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=

Oh and also in my own personal experience hormonal contraceptives are a big factor in the obesity problem with women. I have been a size 18 (14 and half stone at 5ft 8) and this was in direct correlation to taking the pill.

The pharmaceuticals companies REALLY need to do some research on this.

Yes 18 is a plus. And from looking around I would agree size 16 is the average. On the school run there are a lot of 18s/20s.

I suppose so, but greed can be a way to deal with emotional pain/trauma. People treat me very differently now I've lost weight and reading all this I can see it's not limited to my own experience. I know people on here think they're discussing what size is too big to be healthy, but that's not what I'm reading.

Plus size is not relative to the average- because the average changes - but relative to what is considered healthy. I would say plus size is a fixed size beyond a wide range of what is considered ideally healthy size.
So to me up to size 16 maximum, is probably the normal range and plus size from size 18 upwards.

What many people forget is that size 16 is average as we have an obesity epidemic. I'm a size 18 and I'm clinically obese.

So agree.

When I searched for some low cal food inspiration on Instagram, it started popping up the influencers after. And it wouldn't go away because I searched workouts, healthy diets etc. I ended up blocking these influencers and starting another insta profile so I don't have my suggestions full of "you are great the way you are". No I wasn't, I couldn't fucking run up stairs without wondering if my ankles will give up. They did btw. Lost like half an inch in height. 😳 BUT while I may be angry at my fat, my fat isn't me and I am still a smashing person and liking myself. Just could use way less cushioning around liver....

I am still wondering why my search lead to me getting influencers Tessa size all over. I think skinny extremes and morbidly obese extremes are both equally bad. Just one kills faster than the other...

Does plus size mean larger than average or overweight?

Does some 18 mean, measures size or wears size 18 clothes, which in most shops will be much bigger than the measurements.

I think we have a real problem here. Obviously we can't be shaming women for how they look, but we do need to find a way to deal with this problem, for the sake of the women themselves, for the women of the future and because of the cost to society of such a huge proportion of people being so unhealthy.

We can't keep saying it's fine to be so overweight or to say being overweight is normal because it's not.

Totally agree. I shopped in similar circumstances recently and couldn’t believe how easy men’s sizes are: waist size, trouser length - done. Women’s clothes should have a waist and hip size, then account for length.

I agree with the PP that the style matters. There may be a reason corsets are overdue a fashion hit.

Well I'm 13stone and a size 16, I have a 39 inch hip. I am no where near an 8. When I was an 8, I was 8 stone and had a 32 inch hip and a 22 inch waist. Im 5' 5". No way is a 40" hip an 8. I know there's vanity sizing now, but not that much.

I wouldn't call the use of food as a way of coping with emotional pain or trauma 'greed'. It wasn't greed that drove me to eat and eat and eat, it was a way of blocking out the pain in my head with a physical pain that distracted me temporarily. That isn't greed and I can imagine for many others who use food as a coping mechanism, they weren't greedy either.

What is the point of this post though? To make people feel bad on a Monday morning?

what we need to remember is that everyone carries weight differently and wears varying sizes. One size 18 lady, will look totally different to the other!

plus what we need to remember is slim doesn't equal healthy.

I'm not denying being overweight increases the risk of health risk, it can be a risk, I'm not stupid.

but I am 'plus size' at about 18-20, I am tall too but I am healthy. I was recently feeling off for a week or too (likely related to anxiety) and had some bloods done, everything was within normal levels, I'm fit and I'm active, got lots of energy....

my partner is a very slim man weighing 11 stone, in small clothes. But he's just had some tests done and his BP is high and has high cholesterol. He eats more than me, he's just fortunate enough to not gain weight.

In 2019 the average BMI for women AND men in the UK was 27.6! Honestly crazy.

I think a lot depends on where someone shops! I tend to buy usually a 14 but in some shops I'm far smaller and in others much larger.
I have a relative who is quite visibly bigger than me who insists they buy a size 10. Its quite possible that they very often do.
That said, I would consider a 16 or above to be plus sized. But if that was the size that fitted me and looked nice on me, I'd still just buy an item and not give it a second thought. And I do, from those shops where that is the size that fits me.
I'm 5ft 5 and within the healthy BMI range

Poor diet and lack of movement is usually the obvious reason for weight gain and it’s going to get worse as we plunge into a cost of living crisis.
and a size 16 is a plus size, it makes no difference if it’s the aveyits still a plus size.

@Unscented no one has said that it’s fine from a health pov to be obese.

Why do you think obesity is a women’s problem? It is a whole population problem. Perhaps a switch towards people not being more critical of fat women than fat men would be a good first step.

Monroe was a size 18.

Nope, not even close. No idea why this factoid gets trotted out so often when it's so obviously untrue. MM's measurements were 36-24-34- probably an 8 or a 10 in today's sizes. See KK failing to fit into her dress at the Met Gala.

In 2019 the average BMI for women AND men in the UK was 27.6! Honestly crazy.

well not really, prior to about 1990 the healthy weight range went up to 27.

The thread was about women. The conversation is with women. Men dont wear a size 16. I was responding to that.

And if people insist that being a 16/18 is normal, you are saying it's not a problem. Obviously it's not a problem that's easy to solve, but it is a problem.

I would class a size 18 as a plus size, most plus size clothing ranges stock size 18's, that brand in particular, whilst they're amazing for inclusivity, they do hugely celebrate obesity (in my opinion)

@JackieDaws I explained how I read it. There's no need to mock me.

For a brand like this it is a big investment to increase their range. Unlike general mass produced tat where the measurements are just crudely expanded (hence the terrible proportions usually as you go up through the sizes), for well produced and fitted clothes it takes far more work. I suspect as with any company their focus is on their core customer which is why there hasn't been a huge investment previously, most of the designs are suited to a certain aesthetic (rightly or wrongly).

Regardless of clothing size most people who are a size 18 will be medically overweight, but we have such a skewed view of it now that it seems more normal. People can be beautiful any size and of course shouldn't have their value attached to size; but there also should be some reality to the health implications of carrying excess weight. Sad thing here is that there's no real support to address underlying issues, whether it's more money so families can buy fresh food and have time and resources to cook it, therapy for binge eating disorder etc. Instead the nhs waits until it manifests in something preventable and so firefights rather than invests in fire alarms.

I’m a size 16/18 and I’m 3.5 stone overweight (post baby) so definitely plus size! Back to slimming world for me.

Not that crazy - it's easier to have a very large BMI than it is to have a very small BMI (you can always put more fat on, but a very low BMI will be fatal quite quickly, unless you've just had a major amputation), so the "average" BMI will always be on the higher side.

Perhaps it would be useful for us to regulate sizing in the U.K. For example a size 16 in all shops would have to be a certain measurement (or small range there of).

Then there would be no confusion.

I totally get the health argument here. According to the stats, I am an 'average' size 16. Actually, I know that I am at least 2 stone overweight and not as healthy as I could be.

I would welcome industry sizing regulation in this space, I think.