To think that vanity sizing has gotten ridiculous?

[Namila]

I recently bought a beautiful, vintage, evening gown for a formal event. The dress is from the '80s. When I saw the dress on the rack (a unique piece since it was second hand) and the label read "size 10", I was disappointed as usually size 10 is way too big for me.

I thought I would still try it on, thinking that perhaps a tailor could work on it and make it fit properly. Imagine my surprise when I realized that not only it was not too big, it was nearly too tight!!

When I shop in "modern" stores I need to buy an 8, and sometimes even a 6. I'd normally swim in a 10! I am short and petite, but definitely not extremely skinny.

AIBU to think that this vanity sizing thing has gotten a bit crazy and the current sizes have nothing to do with the way sizes were even just a couple of decades ago?

The environment is obesigenic.
Rise of internet/screens.
Better transport/cars.
Time poor.
Convenience foods.
Cheap processed fast foods.
Clever marketing/advertising/capitalism.
Formula milk.
Lack of green spaces/access to green spaces.
Sedentary jobs.
Cultural beliefs.
Upbringing.
Migration/change if climate/diet.
Expense of eating well.

Are some possible reasons for the obesity epidemic.
I don't think it is wholly personal responsibility. There is also the (debatable) issue of food/sugar addiction, and emotional eating.

It would be great if people could stop fat shaming though. Because that doesn't contribute anything to the debate.

My mum has battled with Eating disorders.
She has gone from size 0-18 (or should that be 4-20?) constantly.
'All her family are big'
She was an overweight child, and had little choice in the matter.
Grew into an overweight and unhappy woman.
Binge / starved for as long as I can remember.

It is forecast that over 50% of the population will be obese by 2050, iirc.

It is a complex layered problem and not as simple as not eating so much.

People will be obese with or without the NHS, look at the USA for example.

It's a sign of the times.

I only buy jeans in Ralph Lauren - because I know they fit, I've bought them for years and have about 3 pairs in circulation. I wear them for work.

I went to buy a new pair a while ago, got home and they were too big. I went back and queried it, they're now 'vanity sized' So, I'm now a 25" waist in their jeans - unless I buy them from the pile 1cm to the right (pre-vanity sized) where I'm a 26". My actual waist is 26". But now I need to buy 25".

There is a 'vanity' to clothe size. Most people are constantly talking about dieting/exercising/losing weight, what size they are/what size they want to be. If the marker of size 6/8/10/12 is constantly changing then we, as a population, are growing bigger but deciding we're not and it's all fine. It's not. Plates, like clothes, have got bigger and we've all just not noticed. Or noticed and pretended not to. Most people eat too much and don't do enough exercise. Most people deny this and say they eat little and are always exercising but that can't be true because they get bigger. Vanity sizing doesn't help because it is just that - vanity sizing.

Good post Roderick.

Also, genetics dictates that 50% of children inherit from the opposite sex jumped across generations

my daughter resembles my mother in law
my son is still work in progress

both have dropped body fat in the last year using the "boditrax" scanner at our gym
both look better for it
neither is anywhere near as skinny as DH and I were at their age

But Talking I HAVE to take a size 16 in trousers due to the excess skin left on my stomach. Im 5 foot 5

Was that totally their choice Talkin?

roderick
All evidence shows that exercise is 10% of weight loss
calorie restriction is 9%

Obesity rising is closely linked to affluence and food availability
not the rest of your factors

So what is the other 81% then, talk? #dodgystats

Helena
my kids weight change - yes - entirely.
I am very aware of the issues and let off steam on here rather than at them
DD is away at Uni - I do not see her for months at a time

DS wants to be able to ruck without injury - I think his regime is barking but he loves it and it seems to work

PS : Skin ...... pilates / crunches / yoga will help. If I CBA to have a tummy tuck I'd drop a size or two as well - stretched skin is bleuch, mine is the Amazon delta

"PS : Skin ...... pilates / crunches / yoga will help. If I CBA to have a tummy tuck I'd drop a size or two as well - stretched skin is bleuch, mine is the Amazon delta"

OMFG OMFG Did you just tell me i can excersise off the loose skin from a TEN STONE WEIGHT LOSS. You are the third fool who has told me this.

You obviously know better than the medical professionals i have spoken to about it

Fucking Hell!!!!!!!!!

Do you not think people like me and Lisa Riley have tried all that.

I am sorely sorely tempted to e mail this thread to an eating disorder charity.

Talk1nAccording to the World Health Organisation, the factors I listed are causes of obesity and overweight.
So I stand by what I have written, and the claims of the WHO.
Copied and pasted this FYI.

What causes obesity and overweight?

The fundamental cause of obesity and overweight is an energy imbalance between calories consumed and calories expended. Globally, there has been:

an increased intake of energy-dense foods that are high in fat; and
an increase in physical inactivity due to the increasingly sedentary nature of many forms of work, changing modes of transportation, and increasing urbanization.
Changes in dietary and physical activity patterns are often the result of environmental and societal changes associated with development and lack of supportive policies in sectors such as health, agriculture, transport, urban planning, environment, food processing, distribution, marketing, and education.

Don't worry Helena I've already mailed to one

Low to middle income countries have the highest increase (30% higher) than developed countries. So, not affluence.
39% of the planet is overweight.

I really don't think that saying exercise can deal with excess skin from a ten stone weight loss is at all helpful. Of course it can't. Helena, you have done really well with your weight loss. The skin is a separate issue entirely. And it doesn't matter anyway. You are a person who has done an amazingly hard thing. Well done.

Hear hear!
Congratulations on your weight loss Helena

Ta Heb. The loose skin doesnt really bother me too much. Other peoples lack of knowledge does. The trouble is people see young celebs on the front of magazines who have shifted excess weight/baby weight looking trim and in their ignorance they think it applies to everyone.

Rod .........great posts I remember as a kid in primary school in the early to mid 80s there was no homework. Now there is loads of it for todays primary school kids. There has been threads on here complaining about it. When we were kids it was home from school and straight outside.

The celebs are probably really young and have more, erm, elasticity. IYSWIM. I wish I had that bouncy skin too! Even skinny people at my age are a bit baggy in places.

The celebs also have money, and can eat/exercise and nurture themselves. They also have access to the right information and quality health care.

Obesity is linked with lower income groups in the U.K.

I just remembered, it is also linked to the stress hormone cortisol.
Stressed people are also at higher risk of overweight.

So whoever said upthread that talking nicely doesn't help, yes, on some level it does.

I know the thread has moved on since but this made me roar

Yes you are one of the few people nowadays who isn't a vain delusional fatty.

Dress sizes are based on the size and shape of us.

We're collectively getting bigger, so the 'average' size gets bigger and the 'average' clothing size (14) also gets bigger as a result.

I love vintage shopping.

I currently have a raincoat from the 1970s which is a size 16, an old raincoat from 1960s which is just slightly too big at size 20 and a pair of BHS trousers I can't fit into from who knows what decade, which I can't do up. This too is a size 16.

I hate this. Why aren't we measured in inches like the blokes?

Christ Im dyscalculic Not sure i could cope with it if our clothes were measured the same way as the blokes are.

Tbh Talk1n size 14 women are NOT what is causing pressure on the NHS (that would be underfunding and poor management). Yes, morbidly obese people are likely to have other health issues later in life. Someone who is a size 14 is not, unless you can show me a reliable study that being slightly overweight is damaging to mortality (I believe it is the opposite actually). You sound like Katie Hopkins who with her epilepsy in fact costs waaaay more to the NHS than her 'targets' (who include people like Kelly Brook and Lily Allen btw because she does not care about health, she just likes bullying people).

If you're worried about public health, focus on smokers, the morbidly obese, regular drinkers etc. Stop making snide comments that a size 12 is likely to be unhealthy.

Unfortunately, for a lot of women their dress number seems to correlate with how they feel about themselves and how they think society feels about them. I remember back in the day, when I was very skinny and the clothing store Kookai was always on the small size and being miffed that I had to size up.

There’s never been a standard and vanity sizing will always adjust to whatever measurements appeal to the vanity of the majority.

There was a tv programme recently that demonstrated how little chicken there was in a chicken soup (very little). It was shocking that I knew there were no dress size standards but assumed there were stricter standards (for the far more important) food products.

If it fits, it fits and unfortunately anything that’s being marketed to us, is selling an ideal and they are rarely related to the truth. Like with the apprentice, they should honest subtitles for stuff.