 13/15. Yikes.0 -
I generally go with anything above a UK size 16 as plus size but it's purely based on what sizes are available on the high street. All retailers seem to sell up to a 14, most to a 16 and then after that it seems to start to trail off a bit, although I think the specialist plus size retailers (that sell sizes up into the 30s) start from about a 14.0
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UK sizes run a bit bigger, too, don't they? I think I'm about a UK 16 (I wish the US would stop it with the vanity sizing--makes it so hard to just pull something off the rack! Different companies using different measurements, and all).
Melodyg - Forgot to add--I have a friend who always says crap like, "I look like I ate someone your size for a snack!" and kind of degrades me for feeling bad about gaining weight. Ugh. And then, you know, you have people who make fun of your size no matter what...0 -
whaaaaaaaaaaa???? under size 10 is skinny? 10-14 is normal? wow, interesting perception!:noway:these, of course, are my own personal feelings...
I consider anything size 16 or higher plus size
Anything under size 10...skinny.
Anything size 10-14 NORMAL!!!
I'm size 8, closing in on a 6, I'm in my healthy range... not sure what the word skinny means? lol To some it's derogatory, to some it's a compliment. I prefer to be as healthy as possible and don't feel the need to be labeled:flowerforyou:0 -
According to the media (which actually means nothing :laugh: ) Clothing designers now consider anyone over size 8 to be plus sized. I think that's absolutely crazy, which is why I don't buy into the media's idea of sizing. It used to be 14 then 12, now 8?? Strange:noway: But with all the Vanity sizing going on, it might just be true...sizes nowadays are 2-3 sizes larger than several years back but the size label doesn't show it. So say the clothing designers......I'm wondering what the definition of plus size is. I'm extremely pear-shaped (42" hips versus 35-29) and have been labeled as "plus size" quite a bit lately. But whenever I refer to myself as such to other people, I'm met with snide remarks. I feel like I'm in some sort of sizing borderland--for instance, I can easily reach around my wrist with my index finger and thumb and have them touch, but regularly have to buy size 12 or 14 jeans.
Is anyone else in this boat? What, exactly, is "plus size"? I picture full-figured as bigger all over--big chest, big hips, maybe big waist. But definitely not "fat" (I hate that word, btw). Plus size seems to be such a grey area. I'm certainly not a size 6 and will never be below a 10 because that's just not how my bones are structured. I wonder--do I fit in anywhere? I'm not skinny but not overweight, per se. Seems like there's no category for people who are just "in-between."
What do you think? I think if women's sizing was determined like men's (waist measurement versus length, etc.) things would be a lot easier!
Of course this is all info read in mags and on the news regarding what's new in the clothing biz. So really take it for what it's worth. Probably best to not worry so much about size and just wear what fits you and if you feel comfy at that size and healthy, more power to you Girl:drinker:
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UK sizes run a bit bigger, too, don't they? I think I'm about a UK 16 (I wish the US would stop it with the vanity sizing--makes it so hard to just pull something off the rack! Different companies using different measurements, and all).
Melodyg - Forgot to add--I have a friend who always says crap like, "I look like I ate someone your size for a snack!" and kind of degrades me for feeling bad about gaining weight. Ugh. And then, you know, you have people who make fun of your size no matter what...
No, UK szes are smaller, I'm pretty much a standard UK 14 but have to wear an 18 in US sizes. I know because I tried jeans on last week that were sized US and had a conversion table stuck to the shelf. It was at a Gap outlet.0 -
these, of course, are my own personal feelings...
I consider anything size 16 or higher plus size
Anything under size 10...skinny.
Anything size 10-14 NORMAL!!!
Eh, so I guess I'm not normal then??
I don't see why you have to use such loaded words. I would consider size 10-14 to be average (because those are the sizes that most people fall in) and under size 10 to be small. But they are all normal. Heck, even plus-size people are normal if they are tall and have large frames.
But you can't really go by sizes. When I was a size 10, I was still overweight by BMI (and by eye-balling too). That's because I'm SHORT. In sizes 10-14, I was fat, not normal. There are people in size 2 (where i am) who are scrawny and there are people that size who are just right and there are people in a size 2 who are even a bit overweight. Yeah, they are really short and have tiny, tiny bones.
It's so true that this has SOOOO much to do with height as well.
My mom is on a diet and losing weight. She's a 16 and just dropped out of obese BMI. She's wearing the clothes I got rid of only a month or so ago, around the time I reached my healthy. The discrepancy is not how we carry our weight - genetically I inherited her crappy tendency to keep it all around the middle. What I think the difference really comes down to is that I'm at least 6-7 inches taller than her. As the 5'10" girl that has always been in the back or sides of EVERY group photo ever, I can say that 10-14 is probably "normal" for me. At the same time 14 is in no way going to be "normal" for my mother.
This is one of the reasons I HATE women's clothing for the whole "plus-sized" thing.
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UK sizes run a bit bigger, too, don't they? I think I'm about a UK 16 (I wish the US would stop it with the vanity sizing--makes it so hard to just pull something off the rack! Different companies using different measurements, and all).
Melodyg - Forgot to add--I have a friend who always says crap like, "I look like I ate someone your size for a snack!" and kind of degrades me for feeling bad about gaining weight. Ugh. And then, you know, you have people who make fun of your size no matter what...
No, UK szes are smaller, I'm pretty much a standard UK 14 but have to wear an 18 in US sizes. I know because I tried jeans on last week that were sized US and had a conversion table stuck to the shelf. It was at a Gap outlet.
I got it the wrong way around, at uk 14 is a USA 12. Sorry!0 -
I meant smaller, LOL! I was thinking that I'm bigger in UK sizes.0
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well we r all shaped diffrently i am a size 13 and my doctor says i look fine i could loose 10 to 15 pounds but no smaller then that so i dont think u can really put a number on it i recently was 250 and i was conciterd to be morbad obeace but now i am fine i think we all should be at a weaite we feel comfterbal with rather then having other people tell us what we should be
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I agree with many of the posters here. When I was at my lightest that I remember (high school graduation), I was about 180 lbs, and wearing size 16 and the occasional 14. And I looked much healthier. For me, a "healthy" BMI is 174 lbs, so I am not planning to get lower than a 12 and will be happy with that. I only use the numbers because in 100 years they won't matter.
Marilyn Monroe reportedly wore a size 0 or 2 in her time, and in todays sizes it would be a 14. Just something to chew on.0 -
Marilyn Monroe reportedly wore a size 0 or 2 in her time, and in todays sizes it would be a 14. Just something to chew on.
You have that backwards.0 -
Marilyn Monroe reportedly wore a size 0 or 2 in her time, and in todays sizes it would be a 14. Just something to chew on.
You have that backwards.
That's right - Monroe got up to about a 12-14 US at some points - now that would be a the much smaller size, maybe a 4-8, today. I have suits from 15 years ago that are a 14p and the are about the same at the 10p I bought a month ago. I suspect that those 14p from 15 years ago were a lot bigger than the 14 in Marilyn's day.0 -
Marilyn Monroe reportedly wore a size 0 or 2 in her time, and in todays sizes it would be a 14. Just something to chew on.
You have that backwards.
Sorry. Either way it illustrates the point, I guess.0 -
I consider size 6-10 average range for my body. 12 is overweight for me and puts me in the overweight range bmi-wise.
Anything under 6 is thin/skinny.0
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