To think I should be in smaller clothes by now?

[NE14T]

I have recently (over the last 6 months) lost almost 3 stone in weight.

I’m now at the top end of a healthy BMI (12 stone at 5ft10) but am wearing the same clothes I was 6 months ago?!

I definitely look and feel better in them but I don’t feel I was utterly squeezing myself into them before. I’m still a size 14 when I go shopping which is what I was before, and the clothes I had before that felt a bit small are STILL a bit too too small- button dresses gaping at the front etc.

AIBU to be a bit annoyed about this- how is it possible?!

That sounds very odd. 3 stone is a lot and should definitely change the size of your body.

Did you take measurements?

Maybe you were kidding yourself on the fit of the clothes originally?

You could have lost water or muscle. You could have lost internal fat from around your organs rather than visible surface fat. Or perhaps you have actually lost more inches than you think, you would need to check with a tape measure.

Possibly, they definitely feel better to fit and I know I look better in them. But I’d think after 3 stone I’d be in a whole new clothes size. My jeans were looking tatty so I got new ones (sz 14 primark as always) and they seem to fit just fine. I am tall so maybe 3 stone isn’t as big a loss as I’d hoped due to my height. It’s just annoying!

And yes, measurements would have been a good idea but I never measured myself before. Maybe I’ll start now as still have a stone to go ideally. I’d have thought I’d see a difference in bra size but my bras definitely fit the same as before.

Have you got any photos from your heaviest? Maybe look at them and it might make you feel a bit better. Maybe you were squeezing into clothes? Have you tried any size 12 clothes on now?

I've lost a similar amount and to be honest, it all seemed to fall off at once about a month ago!

I'm now in a size 12, my face has changed dramatically, my legs are really skinny, but I'll always be an apple so never going to look like anything but a smaller apple.

Ignore clothing labels, especially primark.

Seriously, I'm a size 14 in most shops. Primark jeans I can be a size 14 and pick up another pair and the size 16 will be too tight. There is absolutely no consistency.

If it helps, measure yourself directly, then buy clothes based on hips waist etc.

Could be a lot of water weight and visceral fat (around the organs) that’s gone. Well done, that’s a great loss! Once you get to the top of the BMI the amount you lose to changes clothes size reduces. So if you lose another half a stone you might go down a dress size.

Trying to put this politely. I think a lot of people (of all shapes and sizes) wear clothes that are actually too small for them these days See it all the time and wonder why, they can’t be comfortable. I wonder if you were, without realising. You’re very luckily tall so your weight loss is spread over a larger area so might take a while longer to drop sizes.

Well done.

I think maybe you’re all right and I was just squeezing into them more than I thought.

Am also now hopeful I’ll drop a size in the next month or so. It’s just a shame as I was hoping to justify a whole new wardrobe for festival season, which I now can’t do!

It may be your height as well, I am 5'9 and even when I've been borderline underweight my hips were always relatively wide.

The BMI range is quite broad for us, I've been at the top and bottom and size-wise only ranged from a biggish size 12 to a small 10.

I move clothes sizes very slowly. I've lost 2 stone and before my size 16s fitted snuggly but not uncomfortable and now they fit well, but certainly aren't on the big side. At the top of a healthy weight, I'm tight in size 14s and at the bottom of a healthy weight I'm comfortable in 14s and can occasionally squeeze in to a 12. To be comfortable in a 12 I have to be underweight. It's just the way I'm built.

You have probably lost visceral fat, which is the stuff that makes a huge difference to your health. Well done! A body fat measurement will help you to track further losses.

If you've been doing weight loss the sensible way and exercising, then you'll find you turn fat to muscle which weighs more, and you'll change where fat is distributed too.

I took up weight lifting 6 months ago. I'm just over 5'10 and went from 60 kg to 63 kg, but exactly the same clothes size and still a size 10. Far more muscle mass now!

I'm 5'9 and I have wide hips and an hourglass shape. I have to be very skinny to fit in size 12 trousers below 11 stone. Currently 12'7 and my size 14s are feeling too tight.....so I am now on a diet.

I meant 12 stone 7

I'm the same height and it takes 3-4 stone for me to drop a dress size

Have you been wearing your existing clothes for a while? If so you’ve probably stretched them out a bit overtime. I find new clothes always seem a bit tighter than the stuff I’ve been wearing regularly for a while.

I am tall, lost 2.5 stone and didn't go down a dress size. Everything did fit better though.

I have a broad frame, wide shoulders and hips and large hands, though slim legs and arms. I can lose stones, like you but cannot get into smaller4 sizes and never will. Sizes are all over the place, but the scales don’t lie and I am sure you look and feel much better. Well done

I've been on a diet and exercise journey since Jan and only just now seeing some looseness in jeans/tops. Same bras, same pants... But, measuring my hips and tummy at start vs now I've lost 3in off hips, 2.5in off waist!! I think pp has it, my clothes were probably too tight before but I didn't notice 😅 weight goes up and down but is broadly the same as Jan, def replacing fat with muscle. The body can do strange things!

When you’re tall it takes a lot to change dress size.
I’m at least a stone and a half heavier than I was 20yrs ago but I’ve recently discovered that I can still quite easily squeeze into my y2k bootleg jeans……..here’s hoping I’ll be able to fit into my old skinnies when they come back around in 2043.

You old clothes will have stretched at your bigger weight. You are now wearing them as intended.

I have older dresses which don't hang the same as the fabric gently stretches through being worn.

Ahhh this is interesting. I’m slowly losing weight ( I have 4 stone to lose) and although I have only lost 6/7 lbs can now fit into some of my smaller clothes. Trousers anyway…. I don’t seem to notice much difference in my top half but my waist, tops of legs etc are definitely smaller which I’m attributing to weight training. Have you been exercising OP?

Sounds about right, tbh. I'm also 5ft 10", and have been your weight before, too. I was also a size 14 then.

I'm 10st8lbs now and only just in a size 10 jeans from next. (The Size 8 that I have on standby I cannot pull over my thighs yet!! )