to want to be a size six ?

[MoodyDidIt]

i am pretty petite (five 2 and "small boned" ) if i was taller, even just a couple more inches i would be more than happy being a 10 - 12 as proportionally i would still look very slim. but i am a shortarse little and every extra Lb shows :/

and would probably only need to lose 5 - 10lbs to get to this size (am currently 8 stone 2, and a dress size 8 - 10 )

i have been a size 6 before in my teens and early 20s and after i had dc1 and became single and basically couldn't afford to eat and felt great at that size, like i could wear anything

i just think very slim women look great in anything ....and thats just MY opinion btw so i dont want to offend anyone

[Salbertina]

Why not? Not U at all. Its your aim for you and no one else and its doable as you're so petite anyway.

[ControlGeek]

OP is it that you want to be a size 6 again, or that you want to get rid of your tummy? I only ask because I am 5 foot 2, 9.5 stone and an hourglass size 10 but still with a pit of a paunch. I thought this would have gone (I have lost 3 stone) but it seems to have stayed in proportion to the rest of my body. Exercise, in particular the dreaded Shred, can focus on reducing this (and trims off an inch or two in the places that count yet keep me at the same weight). I'd just hate for you to starve yourself to get down to a size 6 and still be sad that you had a tummy.

[specialsubject]

you are slap in the middle of the healthy weight range of your height. You are fine.

can I gently suggest that you stop worrying about the label in your knickers.

[Sallystyle]

I am the same height and weight as you.

I want to be a size 6 too,. However, I mostly want to be more toned and strong so started using the gym and paying for a personal trainer. I want to be a size 6 but only if I am toned size 6.

[HauntedArmchairOfDoom]

It's OK to be interested in your appearance, and want to look a certain way: of course it is.

But as a kind of ambition - look, there are worlds to conquer, of skills and hobbies and amazing things to see and do and experience. If you (and all of us) stopped fretting so much about our surface area and instead thought about all the other incredible things we can do with our lives we'd all be heaps happier.

[MomsNetCurtains]

My SIL is a size 4/6. She is 5ft 4. She is also anorexic; lives on grapes and not much else and exercises every day.

I think you sound a lovely size.

I'm 5ft 6 and a size 12. But I have boobs; I would look ill at a size 8 let alone a size 6. Plus DP would most likely leave me if my boobs disappeared.

[ithaka]

I do understand where you are coming from. I am 5foot 1 and sit easily at 8stone, which looks slim and fine. However, when I am exercising a lot, I can go down to 7 and a half stone, like I used to be in my twenties and I do think I look great - in clothes. However, I don't look as good naked - I look a bit ribby, my hip bones stick out & my boobs are a bit deflated. So I have decided to choose nice body/more food over looking good in clothes.

My DH also prefers the less skinny me - when I am training hard, he makes the odd 'you could do with a pie' type jocular comment. I am definitely cuddlier at 8 stone.

Yes, it is shallow, but I like to look as good as I can, within reason.

[Dahlen]

If you can honestly say your diet is good and you exercise regularly, then you are probably at your optimum weight. If that makes you feel 'fat' or a somehow lesser person, you might want to consider that maybe society is at fault, rather than your body shape.

That said, we're all products of the society in which we live, and appearance is a large part of most normal's people self-esteem (which doesn't necessarily equate to being thin, but usually encompasses nice clothes, good grooming, etc). As long as you are healthy, there are all sorts of ways to maximise your attractiveness without having to resort to extreme diets or exercise regimes. Don't forget that even celebrities force themselves into Spanx etc for red-carpet events.

However, if you feel your 'spare tyre' is a product of less-than-ideal lifestyle, you should find it shifts if you improve your diet and level of exercise, and provided you don't go to extremes, this can only be of benefit to you.

Good luck with it all.

[Solari]

I don't think having an interest in your own appearance is particularly shallow unless it is your overriding priority and you have no other goals (which you have said you do).

However, I do think it is a little odd (in a potentially unhealthy way) to fixate on label sizing as your marker. I can understand looking in the mirror and perhaps wanting your figure to be more slender overall, or spot-checking certain areas (like tummy) and working on those.

But a clothes label is so divorced from how you actually look, that I do think its perhaps not the healthiest thing to focus on.

[WorraLiberty]

No-one online can tell you if YABU or not.

You know you're own body and if you'll be happy and healthy at a size 6 then go for it.

[enormouse]

I used to be a size 6, when I was about 16.

Not any more though, am now a size 8-10. I'm 5ft 3 and around 8 and a half stone now. I'm not sure how much I weigh exactly as I don't own scales and the numerical value of my weight isn't important. Being fit and healthy is. I was as fit and healthy as a size 6 as I am now but I'm more confident and happy being a little bigger.

I probably could get down to a 6 but I wouldn't want to.
If it makes you happy to be a six and you do it in a healthy, steady way then do it. (And if your bmi is still in the healthy range)

[ShowOfHands]

You can want to be whatever you want. I personally don't think that having a size as a goal is the greatest idea. Better to aim to be fit and healthy, eating sensibly, happy and wearing clothes you like. That will be whatever size it is in whichever shops you happen to like.

I'm an inch taller than you op, weigh the same as you and am a size 8 in most shops. I probably couldn't be a size 6, whatever that means, because I eat healthily and exercise lots so am my natural shape. There'd be no point me aiming to be that size as I'd have to be ill to achieve it. I just am the size I'm meant to be. If you feel that 'size 6' fits in with a healthy longterm lifestyle for you then what's the problem?

[Lizzylou]

From what you have said I think just exercising more and toning up any wobbly bits would be enough?

[nipersvest]

i am 5ft 2, weigh about 9 stone and am a size 12. in my yoof, i was the same height (obviously ) but weighed only 7 stone and from memory, i was about a size 8 back then.

am much happier as i am now, i guess in the 80's when i was at school, it wasn't as fashionable to be skinny like it is now. i was constantly teased at school, 'don't run too fast, your legs will snap'. i was also sent to the doctor after a high school medical to talk about a diet to put on weight as they were worried i was too thin. i was desperate to put on weight, and finally did at the age of 24, all of a sudden i started to fill out and look and feel more healthy.

it's up to you op what size you feel comfortable at, but the only part of your post i would have to disagree with is slim women looking great in anything! i don't think they do at all.

[MamaBear17]

I am a size 8-10 and wouldnt want to be any thinner on my top half. My collarbone already sticks out and I look scrawny from the boobs up. That being said, Id love to slim out my bottom half. Being a pear shape means I have a wobbly bottom half. When I look in the mirror I see bones and ribs stick out (which are ugly) but also a wobbly lower belly, hips and thighs. That being said, I am sat here eating Ferrero Rocher whilst my DD naps so shouldnt really moan about my flabby bits!

[Scholes34]

Move to the States and you won't have to worry about losing weight.

[terriblelie]

I am 5ft 3 and I also looked better as a size 6. I am a size 8-10 now and I'm looking a bit chunky, it's just the way my body carries weight and clothes don't look as good. I'm quite sure I read recently that BMI isn't really useful for shorter people like us.

Size 6 is my usual size when I've been very active and healthy, and involved in lots of sports. I don't have so much time these days, hence the weight gain.

On the plus side, I have better tits now though, I didn't have any at all at size 6.

[DollyClothespeg]

YANBU- I'd like to be a size 6 too! Though preferably an 8. However, as a 5,3, 12 stone wearer of size 14/16... This is merely a pipe dream for me!

doodlemums - are you me?! 5" 3, 12 stone and a size 14 at the minute. Size 6 would be fantastic but is a bit of a 'dream on!'

[MoodyDidIt]

in the 80's when i was at school, it wasn't as fashionable to be skinny like it is now

thats really interesting nipersvest same when i was at school (90's) - skinny was not desirable at all, the skinny girls would get teased for it, in fact i WAS one of the skinny girls who got teased :/

its funny how things come round fashion wise

[Creamtea1]

I'd love to be a size 6 - however I'm 25 weeks pregnant and just this morning tipped my bmi into overweight at 25.1 so that is a distant memory.... I was 9 stone pre preg and 5ft 6, and just about a size 8 (more like size 9 to be honest)
I have a friend who is a size 4-6 and she is very, very slim - I think a lovely figure but at that size it's very much personal opinion/preference

[Loulybelle]

I was in school in the 90's it was the fat girls that got the shit.

[DontmindifIdo]

OP - I know what you mean - currently pregnant so god knows what size I'll be when bump goes but I'm 5foot 0 - and a petite frame, post DC1 I got back down to size 8, but on me that still looked wobbly/big. I think on my frame, a size 6 looks better, however accept that's probably a good year away.

If you have the same issue that you carry fat on your middle, then not just dieting but exercising would be good. do you have an old dress or pair of jeans you used to look great in to aim for rather than saying size 6? Size 6 can mean very different things for different shops.

[ouryve]

That sounds unreasonably thin.

I'm 5'4 - was an inch taller as a teen and 7st3 at my slimmest. I could eat anything, then and not gain weight. All the same, despite my own slight build, I was a size 10 - a 12 in some things.

Our bodies change as we age and have children. I look awful at anything much less than 9 stone, now. And, incidentally, at that weight, my hips are the same size as when I was 15 and just over 7 stone. It would be ridiculous for me to want to lose that much weight again - I would look frail and scrawny.

[takeaway2]

I'm 5ft3 and a size 8. I am also just under 8 stone. I wish my belly would tone up but wishing it isn't going to tone it! lol. and this is after 2 kids. After 1 kid, it was still flat... sigh.

Anyways, if you want to be a size 6, you could go shop at Zara? I recently went there, and came home with a size 6 pair of trousers. amazingly, 8 was really too big round the waist. 6 was perfect.