Is a size 14 big?

[fattytoadboy]

Just that really. Been somewhere between a size 12-14 for the past 20 years. Even when I lost two stone I still fit into my size 12 clothes. Now I’m about 12 stone at 5,7 and a solid 14.

I definitely feel better around the 10.5 stone mark. I’m really struggling to lose weight. Sometimes I look at myself and can see a roll around my belly or feel like my face looks bloated and neither of these things make me happy or confident.

Equally when I’m dressed well I think I look ok. I know it’s totally subjective but in your opinion is a size 14 what you’d consider large? I don’t think I look obscenely overweight but I definitely would look and feel better with a few stone off.

Depending on height, yes.

Just because it’s below average doesn’t mean it isn’t big.

I don't think it's ever big in UK terms when you are fairly tall also.

I’ve heard people saying that a size 12 is fat if you are short. Yet I’ve been a size 12 nearly my whole adult life and I’m only 5 ft and my bmi is healthy at a size 12. Everyone’s build is so different. I don’t think it’s possible to say a size 14 is big.

People are different. I worked with a lady who was 6 feet tall and was thin really. She wore size 14 jackets. Someone of 5ft 2 could be very chubby at size 14. I’m 5 ft 8. At size 14 I am at the top of the healthy weight range at size 16 my bmi is 27. It depends what’s comfortable for you. Also size 14 in some shops is different from size 14 in others so asking if size 14 is big is a bit meaningless. It’s size L but 5’ 7” is above average height.

Yeah but the "average" woman is now overweight so that's not really relevant, is it.

OP you said you're 12 stone at 5' 7". Your BMI is 26.3 which puts you in the overweight category, but not by much.

So you are bigger than optimum, but only just. So long as you're living a healthy lifestyle I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Depends. I'm a 14 and weigh 10 stone at 5'9, because I have a belly and broad shoulders. My BMI is totally healthy.

I knew someone would bring out the bingo card over this but it's true! Many people really have lost sight of what a healthy weight human body looks like. You hear all the phrases like 'teeny tiny, skinny size 8' etc but for an average height person it is about right. I'm 5ft 3 so slightly below average height but when my bmi is around 21/22 (so slap bang in the middle of the healthy range) I fit happily into an 8. Scale it up for an average height person and a size 8-10 would be right in the middle of the normal range, by no means skinny or underweight! It's what the average person should look like.

Pretty much exactly the same as you OP @fattytoadboy

5 ft 7, 11 stone 11

generally a 14 on the bottom

small chested so probably a 12 on top, possibly a 10 although maybe a bit stretched.

I do feel bigger than I would like to be.

like you I am struggling to lose it.

don’t feel good in clothes.

Depends where you usually shop and your age and height, really. I used to be a size 16 pushing 18 in some brands. I can now comfortably fit into a size 12 in most places and a size 10 in places like M&S and White Stuff because they cut very generously.

That said, I currently have a BMI which isn't yet nudging in the 'healthy' range and I am still classed as overweight by the NHS. I have at least another stone to lose before I will comfortably in the middle of the 'healthy' range on the BMI chart. That would probably make me a borderline size 8-10 in M&S, which is nuts.

I'd say if someone was required to describe me to the police they wouldn't say 'overweight' or 'large' but they certainly wouldn't remember me as someone slight or slender or slim built either. I'd probably be described as 'average' build. So if I am wearing size 10s and 12s, then yes, a size 14 is quite big. By today's standards nothing major, but it's less than ideal.

But someone tall and muscular and athletic might carry it off much better than me and be healthier with it. I certainly wouldn't want to be a size 14 again, because I know what that would mean in terms of my weight. I'd definitely be two and a half stone overweight at least.

I buy 14s sometimes and I'm 5' 7 and just over 10 stone. I don't think it's massive by any means, I'm not! Depends on cut and style, other times I'll buy a ten! Bodies rarely confirm to these blooming sizes consistently... I've got skinny legs but a big mum tum, my boobs are technically 36d but I look flat chested without a bra and can go without (that'll be age they used to be perkier!) 😂

Used to think it was, but would now love to be one again.

Now I'm losing weight, I have also realised though that there's a range within each size - and I was really squeezed to get into my size 16s (Penny finally dropped that I didn't look good). So will qualify that they have to genuinely fit.

I’m a 14 and 5’8”. I think I dress it well, I’d look awful in some clothes. I was much happier with my appearance when I was an 8, but menopause has other ideas 😩 I don’t think I look particularly fat.

I'm currently a size 20 and would love to be a 14 again. I'm taking Mounjaro injections and have lost two stones since mid-February but my clothes aren't getting appreciably looser yet 😭

I’m the same. I eat crap when I feel rubbish and then feel even worse! One thing I find really helps is not buying any rubbish food. So no sweets or crisps (although I have a bar of dark chocolate for if I’m desperate as I never really want more than one square). This means when I go to the fridge and open the door I don’t see anything I want and therefore don’t eat it. And don’t supermarket shop when you’re hungry as that makes me far more likely to buy junk food.

I’m 45 and a size 12. I feel big and I am overweight. Trying to get my weight down to be back in the ‘normal’ weight range. It is hard to lose weight, but I have to be honest with myself that I am overweight. I’m not sure on your hight/build etc. so being 14 could mean that you are within a normal weight range or you could be big.

I'm 5'7" too and weight 12 st 7lbs more or less. I was previously over 16st and have been as light as 8 and a bit. I was about a 12 at my lightest. I would maybe have bought the odd size 10.

Right now I'm a comfortable 14 and can buy 12 sometimes depending on fabric or style of outfit/retailer. I work out 5-6 days a week (weights and cardio) and whilst on BMI I'm still overweight I'm stronger and fitter than ever with clear muscle definition throughout my arms, back, lower legs (upper legs not due to injury) and middle.

I see smaller ladies at the gym all the time. Part of me does envy their slender petiteness but that's just who they are from a physical point of view, slim. Generally I'd say it's clear why people who are smaller are so. They eat smaller portions, genetics play a part plus other health factors and they are active and I include walking in this. It's just a different physique. Personally I got big as I didn't eat well and I didn't move enough. That's been my big change. But I was really quite content with my bigger body. It was being told I was pre-diabetic that made me make a change. I'm almost 3 years in now and have transformed my diet, exercise and mindset.

With all of the above I know I will never be a tiny svelte individual. I'm tall and strong with massive H cup boobs. Even at 8st ish I was a 12 so not tiny as I don't eat perfectly. I eat well 80% of the time. It is weird being the weight I am but the size I am given I was so much lighter at a point and not hugely different size wise. Size is not important. It's how you feel too. Honestly I've never felt better about how I look and I'm coming up for 44. Nothing wrong with those who are smaller or bigger. We're all just built differently. I have a body that works and I'm grateful for it.

I knit and the measurements for a size 14 on older knitting patterns would be equivalent to at least a 16 now, so yes it is quite large.

I'm 5'7" and I've lost just over a stone recently and have gone from a BMI 29 to 26. Size 12s are roomy and I feel great but I didn't feel or look massive at a size 14.

Do you think it’s true then?

Size 14 isn’t large but it’s probably not relevant anyway. We only really feel confident when we’re happy in ourselves and we all have different points where that happens. I’m like you and am happier at a certain weight or look (I stay at size 12 at all kind of weights) but I know I look and feel different at each of these.
ive been feeling like you for many months and failing to get traction with the weight loss, often getting confused by the varying weigh loss bad fitness advice out there on socials.
Tgis week though I’ve made a change and a bit has come off every day. I’m using MyFitnessPal to stick to my weight loss calorie amount, and walking every day at least 12000 steps and drinking a tonne of water. I am pretty much hitting my protein target too which is 140g by having a protein shake for breakfast, chicken or tuna and egg salad for lunch and soemthing like chilli with 120g rice for tea. I don’t eat anything else in between. I’m also trying to lift weights 3 times a week. This has all coincided with me starting to take perimenopause supplements which have made me feel like my old self again. I suppose that’s exactly what’s important to me these days- feeling like myself.
weekends are a challenge for me but I’ll only drink gin and slimline tonics at a bbq and meet and salad. I’ve got enough of a deficit going to accommodate those this week.
its a tough thing to get back into but nothing will make me feel better than feeling myself again I realise x

It’s overweight. I’m the same height and look big at size 14. I’m overweight currently. If you compare yourself to those around you, you might not feel big, but that’s because so many people are overweight.

But you’ll look big in a “slimmer” country such as Italy or Denmark.

How big you look definitely depends on who you surround yourself with. And yes statistically if your friends gain weight, you are more likely too.

I'm a size 16 but I'm 5'10''. My goal is a 14 and I have huge boobs so tiny sizes don't work for me (I was an 8 for a year at 25).
I'm classed as overweight now having lost six stone.
Try a stone off over a few months if you feel it will make you more comfortable. It took me three years to lose my weight but I did it for my health.

do you ever wonder how much your boobs weigh and contribute to your overall weight? I often wonder this as mine have got bigger and bigger since having kids (had last one 13 years ago). I’m fed up with them as they prevent you from wearing some lovely thIngs

Are you 2ft 0? Yes 14 is big

Are you 6ft 2? No 14 is small