To think size 18 is plus size and not 'hardly plus size'

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The poster, with a very large following, is saying a size 18 isn't really plus size by much, and that 'most people (in the UK), are above a Size 16?

Really? I don't know that many people above a size 16. I really don't. I know lots and lots of size 12/14 and thought that was about average? It's usually the first sizes to sell out

www.instagram.com/p/ChiDp-1Mos3/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=

As someone who has just lost a huge amount of weight...this thread has really depressed me. People are so nasty about weight and size.

I'm in my 40's and when I was younger, size 14 was the top end of the 'normal' range. It meant that I couldn't buy my clothes in high street shops like topshop, river island etc and I had to go to 'plus sized' shops like Evans, Etam or resort to mail order.

These days, most shops go up to an 18 which has probably lead to the thinking that a size 18 is normal. It's not unusual to find clothing up to a size 22/24 in supermarkets. Whatever sized body you have, you need to clothe it.

I don't think a size 18 is what I would consider to be plus sized these days. I would say it's the top end of the standard sizes.

The average height for a British woman is 5"5. The average British woman is not
on medications
autistic
disabled
anorexic

At that height, a size 16 is overweight by any global measure. Why are we refusing to name this public health problem?

I do wonder whether some posters think 'plus size' is a set size, like an imperial or metric measurement. When I was young, most standard clothes shops only carried women's clothes in sizes 8-14. Now they carry a much larger range. It's not just obesity, women are taller and have larger frames. It's the same with shoe sizes. However, high end fashion brands only manufacture in a very narrow size range so I think it's quite reasonable to refer to size 18 as plus size.

I agree. I don't want plus sizes to be normalised because I don't want to delude myself that being overweight is okay for me. I'm 5 ft 8 and 14-16 but I'm definitely overweight. If I put on any more weight I'd notice it in my knees and generally in how I felt.

I want a bit of clarity that it's not good to put on any more weight and to try and lose it so I can get healthier. As you get older the effects are more obvious.

I'm sure there are as many people like me as those who don't want to be 'shamed' i.e. experience any negative emotions. Unfortunately life has negative emotions and we can't avoid them, we have to deal with them.

There's all sorts of weird stuff on instagram around 'body positivity' (which was originally about self-acceptance around imperfections, celebrating differences and diversity but was co-opted by fat activists who actively force out anyone who isn't obese, which btw is apparently a slur), I wouldn't pay much notice to it really.

Sizing is weird anyway. My BMI is 20 yet depending on the store my size ranges from a 6 to a 16. I have dresses from River Island and Primark that are a size 6 with room to spare, and can barely zip up size 16 jeans in H&M. Supermarket sizes tend to be WAY more generous.

16 is average but the average woman is overweight! I'm a 16 and at 5'6 I'm definitely overweight

I agree. I think it’s related to a dislike of greed though, rather than specifically being about weight.

Why have you written such a nasty post picking on me?

@Deliaskis - Are you the same poster who said you were underweight at size 14 and that you need at least size 14 because of the size of your bones? Are you really tall?

I am finding this hard to picture in terms of bone size,

Yes - I'm size 16 (5'3) and I know I'm well overweight.

Size 18 on an average size woman would very much be "plus size"

It's hard to sustain an unhealthy weight while eating normally

Nonsense.

Was that American sizing? I think a U.S size 8 is a U.K size 12?

Nobody is picking on you. This isn't about you personally. But I am done saying that.

Define "eating normally".

I couldnt agree with you more!,I can't believe some of the comments on here either!,I thought as women we were meant to empower and uplift each other?!.Some real catty and fatshaming comments on here.Overeating and being overweight can be a very complex issue for many people,it isn't just that they're greedy and sit at home all day gorging on cake,lots of factors come in it and someone who hasn't experienced it just wouldn't understand.
Just because someone is overweight doesn't mean they're any less valuable in society,they still have feelings and emotions as valid as someone who is the perfect weight.
Sending you a hug xxx

This is interesting. My first thought was that shaming is never good (I know a little bit about working with shame), but then took myself off and read a couple of articles and yes, there is evidence that shame can work to "control" the population against things like criminal behaviour, so I have no doubt it will work to stop people becoming a certain size (For some people this will be size 12, for others size 18 etc). But I think this is the minority tbh. And it isn't really a desirable method of keeping people healthy is it? Shame, by its very nature is corrosive and deep rooted.

Also when you use shame to control weight/size, then this just opens up judgement on people who "escaped" the shame trap and became fat, and it's almost like ... It's almost like people think that shaming fat people is a correction of that. It pits people against each other, creating a "divide and conquer" dynamic amongst society. And that only suits the people with power.

I think shame does much more damage than good. Education is great, realism about obesity is great. But acceptance has to be in place for people to fully engage with these. In my opinion anyway.

If this doesn't make sense then I completely understand. It's an idea in progress!

Obviously it is plus size.

But the point the poster is making is lots of people are bigger than that so it isn’t wildly inclusive. That’s an irrelevant point for VB but it’s important to the poster in her world.

I don’t think there’s any point however in you starting another Oh My God Everyone Is So Fat thread. We know we have an obesity problem.

My weight has been up and down over the years. A bit up at the moment.

For some people being overweight is unavoidable but for the vast majority of us, it is avoidable.

The stat that made the scales fall from my eyes was when my GP showed me impact of HRT , weight, alcohol and smoking on my risk of getting breast cancer. Weight is by far the biggest health issue we have and we should all the much more aware of the importance of maintaining a healthy weight and a trim waist. For that reason, we should not normalise bigger sizes but should be saying - this isn’t ideal, for a healthier life get the weight down.

In my experience no one I have ever met has been “disgusted” by a plus size woman.

But glorifying obesity is no different to glorifying alcohol or cigarettes or cocaine. Let’s not dress it up, obesity is a massive health risk to the person who is obese. This is not fat shaming, it is recognising that obesity is a global health issue all of its own.

I didn't say that, I was borderline overweight at size 14. I am almost 6ft though, and have size 8 feet.

Is it not possible though, or even more likely, that rather than me being a freakish kind of body shape or type that people would stare at in the street (I haven't noticed them unless I start singing or something!), that actually clothes size is just hugely problematic and inconsistent and therefore not a meaningful indicator of a person's health or even in many cases their weight?

Eeek... that should have said I was borderline UNDERweight at 14.

I'm a size 16 at the moment from a 14 I've put on weight because I'm pregnant plus size label never bothered me size 18 isn't smallest but neither is the biggest size in the world. I get more annoyed with online bouique stores that only stock up to a size 14 like anyone bigger size than that doesn't want nice clothes AX Paris being one of them.

Didnt read a single word I wrote, did you?

No, that was me. It's not that hard to picture - yes I'm really tall, but more significantly, I'm also really wide. I don't think you'd notice if you walked past me in the street because my proportions aren't actually unusual, they're just scaled up. Which isn't the way they scale specialist tall clothing, unfortunately, hence the need to go up clothing sizes.