The FastDay Forum

OK, so yesterday I posted in the 'fasting today' section that I was finding it tough.

Well I survived
I was just having a bit of a down day and of course a good night's sleep made me feel better

Think it will take me another week to get back to where I was before our little holiday. However, I'm feeling a bit more perky because this morning I had a little try on of a dress I've been eyeing up for weeks in a local shop. I'm going to need a whole new wardrobe for our August holiday, so have been delaying getting anything due to losing weight, but I couldn't resist anymore.

So I tried on a size 14 and guess what, it was too big!

I've not been a size 14 for over 4 years, so that felt really cool, but I am now wondering if it was actually a US size 14 rather than a UK size 14. US sizes are one different from ours, right? How can I be a UK size 14 and still weighing in as obese? I'm still definitely in the obese category and I don't have a small chest...

I didn't buy the dress though - decided to wait longer as we're not going away until August, so perhaps I'll be making the most of the sales before then

Well done on surviving!

US sizes are about 2 away from UK, so a US14 is more like a UK18. (So the infamous Size Zero is really about a UK4)
However, like all sizes, they aren't definitive, and you just need to try things on and ignore what the label says.

Unfortunately, healthy weight charts done always fit even with a very realistic body image. For my height, the maximum weight for me to be classed as 'healthy' is 10st 8. I can hand on heart that at 11 st I wear a dress size 12 very comfortably and the occasional 10. Currently I weigh 12st 9 and I'm a small 14. If you exercise, that can throw things out as well as muscle weighs heavier than fat.

I am also quite busty (hourglass shape) and carry a lot of my weight in the limbs which means that while I might be wearing a reasonable dress size, I'm always resorting to little cardis to hide the big arms

Just celebrate how you are and don't get hung up on charts

It's great trying on clothes & realising they're too big
It makes the hard days worth while & don't get caught up on the size.My sister has just lost 2.5 stones & is now size 10 looking great but her BMI still classes her as overweight!

Well thanks for the info Melanie - makes sense why the dress was big then - I'm definitely a size 16 on top in M&S clothes at the moment, so if it was a US size 14 then it would have been big on me if it was really a UK 18. I was an 18 back in January...
Although saying that, I haven't been in M&S for a while, perhaps I should make a trip there just to see...

Hiya and congratulations for both hanging in there yesterday and for your weight loss.
Regarding your size query, most of my clothes are from the UK and usually they have the UK and EU size on the tag. Even if they do have UK, EU and US, they have the UK size first.
Also, on the pricetag (and sometimes on the hanger) you will see that the UK size is a tad larger than the rest of the sizes.
So, my guess is that you tried on a UK size 14. Besides, if you were a size 18 and lost 8 kilos then you can't still be a size 18! I was size 12 and now I'm a 10 with just 3 kilos lost...

Think that's the wrong way round - I know I've had US jeans before and they've always been bigger. Anyway, just looked it up on Wikipedia and looks like Melanie is right
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clothing_sizes
I was an 18 on top in January and a 16 jeans, and the dress is too big now so that would make sense. Going from a 12 to 10 makes sense with that kilo loss,but once you get to the bigger sizes it takes more than 3kg to change a size...I think I'm now a 16 top and 14-16 bottom. Guess I will have to get to M&S where at least the sizing is fairly consistent and then I'll know.

Ooooooops, sorry, yes, it IS the other way around! Still, you can't be the same size with January if you lost 8 kilos.
I know that as the sizes go up there is more weight difference between them but still, you lost weight you are definitely one size down!

BTW, that thing with the size differences is killing me!!! I'm used to shop from the UK, when I shop from Greece I have to keep in mind the european sizes (size 10 is a 38) plus the Greek sizes (size ten is 42) plus the S, M, L thing that many shops have. I tell you, if I don't NEED something desperately, I won't buy it from Greece. I'm too impatient for that...

So Australian sizes seem the same as UK. The problem is the variations from brand to brand. Can be very demoralizing not to fit into your normal size. Also some brands here are starting to stock European sizes and US how confusing.

It varies massively from brand to brand. In Asda and m&s I'm a ten jean, in designer brands or h&m I need a 14. Vanity sizing,

I'm going to a 70s party in a few weeks and have a vintage dress in a size 16. It's tiny and measures the same at the waist as my size 10 jeans!
The shops are reeling us in!!

It's no secret that sizes are going up so that we think we wear small sizes. Stupid, really...
If you see my mum's size eights from 40 years ago you'll scream!!!

Vanity sizes! So the meme about Marilyn Monroe being a size 16 isn't referring to a current 16.

No. Marilyn's measurements were 36 22!!!! 36. My dd age 7 has a19 inch waist! Wow! A SUPER hour glass.

Asda's sizes are generous - I think they use American sizes - remember they are owned by Walmart.
I can't buy their trousers for my sons as the waists are just too big, so it goes right across the range, not just the womens. My sons by the way are are in perfect proportion for their age (and really pleased that mummy and daddy are not as fat as they used to be)

Needless to say the bigger the size, the more the cost. Unfortunately, I live in a small town and choice is very limited. Another reason to stick to 5:2 for me!