I don't understand my own body!

[Ooopsadaisy]

I am fit and slim. I wear a size 8 trousers and a 10 on top. I am 5 foot 4.

I am very toned and my under bust measurement is 30.

Reasonably priced bras in a 30 inch are quite rare and I am always on a budget, so I shop carefully.

Therefore, I get myself measured in a few shops, try different stores, styles, take on board lots of advice etc ...

I am an E fitting. Even more difficult when only a 30 inch back. This is correct though, as my bras are well fitting.

I am always so frazzled by the purchasing process, that I always forget to ask the things I really want to know.

If I am a 30E and otherwise slim - shouldn't I look busty? I don't think I do. I certainly have boobs but no-one could describe them as honking norks.

When discussing bra sizes, people are always amazed when I say "E". They look askance and say "are you sure?".

One friend who I think looks very busty is a 36D. Why does she look more busty than me?

Also, if I am an E - why am I still a size 10?

Hmm, lots of questions. A 30 isn't that narrow these days you know. If we all wore proper fitting bra's, I reckon tiny girls would only be a 26. I'm 31 inches these days, but before I had my reduction, I was a 28 HH. Try finding one that size in North Wales in the early 90's.

Categorically, your friend in a 36D is in the wrong size. I bet she is a 32GG or something.

I need to lose a teeny bit more weight and get re-measured (or guage myself) but I am currently in a 32FF and have just a nice size. When I was a 30E like you (after just one DC) I had just slightly bigger than average boobs.

Please people reading this thread, step away from M&S and their shite ineffectual bra measuring 'service'.

suwoo is right, in M&S they measure me as a 38B and just tossed any bra at me. At rigby and pellar they measure me as a 32C and said because a bra was 32C said it didn't necessarily mean it would fit my boobage!
I think the problem is that the strapping around the body should be tighter than most people feel comfortable wearing so they go up a size around the rib cage for comfort.

suwoo - Thanks so much for your reply.

Why are there are all the A/B/C/D cups sizes about then?

Why are these larger cup sizes not more readily available?

I can remember hearing some joke about anything more than a C is a waste or something?

Has sizing changed?

Sorry - I'm full of a life-time of questions on this one!

everytime you go up the number, you go down a letter, i e I wear 32D, sometimes (depending on a brand), I can go 34, but 34C, etc. Does it make sense? So you cannot compare cup sizes alone without taking band size in consideration.

Re sizes. I think it all depends on your overall build, I am, as I said 32D, but even when I was a full D (pre-kids), I wore 8, but I have narrow shoulders, and just in general, smaller figure.

it's not so much sizing changing as people fitting properly - bravissimo etc have made a big difference where as before people would just wedge themselves in to whatever ill fitting contraption M&S claimed would fit.

You still see it all the time - the daily mail claiming that Jordan/Victoria Beckham etc is a 34 back which is utter nonsense.

Plus - bra fitting used to be something silly like add 4 or 5 inches to your underbust measurement which doesn't really work especially now that we have stretchier fabrics etc.

M&S are getting a bit of a bashing here. That is where I went .

I am sure they have got it right though.

So where are all these 26/28/30 inch bras in E+ sizes?

I'm sure I am not alone in not being able to afford expensive brands.

Snorting at the idea that I am 4 inches narrower than Victoria Beckham!

Still confused as to why Jordan looks enormously busty when it seems that her bra size is not actually that unusually large.

BTW - I do not want to look like Jordan.

I think Jordan looks huge because a: she's tiny everywhere else and b: they're implants so the tissue isn't spread over as big an area as natural boobs the same size would be.

I'm not sure I've ever seen 26" bras but 28 upwards, bravissimo. debenhams have a quite nice range that starts at a 30 I think and goes up to a G/GG.

It's worth going to somewhere like Bravissimo or maybe John Lewis to get fitted as they'll teach you what a well fitting bra should look and feel like on.

I personally wear bravissimo own brand or freya but I'm bigger than you so have less of a selection.

M&S may have got it right but they do tend to be awful. My best friend was wearing a 36dd/e - turned out she was in reality a 30g. Oops! There is always some variation between brands but that's just silly!

There is some fitting guidance on the brav website which might give you an idea whether m&s have got it right or not. Your band should be snug and on the loosest hook when you buy it. If you can more than run a few fingers under it, or it doesn't sit horizontally at the back then it's too big in the back. I don't think m&S do a 28 so it's worth checking as they can be buggers for sticking you in the closest size they have

"Your band should be snug and on the loosest hook when you buy it".

It wasn't. It was snug, but on the tightest. OMG - I am a 28!!!!!!!!

So, do I need to add a cup size if I go down a band size?

Am I therefore, a 28F? I've never even seen one. Am I a freak?

Get yourself to a R&P or Bravissimo as they are the only ones who can actually measure correctly! I used to be a 36HH but after reduction many years ago I'm now 34D/E/F depending on Bra shape, type, make, material etc. MS measured me as a 40B!

I'd never buy without trying on as they vary so so much even the same size in the brand can fit differently.

It also depends on your bust as well, mine are everage but they are kind of flat and wide, due to loads of swimming (more peck shape if that's doesn't sound hideous!) so lots of bra's just don't fit my shape at all.

Jordan looks busty as she's tiny tiny tiny size 6 and her boobs are rounded up and out cowboys!

Have a look on Figleave as they have all the sizes - my mum is 28E and she is a 10 on top and her boobs look tiny to me like B cups!

Agree the it should feel really tight, and lowest hook and also it should hold you in at the sides and at the bottom and shouldn't move if you raise your arms!

You are most definitely not a freak - I'm a 30 at the moment but when I lose weight it only comes off the underbust so I end up being silly sizes like a 28JJ and such like! I think an awful lot more women than realise are probably smaller back sizes and bigger cups. Every time I see someone posting saying "I'm a size 8, 34c" I want to tell them to get measured, lol.

They shouldn't fit on the tightest hook because bras stretch (quite quickly!) so you need to have room to tighten it up.

And yes, if you go down a back you need to add at least one cup size. I would say you need to go somewhere and try on though as my size can vary quite a bit between brands, and some just don't fit my shape right at all. I now know fairly accurately and can generally get away with buying online but it does take a little trial and error first.

Swimming - yes! So that explains it - lots of fitness over the years - kick-boxing, swimming etc - flat and wide !!!!!! Yes! My hooters sort of fill my pec area but don't stick out far - hence the larger cup size but I don't look hooter-ish. That makes perfect sense.

I also find that many styles don't work for me. I need ones that sort of come up higher between the hooters. Is that the same for you too?

Yes - forget Jordan - hers are not real.

Mine are 42 years old and very tired!

Bit scared of going to shop I can't afford, though.

ah yes stylelostinlabour, the "my boobs are escaping out my armpit" look - so pretty!

I'm a similar shape as well (quite wide boobs that go round under arms) - I find panache are too deep and narrow for me. Their wires are more U shaped where as some (freya) are more like a sideways c if that makes any sense.

I generally pay somewhere around £30 for a bra in the shop, if that helps

If you actually measure your own ribcage just under the bust then that is what size you are, non of this adding 5 inches on shite. I wore a bra when I was 10, the smallest back size was 28. There was no way that I was a 28 then, my 9 year old DD was 18 inches around her back last time I measured her (for a dress not a bra).

Once you have measured around your back, you can roughly guage approximately what size you are, by counting the inches difference between that measurement and the number of inches at the fullest part of your bust. This is not an exact science, but gives you a rough idea. You must use appearance though to know if it fits. It should be tight to your body, the whole breast should be contained in the wires (which should be quite far round your sides IYSWIM) no overspill out of the top plis other things which you can see on the Bravissimo website. Once you know what a correctly fitted bra looks/feels like you can't go wrong. I buy all mine off Ebay- much cheaper.

Just as an example. I am a 31 under the bust and a 37 at the fullest part, so that equals 32F (F is the 6th letter = 6 inches). Like I said, that may not always work out, but it gives you an idea if you are in the right ball park.

Bra fitting is one of my specialist subjects

Good point re the different brands, I only wear panache as they fit me perfectly. My boobs are skinny . Mine aren't too bad after 3 DC, but they were reduced at 19, so I have had an extra few years advantage I suppose.

If you measure 30" under your bust then you are a 34 band size,not a 30.someone with a 30 band size measures 26 under the bust.That would take you down to a 34 D. you measure the ribcage, and add 4-5 inches to get the bra size. A 28 bra is for someone with a 24" rib cage,usually a teenager.(that's what i measured at 16,I'm now 26 under my bust,and I wear a 30FF or G.

Second Suwoo, go get yourself measured at Bravissimo and take note of the styles/brands and cup sizes that fit you, then buy off Ebay.

I went in thinking I was a 38DD, came out a 34GG, was gobsmacked.

I am by no means small round the back either, I had never in all my 37 years worn less than a 36" back.

Hellymelly that system doesn't work anymore - generally a decent fitter won't actually use a measuring tape at all but the closest estimation is that your actual measurement - your band size.

Ok. Tape measure out.

Under bust = 30.

Fullest part of bust = 36.

suwoo - so am I a 30F then?

hellymelly - I can't believe I am a 34. I am wearing a 30 on it's tightest hook and I think it might be a bit looser than it should be.

I would say possibly Oooops, but take into account boob shape etc, if your 30 E fits you then thats great.

Hellymelly, sorry but thats wrong. Are you really a 26? Wow you skinny malink

M&S are rubbish for measurements/sizing!

I am a 32E, and a 10.

My favourite are Fantasie, Freya, Bravissimo.

Re you being a size 10 - that makes sense at 30E to me because an E measurement is normally 5 inches bigger around the boobs than the band size so that would be a 35" chest and looking up then a size 10 is a 34" chest, OK there's an inch in it but sounds like a 10 to me.

Lots of place (even places that should know better like figleaves) still say add 4/5 inches to underbust measurement to get band width and it is so wrong, it's only bravissimo that measure me correctly (34H at the mo).