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?

LOL@ massive torso!! Good Lord woman,what on earth are you on about?!

I'm a size 22 and wear a 38H. Some of the fitters in M&S still try to get me into a 42E and seem blind to the fact that it doesn't fit anywhere. Since BoB I've had loads of "how do you keep THOSE so high up there?" comments from my friends so I must be doing something right 😁

My guess would be 34G or 36FF. Purely a guess based on pic.

Agree with Loaf though, your torso is pretty average sized and isn't massive at all. I keep looking to try and see what you mean but nope. Normal rib cage and waist there.

Seen your measurement so def a 34 if you want it looser than skintight. Still would guess a G cup. Maybe FF.

Also you should fasten new bras on last hooks, not middle, so you can tighten them when they stretch.

Ive got fairly fried egg style boobs and wear a 32a (i measure 29 or 30 underneath) and i often don't fill the a cup and its gapey.....but according to this measurement style surely no one would even be an a cup....?

Ive swapped to non underwired ones bit they are very boring and not at all pretty/sexy.....but even if i went to a 30c (which what my teenager dd wears and shes way better endowed than me!) I doubt there would be a better choice available on the high street.

So I wear a 34B, but get 'fat overspill' under my arms - is this breast tissue?
What size should I try? 32C?
Questions, questions..!

Have you measured yourself? 32C has same cup volume as 34B so isn't any bigger in the cup.

B or B doesn't work for me either. I'm a size 8, and the bra intervention method puts me as a 30DD. I still get overspill, I get skin bulges under my arms and I hate it- and yet I'm almost completely flat chested, so much so that I can count my ribs through my breast. Any smaller and I spill out everywhere, any bigger and everything has these heavy supportive straps. I can't afford to go to rigby and peller and spend upwards of £50 on a bra, so I basically live in sports bras now.

You could go to Bravissimo for a fitting, you don't have to buy their bras at full price - same brands from previous seasons are sold cheap on ebay.

I think the BOB method is probably right and looks better , but very uncomfortable.
As a tiny but fairly busty size 8/10 teenager I was measured and told 32DD, which was very comfortable.
20 something years later I am a size 16/18 and am told by Bravissimo I need a 32HH. I cannot breathe in that size but it does look brilliant and I look much thinner with my boobs on my chest not my stomach.
So most of the time I wear bras measured the old way and am very comfortable if not a little matronly in a 36FF.
PS. OP you do not have a massive torso you are clearly reasonably slim.

If you get overspill try a bigger cup size. Its a guide not an absolute

Your torso looks like mine and I didn’t think I was massive! Maybe I am. I thought I was about average. Anyway, to look at even if you hadn’t mentioned your potential measurements I would have guessed you as a 32 back size and somewhere between F and G cup size.

Olajs I very probably wouldn't think you were massive if I met you. I reserve all my harshest criticism for myself. A friend recently took a picture of me from a sort of sideways/from behind angle and I looked the size of a house in it - really huge. I've had a bit of a complex about it ever since. I just hate my size and the way I look at the moment. Planning to do the low carb bootcamp when I can sort my head out.

I didn't get on with the boob or bust either. Was so uncomfortable. Ended up getting an M&S measure of 34D (I'm a size 8-10) and the bras fit perfectly.

Particularly like these as the fabric feels great and doesn't leave any bulge or overhang at all. (Says padded but is only t shirt bra amount not booster)

https://www.marksandspencer.com/sumptuously-soft-padded-plunge-t-shirt-bra/p/p60089870?image=SD022T332029LLY4XXEC90&color=BLACKMIX&prevPage=plp

I wonder if this is where I've been going wrong- surprised but actually a bit relieved to hear so many others finding the BorB method makes them so uncomfortable.

I'm a fairly standard high street size 8 and wear a 30D, which is comfortable but I need a balcony style or similar rather than a full cup as I have no bosom you might say. I'm scrawny across the chest, much to the disdain of bra fitters other than those at R&P who are very good and professional - no personal comments from them!

I said I'd try some on, so I did... and I stand by my original assessment. Sorry.

I took 32G and 32F t-shirt bras into the changing room at M&S and I could barely even get the thing fastened on the slackest setting. When I did, it kind of looked OK from the front, but when I glanced in the angled mirror at my back view, there was the most enormous overhang of back fat. There's no way that was displaced boob! It also hurt and I could barely breathe. When I put my old 36C back on the overhang was considerably smaller and it actually felt comfortable. If that's wrong, well, I'll live with it!

I am sure BorB works for some women. But for me, and doubtless others, I think this idea appealed to me for the same reason that vanity sizing might. Who wouldn't rather be a slim-yet-busty 32G than a dumpy, matronly 36C? Surely as long as we're all wearing what feels comfortable, and we reassess our bras again if our size and shape changes, the actual measurements don't matter?

As long as it fits and you are comfortable it doesn't matter.
I buy all my clothes by comparing my actual measurements in inches the labels on my clothes say anything from 12 to 20 and it all fits me. Bras are the same pick up the one closest to your measurements and then try up and down from that until you have a fit you like - your body is the same size and shape whatever combination of numbers and letters are on your bra.

Well, that was a surprise! Was wearing 34B - tried on loads of sizes, and am now wearing 32DD!

DD!!!!!

I'm a size 18 and need a 40 bra. The problem I had was the cup size was far too large. I looked like satsumas in a carrier bag. They sized me at a 40k but I only need a 40 E/F depending on which boob

I'm a 14. Used to wear a 34B, got moved to a 32F but settled on 34E.
I had expected I'd go up the strap size, not the cup.

If the cup is too small it's going to make the strap feel smaller, stands to reason as the boobs push the whole thing forward and strain the strap.

Boobs look so much better all scooped into and supported by the cup.

Have you tried bras with side support OP? Such as Fantasie or Freya? They are so comfortable, basically you push all side boob into the cup so it's all upfront if you know what I mean. I used the BoB method and feel much better supported with less overhang at the sides and back.

BOB is amazing. When I first went down 2 strap sizes I was really ubcomfortable but it’s like a second skin now. Went from 36c to 32f
No straps slipping of shoulders, back doesn’t ride up like before. Boobs look better. I’m a size 12-14