Is a size 14 big?

I knit and the measurements for a size 14 on older knitting patterns would be equivalent to at least a 16 now, so yes it is quite large.

I'm 5'7" too and weight 12 st 7lbs more or less. I was previously over 16st and have been as light as 8 and a bit. I was about a 12 at my lightest. I would maybe have bought the odd size 10.

Right now I'm a comfortable 14 and can buy 12 sometimes depending on fabric or style of outfit/retailer. I work out 5-6 days a week (weights and cardio) and whilst on BMI I'm still overweight I'm stronger and fitter than ever with clear muscle definition throughout my arms, back, lower legs (upper legs not due to injury) and middle.

I see smaller ladies at the gym all the time. Part of me does envy their slender petiteness but that's just who they are from a physical point of view, slim. Generally I'd say it's clear why people who are smaller are so. They eat smaller portions, genetics play a part plus other health factors and they are active and I include walking in this. It's just a different physique. Personally I got big as I didn't eat well and I didn't move enough. That's been my big change. But I was really quite content with my bigger body. It was being told I was pre-diabetic that made me make a change. I'm almost 3 years in now and have transformed my diet, exercise and mindset.

With all of the above I know I will never be a tiny svelte individual. I'm tall and strong with massive H cup boobs. Even at 8st ish I was a 12 so not tiny as I don't eat perfectly. I eat well 80% of the time. It is weird being the weight I am but the size I am given I was so much lighter at a point and not hugely different size wise. Size is not important. It's how you feel too. Honestly I've never felt better about how I look and I'm coming up for 44. Nothing wrong with those who are smaller or bigger. We're all just built differently. I have a body that works and I'm grateful for it.

I’m 45 and a size 12. I feel big and I am overweight. Trying to get my weight down to be back in the ‘normal’ weight range. It is hard to lose weight, but I have to be honest with myself that I am overweight. I’m not sure on your hight/build etc. so being 14 could mean that you are within a normal weight range or you could be big.

I’m the same. I eat crap when I feel rubbish and then feel even worse! One thing I find really helps is not buying any rubbish food. So no sweets or crisps (although I have a bar of dark chocolate for if I’m desperate as I never really want more than one square). This means when I go to the fridge and open the door I don’t see anything I want and therefore don’t eat it. And don’t supermarket shop when you’re hungry as that makes me far more likely to buy junk food.

I'm currently a size 20 and would love to be a 14 again. I'm taking Mounjaro injections and have lost two stones since mid-February but my clothes aren't getting appreciably looser yet 😭

I’m a 14 and 5’8”. I think I dress it well, I’d look awful in some clothes. I was much happier with my appearance when I was an 8, but menopause has other ideas 😩 I don’t think I look particularly fat.

Used to think it was, but would now love to be one again.

Now I'm losing weight, I have also realised though that there's a range within each size - and I was really squeezed to get into my size 16s (Penny finally dropped that I didn't look good). So will qualify that they have to genuinely fit.

I buy 14s sometimes and I'm 5' 7 and just over 10 stone. I don't think it's massive by any means, I'm not! Depends on cut and style, other times I'll buy a ten! Bodies rarely confirm to these blooming sizes consistently... I've got skinny legs but a big mum tum, my boobs are technically 36d but I look flat chested without a bra and can go without (that'll be age they used to be perkier!) 😂

Depends where you usually shop and your age and height, really. I used to be a size 16 pushing 18 in some brands. I can now comfortably fit into a size 12 in most places and a size 10 in places like M&S and White Stuff because they cut very generously.

That said, I currently have a BMI which isn't yet nudging in the 'healthy' range and I am still classed as overweight by the NHS. I have at least another stone to lose before I will comfortably in the middle of the 'healthy' range on the BMI chart. That would probably make me a borderline size 8-10 in M&S, which is nuts.

I'd say if someone was required to describe me to the police they wouldn't say 'overweight' or 'large' but they certainly wouldn't remember me as someone slight or slender or slim built either. I'd probably be described as 'average' build. So if I am wearing size 10s and 12s, then yes, a size 14 is quite big. By today's standards nothing major, but it's less than ideal.

But someone tall and muscular and athletic might carry it off much better than me and be healthier with it. I certainly wouldn't want to be a size 14 again, because I know what that would mean in terms of my weight. I'd definitely be two and a half stone overweight at least.

Pretty much exactly the same as you OP @fattytoadboy

5 ft 7, 11 stone 11

generally a 14 on the bottom

small chested so probably a 12 on top, possibly a 10 although maybe a bit stretched.

I do feel bigger than I would like to be.

like you I am struggling to lose it.

don’t feel good in clothes.

I knew someone would bring out the bingo card over this but it's true! Many people really have lost sight of what a healthy weight human body looks like. You hear all the phrases like 'teeny tiny, skinny size 8' etc but for an average height person it is about right. I'm 5ft 3 so slightly below average height but when my bmi is around 21/22 (so slap bang in the middle of the healthy range) I fit happily into an 8. Scale it up for an average height person and a size 8-10 would be right in the middle of the normal range, by no means skinny or underweight! It's what the average person should look like.

Depends. I'm a 14 and weigh 10 stone at 5'9, because I have a belly and broad shoulders. My BMI is totally healthy.

Yeah but the "average" woman is now overweight so that's not really relevant, is it.

OP you said you're 12 stone at 5' 7". Your BMI is 26.3 which puts you in the overweight category, but not by much.

So you are bigger than optimum, but only just. So long as you're living a healthy lifestyle I wouldn't worry too much about it.

People are different. I worked with a lady who was 6 feet tall and was thin really. She wore size 14 jackets. Someone of 5ft 2 could be very chubby at size 14. I’m 5 ft 8. At size 14 I am at the top of the healthy weight range at size 16 my bmi is 27. It depends what’s comfortable for you. Also size 14 in some shops is different from size 14 in others so asking if size 14 is big is a bit meaningless. It’s size L but 5’ 7” is above average height.

I’ve heard people saying that a size 12 is fat if you are short. Yet I’ve been a size 12 nearly my whole adult life and I’m only 5 ft and my bmi is healthy at a size 12. Everyone’s build is so different. I don’t think it’s possible to say a size 14 is big.

I don't think it's ever big in UK terms when you are fairly tall also.

Depending on height, yes.

Just because it’s below average doesn’t mean it isn’t big.

Being brutally honest, I think that it is generally a bit overweight but not massively so. It’s not small but it’s not very large. It’s curvy for sure.

Id say a 16-18 is big as that’s the last of the sizes carried by many mainstream shops. 14 is not quite there but is edging up to it.

The research shows that in terms of risk of premature death, those who fare best are people with BMI 27 interestingly enough. The OP is overweight but really not by much and I don’t think many doctors would be concerned unless she carried the weight on her stomach. If you contract a serious illness then being slightly overweight will stand you in good stead.

I’ve noticed that women I know who were never particularly thin but have put on a few pounds as they got older, e.g. after menopause or after they had kids, often see 14 as their target size. That’s the size where they no longer feel fat. And 12 is spoken about as a dream size.

And then the women I know who are more into diet and fitness and have generally always been a bit more body conscious seem to see 10 as their target size and 8 as their dream size.

Not a judgement but just an observation! And I think shows that it’s all about individual perception.

I think at your height it's not 'big', no.

I was size 14 at 13.5 stone, 5 foot 2. Now size 12 at 11 stone.

I'm 5ft 6" and at my heaviest I was 12 st 8lbs and a stout looking size 14. I told myself (often) that I looked really okay, sometimes even very nice, and that at least I was a dress size smaller than the UK average, also I was above average height.......all the usual stuff that you tell yourself.

Then I went and lost 3 stones on Mounjaro. Total game changer. I'm now a slim size 8/10 and look and feel infinitely better. I look younger, I move like a younger woman. Today, I look far better in just jeans, t-shirt and simple make up than I ever did before in my 'best' clothes and full on make up.

I was a size 10 and still 11 stone with a BMI in the overweight range so really sizes don’t mean anything.

I’m obese and a size 14

Bingo?

the world is getting fatter, and it's a problem. Sorry you're offended by that.