This Boob or Bust thing....

[CheckingOutTheQuantocks]

It seems like complete rubbish to me! I'm a fairly hefty size 14, with a massive rib cage and back fat. I usually wear a size 36C bra and fasten it up on the middle hooks. Boob or Bust thinks I should be a 32G! Wtf??

Has bra sizing changed in some fundamental way recently? I actually used to be a trained bra fitter and the general starting point was that a 32 band equated to a dress size 10, 34 to a 12, 36 to a 14 etc etc. I am fairly sure I wouldn't be able to fasten a 32 around my mammoth ribs. Or do I need to re-educate myself?

I am a 20/22 and wear a 36 back. Bra should be fastened on slackest hook so if you're on the middle hooks it suggests you could wear a smaller back. If you measure 32 under your bust then you aren't a 36 back

The fabrics are so stretchy these days that to get a good fit, you really do have to completely ignore the +4 thing. I comfortably wear a 28 band and I am a not very spectacularly tiny size 8.

Sounds like your cup is the 36 back is too small too. Are you getting over spill?

dementedpixie not of boob - there's a bit of back fat overspill at the sides, which is what makes me think that going down to a 32 would just make that even worse.

I am a size 8/10 and I wear a 34 band.
I tried a 32 band and it left me with welts. So boob or bust is not for me

TinyMystery I would have expected someone who was a size 8 to be a 28 or 30. If they have changed the way bras are made so that the old +4 method no longer applies, it might have been nice if it had been publicised a bit!

If you measure 32 inches where your bra strap goes, why wouldn’t you choose 32 bras as your starting point? Seems rather illogical otherwise

I’m a 12-14 and wear a 32FF. I’m borderline for a 30G according to my measurements but I find a 32FF to fit better. My bras fit really well - you’d be surprised.

If you measure 32 inches round your rib cage then it's not massive. You might not find a 32 comfortable because you're used to a much looser fit, but whereas the cup size is open to some interpretation your back measurement is one of fact, and yours is much smaller than you think!

When did you last buy new bras? Do they ride up at the back at all?

Changed my life. I went from a 36 C to a 32 FF using BoB. They measured me at a GG but I went down to a FF. It's a guide, not an absolute measurement

You sound a similar size to me OP.
When I got fitted at Bravissimo I went down to a 34G. I look so much better in clothes-My boobs now look far less saggy and matronly in clothes than when wearing a 36 or 38 band and smaller cup size.

As I said, I don't know what changed, but the old way of measuring bras used to be that you added 3 or 4 inches to your band measurement, depending on whether it was an odd or even number. So yes, I measure 32 inches under my bust, which would make me a 36 under those rules. If that's no longer the case, is it to do with vanity sizing or what? I

My bras don't ride up at the back or feel loose. There is usually a faint line under my bust when I take my bra off, where the underwire has been sitting. Surely it wouldn't do that if it was too big.

I'm a size 12 and I wear a 30HH or J, thanks to BOB. Much better than swamping around in 32GGs!

It'sabout cup size. The old way of measuring has the band come all the way to the side of the boob, where as with BoB measure, the band just goes across your back. All the side, armpit and back fat should be swooped into the cup. I looked a stone heavier in my old bras because it just didnt hold in all the right places.

It’s nothing to do with changing the bras, it’s about putting women in the right size bras, yes you go down band sizes and up cup sizes. What I never realised was that a C cup for example is a different volume depending on what back size it is attached to.

You get an underline with your current bras as the cup is too small. Fat at the side and back can be breast tissue that has escaped the too small cup. It needs scooping into the cup.

With regards to cup size, 32G=34FF=36F=38E. If you are squeezing into a 36C then your current cup size is far too small.

Are your measurements 32 and 41?

And adding extra inches is a stupid method anyway especially if you only have a few inches between under and over bust measurements e.g

If you measure 30 and 33 then adding 4 to 30 would give 34 which is more than the over bust measurement. Taking 34 from 33 gives -1 which doesn't equate to a cup size. In reality it would be a 30C instead

I'm a size 18 and wear a 34J comfortably.

Ok... behold my massive torso! I think you can see here that I wasn't exaggerating about my dinosaur bones.

I appreciate that things have moved on since I was trained. It seems very counterintuitive to me that I should wear a 32 because I think of that as a very small size, and I am not small. But I promise I will track down and try on some different sizes and see how they feel.

You don't look like C cup. And you don't look as big as me under your bust and I am a 36 back (36GG)

I thought I was a 36a, then I tried a 36b which was a little better but it felt painfully tight around my ribs/back so I assumed I must be a 38a or b. (dress size 10). I went and got measured, she told me to a get a 34C - bliss. It was uncomfortable because the cup was cutting in, not because the band was too tight.

Your torso is in no way massive. Get a 32 size, try it on backwards, hooks under boobs. I bet it won't cut you in half.

You’re about my size and I wear a 34DD or a 32G.
It’s much better to have all your boob tissue in the cups and a nice comfortably firm band.

I’m a size 10-12 depending on shop and am 34 back F or G depending on manufacturer
Also depends on shape of boobs - I look awful in balcony styles and am better in plunge as have short torso

I'm a size 16 and wear a 32/34 band. In a loose old (too loose!) 34 band I can fit my fist under it at the back