How do you define a normal size person?

[joelallie]

Hi,

just wondering what you think of as normal sizet. But read the papers and a size 12 is seen as large - i remember the actress playing Bridget Jones (can't remember her name) saying that she had to go up to a size 12 for the role. And now people are buying size 4 clothes - US size 0! Now that seems incredibly thin to me... So many 'posh' shops don't seem to offer anything over a size 12.

I'm 5'11 and a large size 12. Smallest I've been for years. Just stopped dieting and am very nervous of putting it all back on. So this is a big deal for me. Sometimes get the feeling that the more obese people there are about, the more desirable unbeleivably skinny becomes. What is a normal size?

I would say size 12/14 as normal

I think people that are too thin look hideous and very very old before their time

I am 5'9" and a 10/12 and if I am ill and lose weight, look too thin imo. But would be classed as fat in some circles ffs

I have a friend who is a size 16 and looks va va voom and had a fab cleavage

It depends on your build, too.

I'm 5'6" and maybe a 14 now? I was an 18 for years and years, and recently was talking about clothes with some friends. I said, oh, I was an 18 for years, and they looked at me as if that meant I was blimp-sized. But with size-9 shoes and huge shoulders etc and decent musculature, size 18 was plump, but not that much.

5'11" and size 12 is pretty thin, by my lights. Most actresses are shorter than 5'11", I think.

Thanks for the replies.

Fiofio - I agree that the BMI should indicate normality but it seems to me to be quite misleading - my DH has a BMI of 27 which makes him overweight but he isn't really fat at all - just very muscular. Plus I was a 16/18 a few years ago but my BMI was 24 - just within the normal category but I had an arse like a supertanker

Oliveoil - I think that's what I mean - it's all so relative isn't it. To me a size 10/12 is small but there are people in this world who think otherwise.

i believe that, in terms of dress sizes, the average UK woman is a 14. and i think, norkwise, she's a 36B.

ps I'm a 12-14, 5'8" and 10st 10lbs. pretty average i reckon.

I'm sure I read somewhere that over 40% of the UK adult female population are size 16 or over. I don't recall seeing racks of clothing in M&S in a size 4/6 or even 8, which suggests to me that demand must be relatively small!!!

I used to be size 6 (and short to boot). Oh no, maybe one or 2 garments in that size, and only very few styles will go down to a 6. But in Topshop, they do go down ultrasmall, esp trousers. I assume that is for their teenage customers.

Will be some time before I resume that size, 7 months gone and all.

I'm 5'8" and when I was a size 14 I looked skinny and struggled to find clothes to fit well, as my shoulders are broad and my waist not particularly narrow. When I put on weight and went up to a 16 suddenly clothes fit me well as I was in proportion all round - for th first time I was wearing tailored jackets and elegant clothes, instead of jeans and men's t-shirts. But at that time (1980s) I struggled to find size 16 in the short of shops where I wanted to shop. Now at least clothes often go up to 18 in most high street shops - but I've gone up even further. One day I'll join a BFMs thread and get back to the real size 16 or 18 me.

IMO a woman should have curves. I'll never try to be a 14 again!

A healthy body size for most women is a 10-14 depending on height.

I'm a size 10-12, 5'6". If I was 6' and in proportion my waist measurement should go up by
2 inches, my boobs and hips should go up by 3 inches. (puts me into size 12-14)
(ie at 6' I have grown another 9% so increase all other measurements by 9%)

I think I am slim, I carry weight on my bum/hips but have TINY boobs! I reckon I am at the slim end of normal, my mom is the same height as me and a size 18 - she agrees that she is too heavy, but at a size 14 she looks and feels great.

I think BMI is a load of crock tbh. I have currently lost 4st and am now a size 14/16 - Not slim but OK for me. I am 5ft 8, but my BMI index is 29 which puts me on upper end of overweight and borderline obese. BMI takes into account heigth but doesn't take into account build or muscle/fat ratio.

If you have a large build (broad shoulders, big feet etc) then your target weight whould reflect this. If I ever tell anyone that I am considered almost obese at my weight I get disbelieving stares - including from doctors/nurses.

At my highest weight I was obviously classified as morbidly obese - with a BMI of over 40. I obviously did need to lose weight, but I regularly ran/exercised and certainly did not look like you would imagine a morbidly obese person looks. Looking at myself then I knew I looked obese but most definitely not "morbidly obese'.

Now I think I look slightly plump - certainly not borderline obese.

To me the average size is size 12, about 5' 6, size 6 shoes.

Like blueshoes I am a size 6/8, about 5'2 and size 4 shoes, so maybe I have a different perception of what average is.

Exactly lazycow. I think that waist to height ratio seems much more sensible. I no longer weigh myself anyway as I was getting obsessed but I do keep any eye on measurements (occasionally).

When I was trying to lose weight I used to look at other people all the time and try to compare myself to them - stupid really. But after a while I realised that according to the 'ideal' ie the size that most film actresses etc are, almost everyone is 'too big' - even the slimmest would be a porker compared to Keira Nightley for eg. I once read about a young model who was my height and weighed nine stone - she was told to lose weight FFS!!! It infuriates me that real woman seem to inhabit a different size universe to the ideally beautiful women.

On the subject of different sizes in different areas I read somewhere that women in the south-east tend to be slimmer on average (by about 2 sizes) than women in my part of the country. Odd that.

I am size 12 and 5.6. BMI shows that its smack bang in the middle of normal.

I am a size 16/18/20 depending on what I'm buying where.I am overwieght but don't look abnormal iykwim.On the bmi scale I should be dead.
Normal should be the weight your body is programmed to be.As long as you're healthy who cares.

Agree with Mercy but I got 'shot down' by friends the ohter night who told me I was 'tall' (5'6) and that 5'4 is average height for a woman.

I'd say exactly what Mercy said re height, size, shoes. But it does depend. Friend of mine is geting married in a couple of weeks and her dress is a size 14 - there is no way ina million years I thought that, I thought she'd be a 10!

Im 5'5" 7st 6lb and a size 8 with size 4 feet. I'm 28 now and have always been more or less this size. Some people do think that I look too thin but for me this is normal. The only bit of me I don't like is my hands which do look too bony and knuckly iyswim. I do have to be careful though because if I loose just a few pounds eg if ill, then I look gaunt and old.

I think that normal is size 8-16 really but as others have said it all depends upon your build and what is normal for you.

My mum is a little taller than me and her normal is size 14-16, bigger than that and she starts to look overweight, smaller than that and she quickly starts to look thin and older than she is.

I am 5ft and size 12, weight just under 9st. My BMI is OK I am told. I used to be an 8-10 before dd! So I am a bit overweight but not too bothered, do loads of exercise and not too unhealthy. Used to diet loads when I was younger (and a size 8), got fed up with all that in the end!

NZ clothes are different, wider in the shoulders and hips with longer arms and legs. I fit in a 12 easily here - I was always a 14 with half mast pants in the UK.

I would say normal is 14-16 given that's what most of the women I know are.

Reallt Fiofio - that has cheered me up somehow. Finally a bit of sense being injected into the whole weight debate.