Dress size limit?

[SuckingDownDarjeeling]

I've always wondered if I could physically have ever been a 'size zero'. Because I have fairly wide hips, even at my slimmest I'm not a wisp. I've dieted down to a size 8 in the past, and I wondered if size 6 or below was even technically achievable for me. I never tried to get there because I really didn't want to diet any more after that. (I have to do it all again now anyway though, I let myself go after pregnancy ).

Can a person's bone structure and build potentially limit how small their dress size could ever be? Or with enough starvation dieting, can anybody and everybody be a size zero. Whatever one of those is. I've never met one in real life 🦄

I understand some of the responses here might tell me to google it, but I tried and I'm not great at wording effective search terms. I'm interested to hear people's opinions and experiences, too.

It’s a bugger buying appropriate clothes to be honest. She’s really about an age 11/12 but obviously she’s not super keen on buying clothes aimed at 11 year olds!

I'm 35, and pre pregnancy was a size 4 at my lowest. I'm a 6 right now 9 months pp. I'm 5ft though, and of asian descent. And I'm a healthy adult woman.

@SuckingDownDarjeeling 😄 If you do a detailed search, you’ll find plenty of threads already full of Mumsnetters bemoaning their massive (size 7 plus) feet.

As well as feet, go by shoulder width, wrist and elbow width. I think wrist width is the best/most reliable indicator though as you can still have a big arse but small hip bones due to weight held there but there’s no hiding dinosaur wrists.

I have never ever fitted into a size 0, or even a size 4. And I’m 8 stone and 5 foot 8!

I'm shorter and slightly heavier than you. I have clothes with size 0 labels in them. They fit, but that probably has more to do with vanity sizing than my frame size.

I've never seen a fat skeleton 🤷‍♀️

Yes definitely. I am a size 14 and grossly over weight. I’m 5ft 2 and weigh 15st 7. I have a very tiny frame. My DD at size 14 and 5ft 8 and 11 stone. Don’t think she would ever be a size zero.

My friend is. Her parent are from Vietnam she has a tiny build and about 5’1 but she has curves she isn’t straight up and down.

I think many women from south east Asia will be a size zero

When I was severely underweight with anorexia I never fitted into anything under a size 6. I was literally a skeleton, so I know for sure I could never fit a size 0! And thankfully I wouldn’t want to anymore!

I was an anorexic in my late teens. 5ft 10, broad shoulders and I couldn't physically get my shoulders in anything less than a UK size 10.

Still have problems with food (overweight now) but following Slimming World and much healthier than I was then. I don't think I'll ever go the other way again, partly because I realised physiology was against me. Even anorexic I had thick thighs and calves (not just my distorted opinion of myself) but I realise now they didn't necessarily look bad just because they were bigger than other people's.

I think if I was really determined I could get down to a size 0 (I have zero desire to!)
I have a tiny frame, very slim rib cage, tiny wrists etc and although I am slim, people always think I weigh much much less than I do. I think my frame size makes me look smaller, if that makes sense?

ItsAlwaysSunnyOnMN
I have a work collegue of the same build - Vietnamese, too. She has an adult son and is middle aged. She looks very slim and fragile at about 1,50 m. Her clothes looke great and seem to be tailored specially to fit her.

US size 0 translates to an EU 30 - 38 was the smallest I ever was. 35 years and two children ago.

never for me either.
at 5.9 my smallest size at that height (young teen) was a size 36 (which is about a uk 10 I think)

I'm size uk4. I eat fairly healthily but have the odd takeaway. I exercise but not really as much as I'd like.

I've a tiny, tiny frame though. 5'2 7.5 stone. Vanity sizing is a nightmare for me, but I'm not skinny.

No way could I ever be a zero, when I was a teenager I went down to 6 stone at 5'5 due to illness and was still a size 10 on top due to my wide shoulders.

A friend of mine is naturally petite and waif like, always has been. Tiny delicate bone structure. She probably could

I was a teenager in the 90s when the ‘super waif’ look was in - Kate Moss, heroin chic style. I wish I had understood about body frames and shapes. As a broad framed hourglass, I can have a great figure (but struggle with my weight and tend to yo-yo so sometimes look sadly more barrel shaped than curvy when at the fatter end of my personal spectrum!) but I’d never have the delicate, ethereal, tiny body that I thought was the only way to be beautiful. I despaired that I was destined to be clumpy and oversized. Now I can take my inspiration from other broad hourglass shaped women and understand there are diverse body shapes that look great and are healthy. I wish I’d known when I was younger that starving myself would never get me a size 4 body because of my bones and that this is fine!

I was talking about this yesterday as I don't get this. I am a chubster so not relevant to me but dd1 is almost 11 and only at the start of puberty (no real boobs at all). She is fairly tall for her age at 5 1 but is light at under 5 1/2 stone. Bmi charts etc put her at the bottom of a healthy weight range (12th centile).

She fits a ladies six 6. In fact I got her a running top yesterday which was a 6 which is a tiny bit loose which she's wearing with shorts which are age 9/10.

So whilst I understand there are some petite ladies who may be the same size as dd who are 4/6, I think this must be a very low number in adult women?

I suspect dd will end up tall and slim as that's her dads family body shape but not a size 6.

"I wish I’d known when I was younger that starving myself would never get me a size 4 body because of my bones and that this is fine!"

That pretty much confirms what I was thinking at the start, then!

When I was dieting in my late teens/early twenties, nothing I did got me to a point where I could fit into a size 6 or below. I eventually gave up trying because I found peace in the fact that size 8-10 was a nice size, looked good on me and made it easier for me to buy clothes. (I hope I can get back to that this time around! ). But despite that, I always thought that I'd 'failed' in some way and that there was more I could have done in order to get supermodel skinny. So it's good to have it confirmed that it most likely wasn't an option for me anyway! I wish I'd known that at the time.

Also, I want to say thanks to everybody who has opened up about their past eating disorders. I'm really happy to know that you're at a point where you can love your body for what it is, and that you're being realistic and looking after yourselves. Very well done

So whilst I understand there are some petite ladies who may be the same size as dd who are 4/6, I think this must be a very low number in adult women?

Size 4 possibly, but size six must be pretty common judging from the easy availability of clothes in this size.

Sizes 4 &6 are aimed at very young teenagers who want to wear "adult" clothes, rather than something (that looks exactlythe same) but with "Aged 11/12" on the label. DD is now 16 and happily buys kids clothes (she is 5 foot fuck all and skinny) and brags how her clothers are cheaper as she doesnt pay VAT!

And the size 4/6 obsession only really seems to be in Primark, where teens shop...... Asda tried it for a while but they seem to have binned it off.

The slimmest I've been is about a 10, at which point my hip bones are prominent. At a 10, you can't see my sister's hipbones.
She could probably get to a 0 if she starved herself dieted enough, I couldn't.
See also differences in our wrists and ankles when I was skin enough it wasn't fat

When I was 9.5 stone at 5” 9’ I think I was technically underweight and I couldn’t fit in less than a size 10, if it was something fitted (e.g. I remember a Karen Millan shirt dress I had that was tight and not stretchy, and size 10, and I only just managed it). My waist was possibly a size 8.

I was size 4 top/6 bottom as a teenager - got pregnant at 19 with DD1 and after having her the weight dropped back off me but I was a whole dress size bigger no matter how skinny I got - size 6s physically no longer went over my hips even when my hip bones were jutting out. Never been sure if its to do with me no longer being a teenager or childbirth - I suspect both. I'm now 8/10 and look miles better for it so I'm not losing any sleep over the mystery

From what I've heard the size 6, 4, 2 and zero is a cynical way to get the young teen demographic to start spending more money in adult shops. My DD13 and her friends are regularly returning from H&M and Topshop with size 4 and 2 purchases. I don't think it's aimed at actual adults (unless you're a model).

I've known one woman who wasn't of Asian descent to be a true size 0 and not be ill. She was tiny, like a child.