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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that size 12 isn't large?

363 replies

wussbird · 15/12/2010 14:44

Well am I?

Just looked on seraphine.co.uk for a maternity top I saw in a magazine and they have it in small, medium and large.

The large is a size 12-14!

OP posts:
Schulte · 16/12/2010 20:18

Oooops. Envy

Blush
KerryMumblesFaints · 16/12/2010 20:20

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PartialToACupOfMilo · 16/12/2010 20:32

I agree it's all relative. I'm 5'8" and a size 12. I wouldn't say I was fat, if anything I'm a bit thin. But then as well as being tall and not really into the skinny look, it's not that long since I had a baby, so I'm also comparing myself to that!!

My BMI by the way is 20, so right in the 'healthy' range - I would say that makes me medium Smile

NurseGladys · 16/12/2010 20:44

Another size 12 here- 5'7" pretty happy with my size and shape- or I was until I started living in France and for some reason all the clothes here are TINY a size 12 varies wildly depending on which shop you walk into, and something else I've started to notice is that French women seem to all have slim legs, and I am of the chunky-legged variety, even when I lose weight, it takes AGES to shift it from my thighs and drives me mad. Am seriously considering some lipo on there to sort it out once and for all (but then if you suck up all the fat cells does the fat just go somewhere else, instead, would I have fat elbows, for example?...Hmm

thebody · 16/12/2010 20:52

its fashion.. when i was young in the late 80s.. oh dear.. we all strived for a size 12. that was the norm and fine..

now I am a size 8 and feel thats right for me, 5'2" and i would feel huge at a size 12!!

not saying thats right... my dcs(3 grown up boys) all date without exception curvy girls(i.e size 12 and over) they say I am weight obsessed(not true).

but do worry about dd 11. she is very slim and sporty and does weigh herself every day as she sees me do..

still think its my job to teach my dcs about weight managment and excersise....

but size 12 isnt fat!!!! ridiculous

Ormirian · 16/12/2010 20:53

I'm a 12 and right now I'd say I was quite fat. But that's because it's flab instead of muscle.

mippy · 16/12/2010 20:58

"if size 16 is now average for UK woman (not saying that is healthy etc but apparently that is the average)"

I don't need you to tell me whether it's healthy, thanks.

The smallest my bone structure allows me to be is size 12 - as in, without a pick of fat on me. So it's relative. I was at my most unhappy with my body when I was at this size, so that's relative too.

Strangely enough, a couple of years ago I saw an 80s diet book in a charity shop: 'The Size 12 Diet'.

KerryMumblesBahHumBug · 16/12/2010 20:58

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mippy · 16/12/2010 20:58

Oh, I'm 5ft 10, btw, so a size 12 on me is not v.large.

KerryMumblesBahHumBug · 16/12/2010 20:59

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Ormirian · 16/12/2010 21:03

I am tall kerry and usually fit but not very fit atm and that's my problem. things wobble and billow where they didn't used to!

GraceAwayInAManger · 16/12/2010 21:07

I LOVE the way sizes have grown in the UK Xmas Grin I can make clothes and am fully aware that I'm a 'real' size 20 - but I fit the Asos size 16 so don't feel like a total freak!

I'm 5'8" so I am quite lardy atm. However, the smallest I can get before stabbing prople with my ribs is a 10 (UK sizes). It is all relative, really.

Oh, Grin @ the Spanx. Mine are XL, too. So who are these XS people with bulging midriffs? Xmas Confused

PressureDrop · 16/12/2010 21:09

Me too, Kerry. I'm 5'11. I was a size 10 in my 20s and everyone thought I was underweight and ill. I'm now a 14 and I think I look the best I ever have Grin

FrustratedHippy · 16/12/2010 21:16

I have weighed pretty much the same all my adult life

I used to be a 12 all the way through my twenties and thirties.

Sizes have changed as i now weigh only a few pounds less and am now 8-10 Confused

what i am trying to say is new 12 is old 14

thebody · 16/12/2010 21:18

i am gonna get slayed for this but actually there is a lot of prejudice and snide comments about slim women.. i hang round with a great group of mates.. my best buds.. i am size 8.. 8 stone and 5' i".. normal size i think... who cares....

all my mates are a size 14 or above i guess.. i dont ask and frankly i dont care.. but they are always having a go at me for being 'anorexic' or for ' vomiting in the toilet' etc.. all a joke but it gets on my nerves after a while because you cant banter back...

no I dont wear big pants,,, so what... i dont care if they do...

why would I want to call one of my friends fat!!!! I wouldnt dare/want to comment on her body but they do about me and its a bit of a pain actually...

FrustratedHippy · 16/12/2010 21:20

the body - i only said this the other day
people constantly comment on my weight - 'don't lose any more weight' etc i would never say 'don't put any more on'

quite insulting

msbossy · 16/12/2010 21:21

naughty mummy I am 5'2" and wear size 6 shoes. You can have a broad frame and be short.

5' 2", size 12-14 on top, 14-16 on bottom, and a BMI of 30. according to most posters here that makes me a whale. Thanks Sad.

lifeinCrimbo · 16/12/2010 21:23

FrustratedHippy - same here!

I got a jumper from gap, its a size XXS, and its actually a little big on me Confused

But I guess the americans are ahead of us in the size stakes.

GirlWithTheMouseyHair · 16/12/2010 21:28

I'm 5' 9" and a size 12, but with definate love handles going on which make me feel fat.

At uni I was a size 14 but looked much fatter than I do now, which is weird....

I still pick up the M clothes in H&M etc, I'd personally class 16-18 as large but finding this is depressing that sizes have noticeably shrunk so much!

FrustratedHippy · 16/12/2010 21:29

girl - i think sizes have grown not shrunk?

KerryMumblesBahHumBug · 16/12/2010 21:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

FrustratedHippy · 16/12/2010 21:41

go to h and m kerry - lots of long tops there

midriff-arm length -leg length drive me nutty!

thebody · 16/12/2010 21:44

FrustratedHippy.. soooo agree ..

one of my friends said last week 'well its choosing face or figure' apparnatley she meant if you are slim then you look older than if you are fat...

she said well 'the body' I choose face over figure... i would have never ever said that to her.. as in you choose fat over face..

told my dh and he was mad... says i should tell her how much that comment hurt me but dont think i will bother..

amazing how fat people have the thinnest skin!!! apparantlya nd you cant say a word to them .. and us skinnies are supposed to have the opposite!!!!

Natjan · 16/12/2010 21:44

People describe me as slim sometimes even thin and I'm a 10 sometimes 12! I've been this size for the past 18 years now the sizes in clothes haven't changed in all of those years, not that I've been aware of anyway and I haven't put on any weight in fact I've lost it!! I'm happy with being this size and it fits me comfortably. So def not - a 12 is not big!!!

Niceguy2 · 16/12/2010 21:44

@Thebody. It's called jealousy. The snide comments are because you remind them they are fat.

Next time they have a pop at you for vomiting in the toilets or being anorexic, ask them who ate all the pies? What's good enough for the goose is good enough for the gander.