...to think that it might not really be true that the UK average clothes size for women is UK size 16?

[which1]

I just can't help but think that that's not true. That this is the average has been floating around for years I know.

But whilst I do see some people who are size 16 or above, I do not think I see so many as to tip the scales to the extent that 16 becomes the average.

I would say that the average is a UK12.

(I'm not talking about on Mumsnet as the vast majority here are pretty slim and around size 8 average from all the threads that I see either about clothes sizes or posters who mention in passing on a related topic.)

yet another weight/size thread that leads me to conclude i'm made of marshmallow :/ been losing weight and recently got back into a "normal" bmi \o/ according to a body fat calculator i'm at 26% which puts me on the lower end of "acceptable", but i'm still a 16

Lessthanzero

A quick google just showed me that a 27/28 waist is a size 8-10. You think that’s overweight?
Are you purposely chatting shit?

When I was a size 16 I was very slim because I am very tall. Hardly any fat on my 'manly' frame. You would all be horrified at my clothes size now I've put on weight if you think a 16 is big.
In contrast, My SIL is a 16 and at 5'1 with a tiny frame she carries a lot of fat.

Clothes sizes mean FA.

Sizing in some shops is way off though.For example M&S.A lot of the children's uniform clothes are undersized.A classic t-shirt now seems smaller than the per Una range(though the later now seems aimed at an older market).
My DD wears a size 10 m&s t shirt and jeggings.The waist in most things are way too big so jeans and skirts are out.
I have some vintage Monsoon dresses/anouki in size 10 and she is too slim for them,but has still stolen some tops as they look good loose and I will never fit them again.
DD is in the middle- low of the heathy BMI range.
I am still loosing weight,heading for the top of the healthy BMI.I won't care what size I am just that the kind of clothes I like to wear will look good again.

A quick google just showed me that a 27/28 waist is a size 8-10. You think that’s overweight?

It might be if you are very short. People keep trotting out dress sizes as a measure of fatness but it's pretty pointless, unless you are at the extremes of the range, without height and perhaps frame size being added to the equation.

ConFusion360

I’m 5”7.
Not sure how Lessthanzero has come to the conclusion I must be 4”10 based on her calling me overweight at my old dimensions.

A healthy waist size is just under half your height but older people have bigger waists as their hip size will be bigger.

Elodie but with great respect, even on a tall person a size 16 is not "very slim". It's slimmer than a 16 on a 5'1" person but you'd have to be probably 6ft 2+ for it to be proportionally considered anything like "very slim". (If you are 6ft2+ then ok, obviously ). Nobody's skeleton or "frame" is so big that they would be literally skin and bones showing at a size 16.

I know that some people are more solid than others and you can be a wobbly size 10 or a toned 16 so visually the wobbly 10 could look somehow fatter, but size 16 in itself is still not "very slim".

Sometimes I think tall people (as I am myself) can fool themselves that they are slimmer than they are because of their height. They also get used to the feeling of being bigger somehow and think it's "frame" but in actual fact peoples' frames (or skeletons) aren't all that different underneath. Where they carry weight is different, but if we were all short of food for a long period of time then even the areas we individually store the most fat, be it round the middle or the thighs or the bum would eventually wear off. When you look at pictures of groups of people who have been collectively short of food for a sustained period, there's no "bigger framed" (ie discernibly fatter) ones amongst them no matter what the height.

A few pages back, some posters mentioned there being more overweight people in deprived areas vs more affluent areas. I wonder why that is? Interesting...

I think using clothes sizing to determine how “healthy” someone’s weight is generally unreliable. I think anywhere from a size 4-16 could be considered healthy, depending on the persons height and frame.

@Pardonwhat

Sorry, I've just picked up the thread after leaving it yesterday. My post wasn't specifically aimed at you.

Size 6 is not healthily slim for many tall frames.

My friend's a size 6, 5 ft6 and unhealthily thin.

Perhaps a definition of what "unhealthily thin/slim" is would be helpful.

I'm 5'6" and a size 6. Should I be worried?

I didn’t say all pp

5 foot 6 isn’t that tall anyway

In the 70s/80s a size 12 was the average now its a 16/18. A friend works in clothing and agrees.then again its where you buy clothes from.
I`m a sz 12 in some shops and a 14 in others but tbh who cares as long as your happy with being you.

Why are more affluent people generally slimmer?

Complicated answer which is multifactorial. Some reasons:

• Peer pressure. It is considered a weakness to be overweight and there is social pressure to remain slim. In nations where this view is generally held, the populations are thinner and the obesity epidemic is not as much of an issue. For example, South Korea's but off BMI for being categorised as obese is 25 (here it is considered overweight). People are much, much slimmer there

• Better nutrition due to more time to shop and cook or being able to outsource these jobs

• better educated regarding nutrition

• More societal acceptance of being active as a hobby and a culture where being active as a family is seen as the norm.

Little dancers
Not quite 6'2" but too not far off!

@confusion360 I said in my post my 5 ft 6 friend who is a size 6 has an underweight bmi and her doctor has told her to put on a stone. That is the definition of being unhealthily thin. You may be the same size and height as her but weigh more and have a healthy BMI. That's just how it is. Two people could be the same size and height but one might weigh 10lbs or so more giving them a healthier (or less healthy) bmi. Also depends on proportion of fat/muscle etc.

Sizing is not standard, even within a company. My brother works in the fashion industry and they have 2 different sizings with the same number - one for western markets and one for East Asian markets with the East Asian size being smaller.

Also, sizes definitely are changed routinely. At his office, I noticed a corner with some named dummies with year numbers on them and he explained that those were past sample sizes (6US, 8UK) and that they received new ones each year with different dimensions.

@Pardonwhat

You said 27/28 inch waist like we're supposed to be impressed with how slim you are. That's a size 10. So just normal size then. And 28 inch is not a particularly thin waist, I'm a 28inch waist and I'm overweight with excess skin and fat round my middle.

Lessthanzero

Wtf? Are you ok? Where did you get that in my post????
I said that I was wearing a size 14 with a much slimmer waist and that things fit different people differently.
You’re an absolute arse

It is so hard to tell off just numbers without looking at a person so here's me

I'm 158cm and 63kg (overweight BMI of 25.2). Currently trying to lose fat. I'm quite narrow from the front (apart from my broad shoulders) but when I turn to the side I stick out in both directions! I have a 28 inch waist and wear 6-8 on the top half, bottom I wear a 10 in places like topshop.

A pp's post about the age range you're mostly around is a good point. I'm early 20's, most people are still slim but the weight is creeping on a lot of people now we have more money and go out more etc.

Your figure is incredible Jimjam. You look great.

I’m a size 10! I used to be an 8 before I had my 3 kids. I’d like to drop a few pounds and get back into an 8. But I’m finding it hard. Most of my friends have kids too and all used to be between 6-14 before they had children. Now they are all size 14+. They ‘joke’ with me that my baby weight dropped off and how lucky I am. This is not the case I had to work at it. My 2 childless friends have both gone up from 6-8 and from 10-12. I think that having children does affect body size, but also getting older seems to affect people too. Where I live it’s very split, either size 16+ or below 12.

My daughter is a fashion buyer for a high street chain. They cater mainly for late teens to about 35 year olds. Sizes much smaller than Next or M&S. Think of Top Shop sizing for a similar comparison. She says in the South size 8 is by far the biggest seller, 12 in the North. She is very slim, usually a 6. She however struggles to squeeze into my vintage size 10 1960s Mary Quant dress that I have treasured for years! I am now a size 12 after losing almost 3 stone. When I was a 12 in the 80s, I weighed two stone less than I do now, so sizes have definitely got bigger.

You have to go by measurements, not dress size. I wear a size 12 work uniform, size 10 jeans to go out and I can get into size 8 trousers if I want to look really slim. I need size 12 clothes on top because of the boobs.

I've got a pair of size 14 trousers that I sometimes wear if I need a lot of 'give' (if I'm gardening for example).

So what size am I?