Question:
How do people fit in the sizes they give at their
I've been looking at before and after pictures daily for over a month now in preparation for my surgery. Everyone looks great but I always wonder... and I saw someone mention this on her update page today... how do they fit in the size clothes they list. When I was the weiight they are now, I was wearing a much larger size. I don't doubt their veracity... I just wonder how this happens. Anyone have a clue? — Sam M. (posted on April 15, 2002)
April 15, 2002
Not sure how it happens, but it DOES. I weigh 183 but most everyone
including my doctor always thinks that I weigh much less like around 150.
I wear a 12/14 skirt (no elastic) and a medium or large top depending on
how they are made. I was close to this weight one time when I was a
teenager and I wore a size 18 skirt and an extra-large top. I think that
it is just somehow redistributed.
— livnliter
April 15, 2002
My doctor said our bones are denser(SP?) now from all the weight we lugged
around. I am 195 now and a size 14. I weighed 170 last time i was a size
14!!! Who knows but I am not complaining!! Nancy
— nkoehler88
April 15, 2002
I think it is the manufacturers that make the clothes. They know that
people will buy more of their products if they can "fit" into a
12 instead of a 14 or 16, so they intentionally make the clothes size, and
not the clothes smaller. Its a trick to sell more. I still have some size
8's from college (20 plus years ago) and they are soooo tiny, nothing that
todays size 8.
— Cindy R.
April 15, 2002
I wondered that myself. I also figured it was manufactoring tricks...but
I've pulled out some old 14 & 16's from highschool (cough...10+ yrs
ago...sad but true...I held on to them...lol.) and they fit me...I now
weigh 180...the last time I fit into them I was 160...so I'm thinking the
denser bone thing must be true? It's cool beans with me! -Kim open RNY 7/17
-102
— KimBo36
April 15, 2002
I think the sizes have changed. When I graduated from high school, in
1965, I weighed 220 and would have wore a 24 1/2 which is pretty close to a
24. Ten years ago, when I weighed nearly 300 pounds I wore a 24. Also,
Jean Nidetch, the woman who founded Weight Watchers, used to say that she
was now a perfect size 12, which in the 60s was a small size. Today it's
borderline plus size. In fact, in those days, almost no one wore a size 2
or 4. I think the person who said the clothing industry does this because
it makes us feel better is probably right.
— garw
April 15, 2002
Everybody holds their weight differently. Look at people like Barb Day. She
weighs closer to 200 but looks like she can fit a 10. I started at over 370
pounds and I wore a 30. I have read profiles where people weighed 290 and
wore a 30. Our bodies are just very different. Today i am at 227 and can
easily wear a 16. Yet I have a friend who weighs 180 and wears the same
size. We went shopping this weekend and I am 50 pounds bigger than her.
Check out some profiles where people weigh like 130 and wear an 8. At 130,
I would be a zero. It is weird how our sizes fall!! Go figure.
— Courtney W.
April 15, 2002
I started out at approximately 280 lbs before surgery wearing a size 22-24.
I now weigh 140 lbs and I mostly wear size 7-8 and some 5-6's. No one
believes I weigh 140, they all think I am much smaller.
— Melissa L.
April 15, 2002
My friend had surgery in May of last year. (130 lbs lost) Her doctor told
her that it's because, after carrying that amount of weight, we've built up
a lot of muscle under all this fat. When you lose the fat, especially when
getting the proper amount of protein in our diet, and excercising, you
don't lose muscle, you lose the fat. You still have most of the muscle you
built carrying the heavy body, muscle weighs more than fat, so you weigh
more than you did before at the that particular size. Made sense to me. I
had asked her how she could weigh 160 and wear size 10. That's the
explanation I got. Just thought I'd share that.
— lerli1
April 15, 2002
Hi there. I'm 110 pounds now and in a size 3-4. Sounds right for my
height of 5'4 and actually, I'm normal according to standards. The problem
is...I look anorexic even after 3 years. I sincerely believe that my bones
weigh much more now after carrying 280 pounds. I look, like many have
said, much thinner than I am in pounds. I keep looking at myself and
showing my husband my "fat" on my legs and tummy. What he keeps
telling me, is that there is NO fat..just skin. He's right but it's hard
to see the skin without the fat even after 3 years. Your question is a
good one though, because I thought the same thing a few years ago.
— Barbara H.
April 15, 2002
Okay, maybe it's just me, but I am now in a size 4 and you know what? I
don't care if they purposely lure me by making the sizes bigger than they
used to.... OH MY GOD, I WEAR A SIZE 4!!! HOLY COW! LOL... I guess their
ploy is working, cause I just love to shop now! Denser bones, maybe.
Manufacturers making clothes bigger with smaller sizes on the labels,
probably...but heck, it feels really good to go to the racks and buy a size
4!!! Okay, I'll be quiet now, by the way, did I mention I now wear a size
4? Oh, this question was too fun! MUCH LOVE,
— Vicki K.
April 15, 2002
I was told from a clothing department that the manufacturers are making the
labels say a smaller size. It is a marketing ploy, and one that works for
sure. I know that I like to buy more clothes that have a smaller number on
the tag. I do think that the other ideas about bone density and just the
way we are built differently both factor in as well. Maybe all of these
factor in together to make a really big difference.
— Cheri M.
April 15, 2002
Teehee, VERY HAPPILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL Love, Donna in AL
— Donna S. C.
April 16, 2002
Go Vicki GO!! HEE HEE!
— Tracey L.
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