AIBU to think that most women over 35..

[thinkingaboutmyage]

Are a size 10 or above?

My friend has suggested that my new year resolution should be to slim down and tone my body - st first I was offended, but I actually think she was genuinely trying to be helpful or perhaps, motivational?

She’s a size 6 having focused on exercise/diet last year and lost 2 stone! I’m a size 10 and eat whatever I like she thinks that once I’m 40 it’ll be hard to maintain my weight unless I join her as a fitness fanatic

AIBU to think that most of us over-35s are a size 10 or above though. She’s the exception not the norm - her lifestyle seems tedious as she lives at the gym.

Wow I wish I could eat 5 Jaffa cakes, they would go straight to my stomach IAmAlways I understand some people are just naturally slim, my half sister is like that, she takes after our English father who is tall and slim, but then again, she does not eat much either.

I am short at 5ft2 so even if I put 6lb on, it shows. On the diet programme last week, which was very interesting, the dietician said just eat a well balanced diet, instead of becoming obsessed with cutting this out and that.

I see an awful lot of mums with daughters out shopping together and it looks to me like the daughters are more often more overweight than the mothers, so I don't see what being 40+ has to do with it. (BTW I am a size 10, 58 year old, and feel comfortably slim).

Clothes sizes have changed so much that I can't believe when I see people talking about being a size 6 or 8. Until my thirties I weighed 7st 2lbs, if I'd been any thinner I'd have disappeared, but never fitted into anything smaller than a 10 or 12.

(I think I have the classic 'big bones' )

Sizing is a load of rubbish, too many variables. My friend is a 12/14 and is 5ft 7
She looks thin to me
Another friend is 5ft 4 and size 8. She looks a little chubby to me

I'm 35 and size 14, I'd love to be a 10 but would settle for 12 again!

The extra weight I'm carrying is down to lazy ness and eating poorly without proper thought for the last three years. I know it will be harder to shift so I need to put the effort in because it's not doing me any good! Not so bothered by looks but health, I don't want to set myself up for a shit future just because I've been lazy.

I'm a size 14 and carrying too much weight which I'm trying to lose. However, since hitting puberty and going into adult clothes I have never been less than a size 12, even when I was 29 and at peak fitness (lost loads of weight to try to conceive ds, exercising 5 times a week, really healthy eating). I looked good and felt good, within normal bmi range. I'm approaching 40, 5ft 6 and would like to get down to a 12 over the coming year, because I do think women can find it harder to keep weight off when they approach the menopause. But to answer your question, 10 is perfectly healthy and normal - I wish I was a 10!

Are we talking English, USA or euro sizes? 6 is v slim, possibly got a problem slim if you are working for it, no offence to naturally slim.

Don’t be daft @Missingstreetlife

Wouldn't body composition be a better indicator than size or weight? A size is just part of the story, as is weight. Muscle and fat proportions also count. I see all shapes as a dressmaker, and all ages, and to be blunt, its the younger generation who are bigger, not just in body shape but also height. I'm not short and I've been dwarfed by some stunning twenty year olds.

Size 10 isn’t always a size ten anymore

A true size ten is quite small (28 waist) as you will see if you ever go in charity shops or even TK Maxx where they have foreign clothes. It’s fascinating. I will pick up a ten and go fucking hell its tiny.

A size 10 today is a true 12 or 14 I think. Years ago when I was fitness obsessed I was 28W and wore a 6. This is bollocks and vanity sizing.

Your friend is all evangelical cos she’s found something that works for her and probably can’t understand why others don’t “see the light”

I’m 40-odd and most of my mates bar one are above a (vanity) size 10. I think waists get thicker as you get older?

IMO you should exercise for health and function rather than appearance (diets are more effective than exercise for weight loss anyway!) It's true that you lose muscle progressively after your 30s, giving 'middle age spread'. However, rather than aiming for a certain size, any fitness focus should just be on using some weights to maintain muscle tone and help strengthen bones to prevent osteoporosis, plus a bit of cardio for heart health. No need to spend all day in the gym.

She is right about the metabolism thing, however, unless you specifically asked her for diet and exercise advice, she is also spectacularly rude and I'd be telling her to mind her own beeswax!!

Size 10 and 12 are slim imo. I’m 5 foot 7 and an hourglass and I’ve never been below a 10 in my life. It would look bizarre if I did.

What a lot of crap. I am 49 and am the same weight and shape I was after i gave birth to my youngest 16 years ago.

And who goes by sizing these days anyway. I couldn't tell you what size I really am as I have to try every item of clothing on, which range from size 6 to 12 as no shops seem to go by a standard sizing anymore.

I dont understand all this..... this is going to happen at 40 nonsense. I can promise you that when you go to sleep the night before your birthday when you are 39, things will be exactly the same the next day.....

6 is v slim, possibly got a problem slim if you are working for it, no offence to naturally slim.

Littlechocola

Don’t be daft

6 is very tiny, I don't think it's daft to say that. As I mentioned in a previous post, I was 7st 2 most of my adult life (apart from when I found out DH was cheating, when I lost a stone ) and even at my thinnest I wouldn't have fit in a 6 or 8.

And who goes by sizing these days anyway. I couldn't tell you what size I really am as I have to try every item of clothing on, which range from size 6 to 12 as no shops seem to go by a standard sizing anymore.

Exactly. Sizes aren't standard any longer.

I can promise you that when you go to sleep the night before your birthday when you are 39, things will be exactly the same the next day.....

...but wait 'til a year after menopause!

I wasn't a size 10 when I was age 12 my shoulders and boobs saw to that (5ft 7 and a 30DD/E then)

..but wait 'til a year after menopause!

At 40 I learned to take good advice, so therefore I am not visiting the menopause board

“6 is very tiny”

Tell that to my arse and thighs, neither of which are tiny.

Surely it’s all to do with bone structure, isn’t it?

People love to go ‘omg you must be tiiiiinnnyyyyy’ but no one ever calls me tiny in real life.

Debenhams sizing chart ... size 6, waist 23.5 inches (60cm), hips 32.5 inches (83 cm). If this is you, you aren't massive.

I can't remember ever being that small, but I measure same as I did 40 years ago except for the slightly thicker waist that having children brought. Unfortunately it's all a bit wrinkly :)

To a certain extent she is right. Generally speaking, your metabolism slows as you get older. It is harder to lose weight and eating/exercising the same as you did in your 30's isn't going to keep you the same weight.

I am 47, weigh around 10stone 4 and am edging into a size 14. I was a size 10 for around 6 months wilst I was breastfeeding, it's never going to happen again.
.
I am upping my exercise now and watching what I eat and am determined to love 4lb by end of January, which doesn't soundvery much but need to be realistic.

Obviously, I don't know what you look like, but I would say a size 10 is very slim and your friend is rude and wrong.

*lose 4lb not love!

@areyoubeingserviced

Sizing is a load of rubbish, too many variables. My friend is a 12/14 and is 5ft 7.

She looks thin to me .. Another friend is 5ft 4 and size 8. She looks a little chubby to me.

Taller people always carry weight better.

@areyoubeingserviced

Sizing is a load of rubbish, too many variables. My friend is a 12/14 and is 5ft 7.

She looks thin to me .. Another friend is 5ft 4 and size 8. She looks a little chubby to me.

Taller people always carry weight better.

"size 6, waist 23.5 inches (60cm), hips 32.5 inches (83 cm). If this is you, you aren't massive."

I don't think anyone is saying a size 6 is massive, but it doesn't mean 'tiny' either.