to think that women who are a size 6/8/10 are permanently on a diet?

[SabineUndine]

I don't mean diet as in counting every calorie, but diet as in they hardly eat any carbs and don't eat cakes, biscuits etc more than a couple of times a year? I am not a thin person (you guessed?) and I look at what my really slim female colleagues eat and it's salads with no carbs and just a tiny bit of protein, or soup or smoothies. Is that what it takes to be a thin person?

For disclosure, I was in the forces so most of my fitness was easily done at lunchtime or late evenings as I had access to all sorts of fitness classes & the gym within 10 mins of my workplace.

1. There are some slim people who work hard at it.

2. There are some slim people who don't work hard at it, but do naturally prefer to eat healthier or less or do lots of exercise.

3. There are some slim people who eat 2500 calories and live off take aways and donuts and stay slim anyway. Sometimes this changes post DC/post menopause, sometimes it doesn't.

I'm somewhere between 2 and 3. DH is category 3 (as are several women in his family).

Some people on here don't seem to believe category 3 exists. They certainly do - it's unfair but it is true!

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/enhanced/doi/10.1002/oby.21538

This is the full study
Well Worth a read!

A bit like mango I can carry more weight than my female family members whilst wearing the same size. I'm the shortest in my family but I'm also the most active. Whilst I don't do circuit training etc I can't drive so at worst I walk to the nearest local transport but generally I walk everywhere local. My muscle tone has always been good even at my heaviest. Other members of my family drive to the local shop and almost collapse in horror that id walk 30mins just to get somewhere.

But then even within my family we have people who can eat massive meals without gaining, those who barely eat naturally and still gain weight, those who eat a salad and lose 3lbs, those who look at a cake and gain 3lbs.

Of all of us who have dieted I'm the only one who's successfully kept it off long term. Because I retrained myself into eating properly. Now that's eating normally for me. And I actually enjoy food more than I ever did. Especially

Mango My body type sounds a lot like yours.

I was 10 stone last year, I'm 5'3, but wore a size 10. I went the gym, daily and weight lifted.

Ive been ill since November, I'm having an OP tomorrow, I've been on Steroids.

I've put on just over three stone, at two stone overweight, my clothes still fitted me, they were just tight.

I'm now 13+ stone, as said 5'2" and in a size 14-16, I'm buying from Tesco etc, because when I'm well, I'll be back in the gym.

I was hiking and exercising at 15 stone and no-one beloved that I was classed as moderately obese. I was in a size 16-18, in Tesco/Asda clothes and a 14-16 in more generous sizing clothes.

I was medically underweight and still only a size 8-10, I'd have to be skeletal, to be a true 6-8.

My DDs (Adults) are size 6-10, naturally.

I think the style of clothes we wear also has a bit to do with it.

If this was the 80s for example, I don't imagine we could gain too much weight and still wear the same size high waisted jeans/trousers/skirts with the unforgiving buttons and zips.

Low waistbands, elasticated waists and loose fitting dresses do make it quite possible to gain a couple of stone and still not have to buy new clothes.

I'm a size 10/12 and slim and I NEVER diet. I eat lots of pasta, croissants, pains au chocolat etc.

Oh - and the commonly held belief that clothes sizes have changed is wrong. I tried on a coat this weekend that had belonged to my grandmother when she was 59 in 1965. It fits me with room to spare aged 49 in 2016. And it's a size 12!

Yes, some people do wear clothes too tight. Either because they don't want to spend more money buying new clothes, or because they think if they can get in them, then it's fine.

I'm now wearing a loose fitting (as intended) knitted top on a size 8. I'm sure someone who is normally a size 12 could squeeze in it, but it would look all stretched up and weird.

But that doesn't mean our bodies aren't naturally slim, until we put more calories into them than we need to and then fail to burn the excess off.

To be honest, I think we're arguing over semantics.

Perhaps 'naturally slim' is the wrong phrase. How about 'effortlessly slim'?

Some people are slim without any thought and effort going into it. Other people most definitely have to make a concerted effort to remain slim.

^I think the style of clothes we wear also has a bit to do with it.

If this was the 80s for example, I don't imagine we could gain too much weight and still^^ wear the same size high waisted jeans/trousers/skirts with the unforgiving buttons and zips.

Low waistbands, elasticated waists and loose fitting dresses do make it quite possible to gain a couple of stone and still not have to buy new clothes.^

Aah, Worra!

See, my body shape loves high waisted stuff - I have a really hollow back with big bum.
Low waistbands are the devils work for me as they sit right on my widest part - I need something with a high rise over my ass!!

Definitely agree about style of clothes - I have never been a skinnies wearer as I just look like a twat in them, I prefer boyfriend fit or cropped (rolled up) straight legged.

I never went sleeveless as I had arms like Fatima Whitbread, but wore fitted tops (when I was not the behemoth I am now) because my tummy was v v flat.
If I wore fitted tops, it also meant you could see that my back was hollow & my waist was small, whereas a loose top dropped straight from shoulder over my ass and hips and made me look square & dumpy.

There may well be a link between obesity and stretchy clothes but I'd say obesity has caused stretchy clothes to become more popular and profitable rather than stretchy clothes causing obesity

but I suppose they would feedback and together amplify the situation

Lweji sizing has changed over the years. In the 1950s and 60s, a size 10 was always a 24 inch waist. I used to do a lot of dressmaking in the late 60s, early 70s, so used patterns which had size guides and a bog standard 10 was something like B34-W24-H34/36 inches. Nowadays, size 10 waists can be 29-30 in a skirt (and indeed are given as those measurements on some websites like Boden who have garment measurements and body measurements per garment.) My wedding dress which has a very fitted waist is a size 10 and although I am still a 10 now, I can''t fasten that dress now!

That's interesting, Polly. My waist is 25 but I wear an 8 or sometimes a 6 in most high-street clothes, which is ridiculous when you consider that I'm about 5' 10".

There is definitely a phenomenon of vanity sizing these days.

I don't know about the 50s or 60s, but I have worn the same clothes for easily 20 years without change. Only the last five years that I put on a bit of weight have I noticed any difference and it's getting tighter.

The other side of the coin is that my mum (now in her late 80s) has been more or less the same size all her life- between 8.5 st and 9 (which she feels too fat at.) She always used to buy a size 14 mainly as she has a big bust- but now with the help of uplifting Bravissimo she can fit into coats, jackets, skirts and dresses that are sometimes a size 10. Anything she buys online in a size 14 has to be sent back because they are huge compared to what she used to buy.

When I was around 16 - 18 I wore a 10 with a 24" waist; the slim and petite tended towards an 8 and the really petite and slender were v v lucky if they could find a 6 anywhere.

A couple of years ago before I got big as I am now, I was a 10 with a 29" waist.
(Although I had to shop around for the right shape & style to suit as my bum was around 40").

Size 6-8 is quite common now amongst the petite folk, 4 is the domain of the old 6 wearers.

Look at the size guides for clothes now - a size 10 waist can be anything from 27 to 31. It never used to be more than 24 inches. The 'ideal' hourglass figure that women were supposed to attain was 36-24- 36 with a waist 10-12 inches smaller than bust or hips. This was the 'dream' but clothes did reflect these measurements.

In terms of vanity sizing, it is far more prevalent in high street shops. There has been no vanity sizing up in my designer clothes, so the vanity sizing is very much label dependant.

Size 6 - always been. Live on carbs - and generally eat what I want healthy or unhealthy. No exercize but a very active person as in running around all day. Only drink tea (green or black) during the day or a diet coke and drink little alcohol so perhaps little calories from there.. My full time job and 2 small children are my diet

A 24 inch waist is really very small though. And it depends where you measure ("natural" waist, or just below your ribs), and how tight you squeeze. 34-24-34 measurements are not "natural" even in very young women - there is a good reason why, over the course of history, a fashion for tiny waists has generally been accompanied by women using artificial aids to hold their waists in (corsets)!

As someone who was buying small sizes in the 1980s and 1990, I think there's been about a one size inflation in brands marketed to younger women (size inflation is probably greater in brands aimed at older customers).

I'm not going to read all 34 pages, but YABVU. I'm normally a size 6 (pregnant at the moment though) and I've never been on a diet in my life. I eat biscuits, chocolate, cake, whatever the hell I want. I don't like salad and I'm not too keen on most vegetables.

I eat more than anyone I know.

And yes, it's annoying when people say that I must eat like a sparrow to be the size I usually am. Some of my friends insisted I go to the doctor once because of my size, which really pissed me off but I went just to show them that there was nothing wrong with me.

Misti, my waist is naturally 25" (not quite 24" but you take my point). Just because a measurement seems 'small' (compared to what?) doesn't mean it doesn't occur.

I am very flat-chested (32" or 34"; can never seem to settle on one definitive measurement!) but have wide hips (40" or so, although haven't measured in a while). I'd say my body is quite a typical pear-shape.

24 inches isn't really that small for waists though. My waist is about 28 inches and I'm tall and medium sized so I would have thought it was about right for shorter slimmer women.

I usually say I'm a 12 but in reality by modern sizes, I'm a size 14 hips with a size 10 waist as I do have a defined waist so nothing really fits at all as the average waist size has increased by much more than the average size overall and clothes have changed shape to accomodate this.

I eat what I like and am a healthy size 8 ish. I don't eat much junk however and am generally careful not to pig out too much. I do some exercise buy mainly run round doing stuff with the kids and spend little time sedentary, except at work desk,
We all keep busy so don't out weight on much. We walk places, go for walks and bike rides, play footy together and things. Less TV than most people possibly too.