Do you look thinner at a certian weight compared to your youth at that weight?

I have to admit, I am a little perplexed.  I am starting to wonder if losing such a massive amount of weight has me permenantly skewed on body image.  I weigh 183 which is a bmi of 23.5 for my height.  I wear a size 12 slacks, but could wear a size 10 if I wanted to stand next to a pole all day ;).  In my youth I kept my weight around 145-150 through most of high school, with my low being 130 (WAY to thin).  Yes, I do know I am a little bigger than back then- but the weird thing is not that much bigger.  Due to the TT my abdomen is actually comparable, I am just a little meatier through the thighs- which I love, as my legs can get scrawny quickly at lower weights. I don't know, I just find it weird and wonder truly how much my extra skin is weighing  My 183 post op feels very similar to my former 160 youth in other words.  I doubt I have 20 pounds of extra skin on me, as my TT only removed 5 pounds of yuck- and the difference was extreme when looking at me.  Does anyone else feel like that at a slightly higher weight you still "wear" it like a former smaller self back in your youth?  My daughter is exactly my height, and also exactly the weight I was at her age- she looks fantastic, but wears a size 4.  I dunno- maybe I just remember myself differently, but I do remember clear as a bell that even at 133 pounds I wore a size 8- and that was snug in the waist.  Size 12 had my long, lean, and lanky at 155 pounds my freshman year in college.  I get that there is vanity sizing so a 12 of yesteryear is not a 12 of today.  Sigh, I guess I am just a little confused about the whole thing.  I have no desire to lose more, am super happy with how I look minus the turkey waddle neck so no issues there.  Just trying to wrap my head around how 183 looks so incredibly different on me than it did when I was 180 in my early 20's.  Maybe it is the birthing hips compared to hips before squeezing out three beautiful babies?? Sorry, I am rambling now.  Is your weight wearing differently on you compared to your youth at the same weight?

I'm not sue how old you are, but I am 59 tomorrow and yes I look much thinner at this weight than I did in my youth.  I weigh 135 and wear a size 6 usually.  When I was younger, my set point weight was 130 and I was always trying to lose down to 115.  This began the yo yo dieting.  My daughter had WLS 9 months ago and weighs about 10 pounds more than me.  She looks healthy, shapely and younger.  I on the other hand look kind of thin and much older.  She took pictures of me yesterday when we were out with the kids and I couldn't believe how old I looked.  At my 1 year check up I was about 20 pounds heavier and looked better.  I didn't have a set goal weight and just let my body lead the way.  I stopped at 135.  I can't explain it, but age does seem to make a difference for me anyway.  

Hey Happy! 

I am apparently stirring up stuff recently, so I may as well keep up my posting run while I have thoughts rattling around in my head. 

I def look thinner at my current weight than when I was nearly this size in my early 20's. I was always very large.. went down from 310+ in my early 20's to 155 in a year and a half (same speed as my post-op loss, but the sleeve DID make it easier for sure) and 155 at that point (23yo) looked bigger on me. I had more gut, more thigh.. more boobage even.

155 now is still too high for my frame, 145 is ideal (41yo).. but the difference is at 155 now is that I can see a shadow of an odd rib, and very jutting collarbones, where back then, there was more meat over them. I prob had a good 20 to go at that point, whereas 20 sub 155 now did NOT look good, despite being only a 21.5 BMI, feeling every bone and being cold all the time is not fun.. 

Never had kids, but I think certain changes/growth does continue happening as one ages into at least 30.. and being 145-150ish and 23-24 BMI (no plastics, so maybe 7lbs extra skin over the entire frame, maybe?) keeps me in size 8 comfy, and I do see some rib shadow but also have hips.. I have no doubt I could likely gain 5-7 lbs comfortably IF I had plastics to remove the skin, and look great.. that is the only part that bugs me to this day. The desire to get smaller, but the knowledge that it's extra skin bothering me, not extra fat.

I will say that going by clothing size isn't the way to compare.  I am 50 back in high school I was 5' 8.5 " and weighed 145.  I wore a size 9 lee jean juniors.  when I was 165 later I wore a size 14, when I met my husband I was 220 and wearing a size 18. well I am now 240 and wearing an 18, since every twenty to twenty five pounds seems to be a size I think todays sizes are much larger than they were in the late 1970's.  I remember sometime in the late 80's to early 90's they started making those relaxed sizes, they were suppose to be worn a little baggy but of course no one did.  Why wear a bigger size when you don't have to and we grew up with tight jeans! I think if we could dig up some of our youth clothing and compare it now to the same size we would find a difference in measurements. 

If you read my post, I do have some of those cloths.  My kids pulled a lot out and wore them too.  Styles cycle!

Heck, shopping at Old Navy, I picked up some Tees in the same size some plain, different colors and patterns.  I had to take some back due to the different sizes

I have to admit, I am a little perplexed.  I am starting to wonder if losing such a massive amount of weight has me permenantly skewed on body image.  I weigh 183 which is a bmi of 23.5 for my height.  I wear a size 12 slacks, but could wear a size 10 if I wanted to stand next to a pole all day ;).  In my youth I kept my weight around 145-150 through most of high school, with my low being 130 (WAY to thin).  Yes, I do know I am a little bigger than back then- but the weird thing is not that much bigger.  Due to the TT my abdomen is actually comparable, I am just a little meatier through the thighs- which I love, as my legs can get scrawny quickly at lower weights. I don't know, I just find it weird and wonder truly how much my extra skin is weighing  My 183 post op feels very similar to my former 160 youth in other words.  I doubt I have 20 pounds of extra skin on me, as my TT only removed 5 pounds of yuck- and the difference was extreme when looking at me.  Does anyone else feel like that at a slightly higher weight you still "wear" it like a former smaller self back in your youth?  My daughter is exactly my height, and also exactly the weight I was at her age- she looks fantastic, but wears a size 4.  I dunno- maybe I just remember myself differently, but I do remember clear as a bell that even at 133 pounds I wore a size 8- and that was snug in the waist.  Size 12 had my long, lean, and lanky at 155 pounds my freshman year in college.  I get that there is vanity sizing so a 12 of yesteryear is not a 12 of today.  Sigh, I guess I am just a little confused about the whole thing.  I have no desire to lose more, am super happy with how I look minus the turkey waddle neck so no issues there.  Just trying to wrap my head around how 183 looks so incredibly different on me than it did when I was 180 in my early 20's.  Maybe it is the birthing hips compared to hips before squeezing out three beautiful babies?? Sorry, I am rambling now.  Is your weight wearing differently on you compared to your youth at the same weight?

Keep in mind that today's 4 IS yesterdays 8.  Yes, the sizing is that much different.  When I got down to a "NEW" 12 in the stores I went home and dug out all my old 12's.  Couldn't get them half way up. (yes I'm a hoarder) When I did get them on I went back to the store and bought 10's and 8's.  

Also if you are like me the difference between 160 and 180 was a big difference and between 260 and 280 no difference.  I had to lose 50 pounds to lose one size.  That last 20 pounds was two sizes.

Ok, that totally makes since.  I wear a 12 (todays version) and can get into a 10.  But if the old size 12 is closer to today's size 8 or 10, that seems about right.  I suspect I would be wearing and old sized 14. My daughter's size 4 would be at least a 6 and possibly an 8 in the old sizes- and back in the day I was a size 8 when I was her size so it is all gellin'.  Kinda cool you have those old duds!

Agreeing that sizes are totally different even now compared to 18yrs ago, however, physically- specifically, I myself do look very different at 155/145 etc than I did younger. More muscle? Less muscle?.. not sure.. but my ribs never showed at 155 in my 20's and my collarbones weren't as hollowed, nor was my ass so small as it is now in my 40's. Not even going to mention the facial fat changes.. that's just plain annoying.

I have collarbones that flat out jut out.  Makes me look a little on the sickly side.  I remember thinking preop that I couldn't wait to see them again, but now I feel like when people see them they assume I am dying.  Got a few too many comments on them that were alwasy attached to "how are you feeling"- code question for please give me a cancer status update.   I have been covering them up all school year as a result.  So I get it.  My face is not gaunt, but very similar to a much lighter me- again about 20 pounds lighter.  I also think if I had a face lift and lost the waddle I could easily go to the guant side too.  This is tricky business trying to find just the right balance!

Yes my weight is wearing on me differently now, but not for the better. I was the same weight in my 20's and had a 25" waist. Now my waist is 27". Ce la vie.