who was the idiot who said that size12/14 was 'chubby'?

[mrsfuzzy]

spitting feathers over an article i read yesterday in the newspaper about this subject. it's common knowledge that the average size is 16 and over in this country so how would that make a lot of women feel? does it really matter what your size? also why the emphasis on women why not men? many of them carry weight, noone seems to say anything about it. we all come in various shapes, sizes and colours and everyone is unique and beautiful in their own way be it inside or out. media should stop giving us these so called ideals and let us decide for ourselves how we wish to look.

Weegie that is amazing, well done you

There are 2 women in my spin and Body combat class who are really quite overweight, and in their 50s. They are demons. They do 2 classes every evening and really go for it.

They are extremely fit and are very active, whether they mainline lard and drink 10 pints of Guinness when they go home or whether they have hit that age where the weight won't shift I don't know and it's none of my business.

Digestives.

When I was ill with a Hyerthyroidism, I went from 7stone 9 ( 5foot 2") to under 6 stone and I looked skeletal. With treatment - overdosed- I ballooned to over 8stone, but was dismayed that my usual proportions had gone awry, and my hips were too small for my waist . So ended with a 10 top and 14 trousers but with a baggy bum, very depressing.

Twinklereturns. When Im a size 8 they hardly rub yet when im a 10 they rub constantly because that's where i put on weight. If Im wearing jeans that area wears out fast! If Im wearing a skirt i get sores between my thighs (attractive!), so i don't consider that to be normal.

Should we even care about dress sizes? They vary so much from shop to shop anyway and they aren't a medically recognised measure of the body after all.

Surely we should be focussing on weight and things like hip to waist ratio and percentage body fat, not what size our clothes are?

I have a small waist but a rather large backside. I am a typical pear shape, recognised as being more healthy than being an apple and carrying all the weight round my internal organs. At my slimmest I was 9.7 st and had a BMI of 20.8 but I still had trouble getting into a pair of trousers smaller than a 14. They used to gape badly round the waist because that bit of me was a 10/12. Probably I had a chubby arse, if you want to call it that but I wasn't chubby anywhere else where it mattered and where it was unhealthy and to be made to feel like I had a problem just because of my dress size would be wrong imo.

So I get where the OP is coming from in terms of labels being related to dress size but it does irritate me a little that this thread has continued in that vein with people comparing their dress size to their health or relative chubbiness because I don't think we should be thinking in terms of dress size at all.

Chubby can be quite attractive, healthy even (within limits).

On me (almost 5'8" tall) size 14* TROUSERS would be chubby indeed. Size 14-16 is right for my TOP, not fat at all. I look perfectly proportional, just am not a pear-shape. The numbers don't match which makes these size generalisations especially .

*Modern clothes sizes. 20 years ago I wore a size 12 top and bottom. Now it's usually 8 on bottom & 16 on top. My hips & bust haven't changed!! .

Have only read the first two pages so perhaps the debate has moved on, but:

I am 5'11" and a size 10, occasionally a 12 in trousers. I weigh about 10st5lb and have a BMI of 20.5. I am slender but I certainly don't look like a stick! At 12st4lb I was a size 14 and definitely chubby. I hated it, it didn't suit me. My BMI then was 24, so at the top end of normal. If I'd gone up to a size 16, I'd have been overweight.

Someone mentioned vanity sizing - when I was a teenager (and I'm 27, so not that long ago) a size 10 was equivalent to a 36. I bought some vest tops from New Look the other day which are labelled '10/38'. So I suppose I'm really a true size 12, though I don't mind pretending to be a 10!

That means that the 'average' 16 is really more like an 18. People's perceptions have changed. To be honest, I think the average woman (based entirely unscientifically on people I see in the street) is pretty fat. We've just got used to it.

The sizes are much larger than years ago. They started at 10 = 32"x22"X34"
12 = 34x24x36., each size increasing by 2". And the measurements of the clothes were as stated. These were the proportions that most women were, then. Bust 10" larger than waist and hips 2" larger than busom and 12" larger than waist. But come to think of it, most of my friends had much bigger busoms than me, so wore separates, presumably. It was not a talking point.

Yip, agree with everyone. Clothing sizes are meaningless, as they differ so much between stores (or even in stores).

If I'm at a size 12/14 I look chubby (5'7") and it's not healthy for me, as any excess weight goes straight to my stomach (apple-shaped, lucky me), which means an increased risk of diabetes, heart attacks etc.

Dress size doesn't mean a lot. I'm anything from an 8 to a 14 depending on what the item is or whre it's from. I'm 5"5 and 9.5 stone. Even in one shop my size can vary. Plus some people need bigger bottoms or tops depending on boobs, bigger hips etc

A size 12-14 probably is chubby if you're not tall, and there is a big obesity problem, but there's also a problem around obsession with weight and dieting. I gave up dieting years ago when I actually ending up putting on a stone through trying too hard and then binging. Lifes been a lot easier since I just accepted myself for how I am.

And yes the media can be very, very hard on women especially. I'd say to any woman stop reading gossip magazines and your life will improve dramatically.

Aww thanks! I can't take a lot of credit for it, I lost a stone then got a neuro illness which meant I ate nothing for weeks, and lost 4 more! Other 2 have been since then. I'd like to lose another stone, and I'm waiting to see the surgeons about having my excess skin removed! Until my condition is stable I can't have elective surgery.
But I'm very proud of myself, even for the 3st I lost on purpose!

10 is still 36

12 is 38

14 is 40

I am size 14 and 5'7" - overweight but toned. I look muscly and curvy, hourglass shaped. Am heavier than I'd like to be but am also quite happy with myself as I am.

I don't wear dresses anymore, but separates. And there is a large difference in the same size, so order always at least 2 of the same size for choice
I lived in Germany and size 8 was 34, 10 =36, but some labels say the french is 36 for 8 and 38 for 10. Confusing isn't it, when you are ordering.

I love tha fact that the majority of posters are saying that health is far more important than clothes size and yet still feel the need to justify themselves by posting their own size

Did anyone see the news about the anniversary of the suffragette movement?....

But unfortunately, makers put those labels on a very wide range of clothes. Which is why, for example, a size 10 Vivienne Westwood top is a 42.

m.viviennewestwood.co.uk/size-guide/

Meaningless to talk about sizes when there is so much variation.

I only order clothes, and have found that New Look is about right, but Next are much bigger.

I'm size 12 and a bit chubby, at 5' 5".
I have a narrow frame and very narrow hips, so I don't carry weight well. It depends on height and frame size, and also how people feel - some people are size 16-18 and don't look chubby at all, just curvy.

The problem here is really that body shape and size seems to be considered more important by some people than health.

Woozley

" toned, muscly, hour glass figure and 5foot 5" - sounds perfect to me.

It depends how tall you are, and in which shop and which decade you buy your clothes.

I used to be a size 12, now I'm a size 8! (but I've stayed the same size and all the clothes still fit )

Some dreadful comments on here, a few sane ones, but a lot are horrid. I've just had a second baby and am a 12-14 so this has made me feel really crap. Sorry I'm not perfect.

I was wondering about what my frame size was and found this www.myfooddiary.com/Resources/frame_size_calculator.asp

It tells me I am broad - joys! but then the fact I am 5'9 and generally a size 14 seems fine to me!

Don't worry, LittleAbruzz, we'd all hate you far worse if you were back to size 8-10 just after having a baby!!

The differences in the european sizes is because some are French and some are Italian. A size 10 is 42 in Italy and 38 in France I think.

llkk

I was 9st 9 when giving birth, but my measurements were 36"x36"x36" previously 32"x22"X34" - 5foot 2" and tiny framed. Had the little boy look which made me feel right unfeminine ( had a real inferiority complex about it) but felt like a woman at last when pregnant. After 6 weeks I was down to 8st.4, but didn't weigh myself again and got back to my normal weight, just as my sister and friend who was 7st.2. were. And I was back with my little boy inferiority complex. Now I,m older, I have the "in" figure, but too old to care or be significant in my life.