Waist size

[fatpatsthong]

Not a taat but inspired by a comment on bmi/waist size.

Someone mentioned their grandmother having an 18 inch waist and I remember being fascinated when reading gone with the wind about 17 inch waists etc. Now I get corsets etc making these artificially tiny and also being damaging. But even now, seeing models etc who's stats show a 23 inch waist, taking a look at a couple of size guides and seeing a size 6 is 23.5 inches etc THEN seeing all the comments about vanity sizing and how sizes used to be smaller, what I don't get is how this is possible for an adult woman?

I have 2 9 year old dds. One is tall and slim and one is average height and very very slim. I weighed and measured for car seat purposes recently and looked them up on the nhs bmi calculator so not delusional I promise. They are 2 of the thinnest girls in their class - in fact dd2 is probably the smallest.

My mum made them some skirts the other day so we measured their waists. Dd1 was 23 inches, dd2 was an inch smaller. I looked up a couple of kids size charts and for dd1's height (she needs age 10) this shows a 24.5 inch waist in Boden (first one which came up when I googled).

Given these are skinny pre pubescent children, how can an adult woman have the same size waist? Where do her organs go!!!

This isn't a criticism or 'losing sight of what a normal weight is' post, I am genuinely just a bit baffled - according to the Boden chart an age 2 size is up to a 20 inch waist which is 2 inches bigger than Scarlett O'hara. How does that even work?

I've been awake since 4 and this has got caught in my head, like the biological equivalent of an ear worm so if someone could solve this for me, I'd be so grateful.

My waist is 38 & I’m not even that much overweight - even at my slimmest it was 32.
Really not sure how any grown woman has a 22 inch waist but some obviously do.

My waist is 28 inches and I'm slightly overweight. I don't know what size it was pre-pg, but I wear a 10 now and I used to be a 6-8. Given I'm on the larger side of people at the school gates, I'm sure some of them must be close to it.

I would think that malnutrition may have played a part in the past.

So I've googled and seems to be basically the intestines around there. So maybe low body fat and curlier intestines I reckon

I have a proportionally small waist - am a bit overweight but at my slimmest have a 27/28 inch waist and much bigger hips so but of a pear/hourglass. I must have these fancy curly intestines as well.

Corsets - worn constantly from an early age, distorting the rib cage and crushing the internal organs. I've been reading the LIttle House on the Prairie books to DD, and there's a throwaway reference in one of the later ones to Laura not being able to sleep in her corset, and Ma lamenting that she doesn't know what Laura's figure will be if she doesn't. And that's in a little town in the middle of nowhere with no extremes of fashion...

I'm a fairly extreme hourglass shape, and my waist is now 25 inches in my 40s (was 23 in my late teens at my thinnest). I reckon I could have got it down to under 20 inches when I was young if I'd been willing to sacrifice my health and my ability to take a deep breath!

My waist is 24.5 inches, and I wear a size 6. I am certain that women’s sizing has definitely gotten, ahem, roomier, possibly to cater to women’s self-esteem. When I was in my teens, I was a consistent size 8. Size 6 seemed to be a less common size in mainstream shops then (2007-2011ish?), let alone size 4. A size 8 hangs off me like a sack now.
I can’t imagine anythig smaller than a 23.5 inch waist being very common, not least without a corset! I have a friend whose very petite (think size 4), and she told me her waist is 24 inches.

I remember mum telling me she had a 23" waist on her wartime WAAF uniform, and my sister has a trunk full of late victorian clothes from her GMIL that are tiny.

In mum's case they ate less, especially meat and anything between meals, and walked an awful lot more. When they did have treats like sweets they were much smaller - 4oz of something (100g) would be shared across the family - and it was a much less frequent thing to do. And wartime rationing really helped with all that - very little animal fat and sugar.

I can remember shopping with a friend who was very slender when I was around 20 so in the mid 90s and she could only find size 8s in Karen Millen. All the 10s looked like sacks and no where else did small enough. She was half my size so I would think she'd be a size 6 now.

Thinking about it more, dd1 has the same size feet as my mum (who
is v short) and we bought her an xs but adults Christmas jumper. To be fair she then wore this as a mini dress but it didn't swamp her as much as I might like. Maybe I'm Just in denial about my baby girl and her curly innards

My mum also said she had a 25 inch waist until she had my brother and she was never smaller than a 12. This was 60s/70s

@fatpatsthong (loling at your username)

I’m shocked that it was difficult to find a size 8 in the 90s! Do you think a size 10 back then was the same as size 10 now? Interesting.

My grandmother definitely told me she used to have an 18 inch waist, but I'm sure corsets helped. My mother also had a small waist and so did my sister. At her thinnest it was 22 inches but sometimes went up to 24 (before she had children, which was not until she was in her 30s).

She was not petite elsewhere, but had a real hour glass figure and used to have a difference of at least 14 inches between her waist and hips. She had to have all her fitted skirts altered, because anything that fitted her hips just gaped over her waist.

Unfortunately, I did not inherit the small waist!

I had a 24” waist when I was 18 in the 90s. I’m 5’8” and weighed about 9st then. I was a size 12 and had one size 10 skirt. I wasn’t particularly thin or unusual in size.

Now I’m the same height, 2 and a half stone heavier and still a size 12 Last time I measured my waist was 31”.

I distinctly remember this shopping trip - it was to get a dress for a university ball, there was a boy involved and certain criteria to be met.

But yes, she generally worn her clothes fairly loose because she struggled to get stuff to fit. She was an athlete who competed at national
level so muscly as well as very slim.

My mum is a good example of changing sizes actually. She is short and has always been between 8.5 and 10.5 stone. Mostly around 9 until post menopause then went to 10. She has been a size 12/14 since she was 16 and is still one now 55 years and 2 stone later.

Certainly sizing has changed. I have trousers bought recently that are, on the label, the same size as trousers I had pre-DC (so 10+ years old). I cannot fit into the old ones, or even pretend to do them up.

As a teen in the early 90s I had a 24/25" waist remember being obsessed with measurements for some reason. But until I had children I was always a size 12. In fact I gave an old skirt to a friend of mine who is a size 8-10 as it wouldn't fit even though it was a size 14! Fitted her perfectly. From Bay Trading if anyone remembers them!!

Pre children I was a size 10 34-22-34.

Pepe jeans/Falmers I was a size 9.

That was up to 1994 btw

I still don't get how though. I'm not disputing anyone and certainly the corset thing is clear.

But dd1 just woke up and came to see me in just a pair of knickers and her waist is teeny. I just don't get how it all fits in in a grown up but stays the same size as her.

Maybe it stretches? Do intestines cease to grow before bodies do? Am clutching at straws here.....

I've got a 23.5" waist and my organs definitely fit (or at least I hope they do - that might explain why I get bloated so much! ). I've always been very small, I workout regularly and I've never had kids which probably explains why.

Sizing has definitely changed as I used to comfortably fit in a size 8 and now often a size 6 is too loose on my waist. However, the most frustrating part about sizing is the fact that it varies so much for the same size, often in the same shop. H&M is the worst for this - you can pick up two identical XS dresses and both the waist size and the length size will be completely different. It's infuriating!!

Interesting!

My waist is 26in and I have a "good" body. Probably couldn't get it any smaller than that unless I pull my finger out and really start dieting/exercising.

18in waist?? That's really tiny!!!

I had a 20 inch waist when I was in my 20s and still smoked so had no appetite.
It's now about 24inch at almost 40 and after 2 kids, too much food and not enough exercise (I gave up cigs 15yrs ago)

I am not 'skinny' but have a petite hourglass figure with larger bottom and boobs (28 G)
I have never dieted but weight tends to go to my bottom and legs and I have a small natural waist
My shape has always played havoc with clothes as my waist, hips & boobs are rarely in the same sizing.
1950s dresses and ball gowns always fit fabulously but are hard to pull off everyday!

I think it depends on proportions. I'm 5ft7 and a size 10 (now's version) is always my slimming goal because that's slim for me. My 5 foot nothing friend looks chubby at a size 10. So maybe all the women of the past were 3 feet tall?

I would guess that waist size has more to do with bone structure rather than body fat percentage/weight. In the past, women were shorter with more petite frames. Looking at photos of Marilyn Monroe, for example, she looks quite normal (today’s size 8-10). I presume if you saw her in person, she’d have been tiny in frame and fit a size 4-6 today!
Last year I lost around 10lbs (not intentionally - I was overworked and generally more active) and it didn’t affect my waist size at all really.

I’m 5’5, not super slim and my waist is 26inches. My waist is long, meaning plenty of room for internal organs under my ribs. I see plenty of people in my gym classes with slinkier waists, maybe 24inches, and some of the very petite women could be smaller I suppose b

I remember my granny saying something about her waist being small enough for my grandad to fit his hands around. He was a farmer and had hands like shovels but still that's pretty tiny! My waist is about 34inches and I'm generally a 16, probably twice her size!