If you're a size 12/14.....

[NoFashion]

What height are you and how much do you weigh please? Or what is your BMI?

Also maybe which shops you buy 12s from.

I've lost a lot of weight lately and finding that size 14s from some shops are getting too big.

But - I feel like I'm too heavy to be a 12.

I don't shop in fancy places really. M&S. Next. Supermarkets.

But my BMI is 28. I really thought in my head I'd need to be a healthy weight before I was even close to a 12.

I’ve recently lost 3.5 stone and am finding size 12s just starting to fit with a BMI of 28.5 too. I think it is vanity sizing, but I don’t care

I’m the same dress size(s) as you. I’m 5 ft 4.5 BMI of around 27, as calculator doesn’t seem to like half inches!

Thanks all.

I agree with those saying it's vanity sizing.

And also that supermarkets run bigger.

I absolutely am aware that if I went into top shop (far too old!) I'd probably be an 18.

Just seemed unlikely that any 14s would be too big when I'm high up in the "overweight" category. For a very long time a size 12 felt like an impossibility. (Heck anything that started with a 1 did!)

I'm still needing to lose more weight. For my own health. So only buying cheap bits until I've hit my health goals. Hence the supermarket etc.

I guess once I'm where I need to be then I can really find out which shops suit me. And I won't be worried by the size on the label.

But to be able to shop in "normal" shops and even take part in a thread like this is still so novel for me. So I really appreciate all of your answers. So interesting to see the various answers.

I'm short (5'2") and quite booby (much less large chested than I was. But still an F cup so I think that adds to my BMI) so maybe that's why I find it surprising to be in such a "slim" size even though I'm not far off obese still.

I'm 5'9", 74kg (sorry don't know what that is in stones) and BMI 24.2.

Very solidly a size 14, have been for years. I lost about a stone earlier this year but didn't drop a dress size. Probably because I carry all my weight around my middle so it's the last to go!

However, I do need a size 12 in M&S, Joules and sometimes Next. I've always assumed it's vanity sizing.

According to my bmi I'm overweight/obese depending on various factors (being short a small difference in weight affects my bmi a lot) but am generally a 12, sometimes a 14.
I know I need to lose weight but it makes no real difference to my clothes size because I have wide hips (so never below a 12 since I was about 15) and top size is generally down to fitting my boobs in.

NoFashion I know what you mean - I've lost 44kg / 7 stone since July. For me its not the numbered sizes but M/L/ XL (XS and S = teen DD ). I picked up some cheap short pyjamas in Aldi today and it did not compute thst I'm a size M - I used to not fit in Aldi standard clothes, only their plus size range which locally they only stock rarely. Now I fit in the regular stuff I instinctively go for the biggest size. I only really clicked that my size is now M not XL when I accidentally picked up something for DD in an M, which was too big for her, and she said "This is your size now, try it" - and it fit!
Mind ironically blown by being medium

Most websites have size guides - I know my measurements due to my msin weightloss goal actually having been a waist under 80cm for heart health reasons and the constant quest for a correctly fitting bra (I'm a top heavy apple shape) and if you buy according to size charts you usually get a comfortable, loose fit (as well as seeing which shops assume customers are pear or hour glass shapes).

I’m 5’8” and 10st 7lb and I’m a 12-14. Which doesn’t seem to fit with others responses. Should I be more of a 10? Maybe I’m baggy!!

But - I feel like I'm too heavy to be a 12.

This makes no sense.

The number on a scale has no direct correlation with the label a manufacturer sews into a garment.

Depends where I shop but I'm a 12-16

Tend to be 12-14 on top 14-16 on bottom

It's my boobs and thighs which cause me issues for what fits

I like fat face, next, H&M, supermarkets

27.2 BMI

5'6". 9 st 12 Oz. BMI 22

BMI 29.9

New Look, Hush, Dorothy Perkins, Primark.

Size 12 - 5ft 3 - 10 stone 7lbs. BMI is about 25, if memory serves me.

Size 12, 5ft 4", 10st

@Trinacham

Size 12, 5ft 4", 10st

And BMI 23.9

11 stone and 5ft7. BMI is 24.5 i think. I was 13st8 at the beginning of January this year (BMI 29.8) and was a size 16 but now a 12-14 more towards the 12 end

I’ve lost weight in the last six months as I had put on far too much in the last lockdown. I don’t possess bathroom scales but go by the fit of my clothes. I’m around 5’4” and last October size 14 was getting too tight . Now I am a 12 in tops but a 14 in dresses and skirts and 14-16 in trousers. I’m very pear shaped and l think l have a fairly small frame because I don’t look good at size 16 or above. Many ladies can carry it off well though. I’m happy with my present size but l am sure that vanity sizing is a real thing. My size tens and twelves from the eighties would not go anywhere near me now. I had a 25” waist then and that was a size twelve waist at the time.

I'm 5ft 1 and 10st (trying to reduce that to get below 25 BMI)

It very much depends where I shop as to what size I am. For example:

Next - Size 12
Dorothy Perkins - size 10
H&M - 14/16

Sizing is very different in different shops. I have to buy petite bottoms and the sizing tends to be smaller in petite too.

5'8, before lockdown I was 10st 3lbs, but since I think I've gained over a stone (I can't check as I'm a wheelchair user).

I've put 5'8 and 11st 7lbs (total guess), into a BMI calculator and it says 24.3.

I get clothes from Boohoo (great for long trousers), Next, DP, StitchFix, Vinted (my new fave place).

5ft5 and 9st5 here, BMI 21.8. Size 12 in trousers and skirts, size 10 in tops and dresses, as long as they are not fitted on the bottom half. I'm a pear shape. That said, I've got everything in my wardrobe from a size 6 (dress from New Look) to size 14 (skirts from H&M and Stradavirus. Trying to loose a bit of weight but not sure I'll ever get my bottom half back to size 10

I've lost two stone over the past 18 months and because I've done lots of strength training my shape has changed and I'm more compact. I fit in M&S size 12 trousers and jeans, but my measurements are a 14 in many manufacturers' clothes. I'm no longer bothered about the size I'm wearing because I've got a healthy BMI and I'm in better shape than I have been most of my adult life.

It's so confusing as I'm 12st 4 5ft 2 but a size 14 sometime s16. I'm very much round the middle and legs

5'5, 9 stone 7ish, size 10/small size 12 in bottoms, size 10 or 8 in tops as small chested, i carry most of my weight around my middle!

Just try stuff on, its all you can do. We're all different shapes, proportions and sizes, with different body fat percentages. What fits one person will be totally wrong on someone else.

But it makes sense that you're in a 12 but still overweight in BMI terms, because at your height, a 12 is overweight. You'd have to be a good few inches taller for it not to be. (Not trying to be rude or fat shaming, just factual).

I'm 5'7 and need to be 11 stone or under to be a 12, and that's probably a BMI of around 25. Simple maths says that if you're the same width as me, but 5 inches shorter, your BMI will be higher.

Forget about BMI, it makes little sense for many people. Instead focus on waist size (it should be half your height or less) and just generally how you look - toned or flabby - if you have excess weight around your middle, that's a good sign that losing weight will improve your health.

5'3" and about 12st (hitting the gym class this afternoon!) I've been size 12 jeans and 14 top for years but I confess they're rather tight...

Size 14 12st 5’5’’