"Average clothes size 16"? Is it though?

[MrsWP]

Inspired by a comment saying the above on another thread.

It's something I've heard a lot.

But is it really true?

I say that because I'm a 16 and always feel fatter than anyone else in the majority of situations.

'Good point. My (male) partner has lots of clothes which are 20 + years old, the waist size is measured in inches and the sizing hasn't changed.'

When DH was losing weight and measuring waist we discovered that the waist size of his jeans (we checked some old ones too) was not the actual size in inches around the jeans waist.

So men have vanity sizing as well, not sure how long that's been going on!

I'm 5'8. I have jeans from 1997. They are size 14. They still fit. I had a completely flat stomach in 97 and no hips. I also have size 14 work trousers from 2004, which are currently a little snug.

I am a size 12 in most trousers today. But my Levis haven't gone near me since I had ds. I think a lot of clothes have more stretch than they used to. I used to have to buy size 14 tops because of boobs. Now I'm more 10-12, but coathanger shoulders mean tops always pull.

@NiceGerbil good point, I've just picked two pairs of dp's jeans off the floor at random and measured thrm, both say size 34 waist but actually measure 36 inches.

My size 10 stuff from oasis in the early 90s is miniscule!

This is all anecdata really though isn't it.

Wear what makes you happy and is comfy.. Don't obsess on bodies either yours or others. Try to stay fit and eat a balanced diet. Etc.

When we were young it was the fashion for men to wear their trousers very very baggy. This allows dp to tell himself that he still fits into 20 year old trousers (even though they are now much more snug and don't need a belt).

Did someone on this thread just say being a 16 or presumably larger is “not acceptable.”

Not healthy, not advisable, not desirable even I could respect as a valid opinion.

Wtf does “not acceptable” mean? Some of us are too fat to be allowed to exist? Buy clothes? Be seen in public?

Averages are skewed by outliers. I am studying economics and the average wage is about 28k but if you take out the top 1% then the same 28k puts you into the 90th centile.

It must be the same with clothes. Take out those that the fire fighters would have to remove out the window and suddenly the average size 16 is the top end of the scale rather than the middle.

I've read more than once that the average woman is 5'3" and a size 16. I was very surprised that 5'3" is the average height, but less suprised that a 16 is the average size.

Over 60% of adults are overweight or obese. That would fit with the average dress size being a size 16.

I don't think 5'3 is the average height for a woman?!

If it was, I wouldn't be caught bang in the middle of standard and petite sizing!

I have a sentimental pair of Levi 501s from the early 80s. They are a size 14, I am currently a size 14/16 in modern sizes but a good 2 st heavier. 1980s 14 is more like a modern size 10.
I no longer buy a size, I buy clothes that fit well and the style suits my figure. The size is irrelevant.

What does area/class have to do with size though? I’m from a middle class upbringing and live in a (nice 🙄) area and am currently a size 16( which I hate) I know all about healthy eating and eat really well but can’t shift it. I’ve been like it all my life, I’ve varied from a size 8-16, I can only be a size 8 by almost literally not eating, something I stupidly took up when young and can only get to a size 10/12 by working out all week and tiny portions..pisses me off! I walk everyday and eat really healthily and am still this size.

5'3" might be average if you think of the elderly. Surely not average for younger generations.

It’s just a number isn’t it - much more important to have a healthy bmi - I can be a small/8-10 in certain shops and obvs it depends on the garment too. I wear a 12 in most shops and would say most women I know and mums at school are between size 8-12 (this is in an affluent area)but honestly - I don’t know. I think it’s quite hard to judge what size someone is - one friend of mine is quite overweight and I would’ve said she’s a size 18 maybe but she told me she’s a 24! These days everyone just seems to wear leisure wear anyway - not many people wear structured clothes anymore.

@Imnotdoingthis there’s long been knowledge of the link between poverty and obesity. It’s explained nicely here...
www.rcplondon.ac.uk/news/health-inequalities-and-obesity

Average? Maybe. Healthy? Generally not, (caveated against all those with examples of how it equals healthy) .

My social group and family, late 30s to 60s I'd say 8-12. General interests are running, yoga, martial arts as standard.

We need to be careful not to interpret average as 'how we should be'.

It does have an impact and it's not about you personally!

Poverty and obesity are linked.

Up the class system generally, better school results, face fits, old boys network etc mean better paid jobs.

Richer people tend to be thinner. And it's a class indicator and status thing now as well. Free time, fancy diets, nice gyms, personal trainers etc.

I work in the city and the men in particular are all over this. Expensive gadgets, running all the time, eating sushi etc. When you walk about the difference in size generally in town and where I live is obvious.

Years ago overweight was good because it meant you had plenty of food and didn't have to do lots of manual work.

Now slim (and fit) is a wealth indicator.

Same as pale was fashionable years ago as it meant you didn't have to work outside.
Then tans came in as showed you could afford overseas holidays.
Then they went out of fashion as loads of people can afford to go to Spain.. but pale is still no good for some reason either!

Anyway. That sort of thing.

There is also the thin but unhealthy thing.

Having a drug habit, smoking, and more severe alcoholism are good for being thin. But obviously not healthy.

At my smallest I was drinking 2 bottles of wine a day and smoking 30 fags. Got loads of compliments! Yay?

My friends and colleagues average 10-14.

I think it's more like 10-12, my friend is a 14 and visibly larger than the rest in our group, even though we're roughly the same height. I think it's more how you carry your weight. I have friends heavier than me in a lower dress size!

I am overweight and live in a city where I am usually bigger than anyone else in the room, much to my shame.

I regularly visit (in normal times) a seaside town where I am not the biggest and sometimes quite average size, and my children are much slimmer than most I see there.

I don't agree with shame helping people lose weight, but it's definitely true that living in an area with high levels of obesity will make normal weight seem very slim.

I think there must be plenty of areas like this where size 18/20 is the norm and they balance out the slimmer areas so I can believe 16 is average. Also as others have said height makes a difference - at 6'0 a size 14/16 may be in proportion.

@Imnotdoingthis

What does area/class have to do with size though? I’m from a middle class upbringing and live in a (nice 🙄) area and am currently a size 16( which I hate) I know all about healthy eating and eat really well but can’t shift it. I’ve been like it all my life, I’ve varied from a size 8-16, I can only be a size 8 by almost literally not eating, something I stupidly took up when young and can only get to a size 10/12 by working out all week and tiny portions..pisses me off! I walk everyday and eat really healthily and am still this size.

Well you might weigh more if you didn’t have a car/couldn’t afford a taxi and had to shop at the corner shop which doesn’t sell fresh fruit and veg or the fried chicken shop or if you had grown up with parents who thought eating unhealthy food was normal or there was nowhere safe to walk and exercise or you worked shift work and couldn’t manage to make proper meals or if your oven was broken or if you had no freezer and hardly anywhere to store food or if you can’t afford healthier meals or if your life is shit and stressful and you just can’t manage to meal plan, and eat crap instead.

For example.

I don't really understand clothes sizing nowadays. Growing up I remember my mum being a size 16, so I thought I had a good idea of what that was. She's put on a bit of weight since then but not drastically so, and when I was ordering her jammies for her birthday recently she said to get the 22...

I've noticed as an older teen at 5'3 and 9 stone I was a 10, and then it mostly shifted to an 8 even at the same weight. When I lost some weight due to medication, 8-8.5st was pushing me into a size 6 which I found a bit mental because, again, I had a cousin growing up who had some issues surrounding food, looked very rail thin (in the nicest way possible she'd look quite ill sometimes, her body almost childlike) and was a size 6. Whereas at 8st my thighs still wobbled, and I still had a mum tum, and my boobs were still a FF cup. You'd never look at me and think I was "teeny tiny" or anything. Yet the 8s were swamping me in certain shops (Looking at you Next and Hush!!).

I gained the weight back but I often wondered what would have happened if I'd had to take more meds and lost more weight? Do shops even sell a 4? and what does my cousin do for clothes now? Teen department I suspect.

On a similar note, has anyone noticed vanity shoe sizing?? I swear I've been a size 5 my whole life, changed to a 4 maybe 5 years ago. At christmas my daughter bought some size 3 boots which were too big so she gave me them and they fitted? Could just be I've been wearing the wrong shoe size my whole life because I don't see how small feet = vanity / better, but it made me wonder.

@ThePricklySheep So what’s my excuse 🤷🏻‍♀️🤣