Bra intervention help please!

[Judystilldreamsofhorses]

Can anyone help, please? I am back in work two days a week after 18 months of wearing bralette type things. I was last measured about 10 years ago at 32D, but am about 4lb up on my fighting weight due to commuting to my kitchen table. My bras look and feel uncomfortable and like I have massive fat armpits…

I did the Boob or Bust calculator which came out at 30F or FF - measurements were:

30.5
32
36
37.5

I am not disputing the calculator but it seems like a massive jump? We no longer have John Lewis or Debenhams (thanks, Covid) so I am probably going to have to order online rather than try in-store.

Can any bra gurus help? I tried taking some photos but my phone seems to be right over my boobs in all of them which is no use!

30F is equivalent to 32E with regard to cup size so not a huge jump really.

Okay, that is helpful, thank you. I kind of expected to come out as 32E. I think a 30 band would cut me right in half?

It doesn't seem crazy.

Take your current 32 bra and try it on back to front. How far from your body can you pull the strap? You do it back to front to remove the impact of the (probably a bit small) cups

I can get my fist in. DP thinks I have actually lost my mind.

Full fist suggests you probably should try a 30. You should only be able to get a few fingers under a well fitted band.

It will vary by brand/bra of course - they're just like jeans, try on 94 pairs in 3 sizes to get a good one - but your starting point is probably a 30. Cup wise if you feel like you have noticeable overspill in the 32D that suggests you would need at least a DD but more likely an E in a 32, which would be equivalent to an F in a 30. So I'd start with a 30F and work from there.

The measurements are only ever a start point. Make sure you know how a good bra should fit and how to put one on properly and how to scoop and swoop so that all your breast tissue is in the cup.

That’s super helpful, thank you so much. My current bras are probably a few years old so maybe they are a bit stretched out. I usually wear a UK size 10, sometimes 12 on the bottom, and I read your band size should end in the same number as your dress size I think?

I have ordered a 33D and a 30F to try. I am pretty smug about jeans shopping usually, so this may be where that comes back to bite me.

32D. Not 33.

Oh my god. 32E. I have ordered a 32E and a 30F. Distracted by Jurassic Park on the TV!

Sister size of 30F is 32E so you might find a 32D is too small

Xpost!

Also bras vary a lot so you might need to try different ones in the same size. A pain with mail order but true.

I’m in 32D right now but honestly it is like it’s my armpits that are fat.

Most of the bras I have are Freya and Fantasie, so I have gone with those in the hope they will be similar.

Thanks so much for helping.

Actually this photo is maybe okay. I had lasagne for dinner so forgive my big pasta tummy!

The dress size thing isn't really true because body shapes vary so much and your dress size is dictated by the largest bit. I have wide hips, proportionately small waist and back, big boobs. As a result at a size 16/18 I'm only a 32 mostly, at a 14 I'm more like a 28.

Waist measurement is more useful - most people's band size is within 3 either side of their waist measurement. But even that isn't bulletproof as women with developed upper torsos can be wider backed

Armpit fat is normally breast tissue which needs to be scooped inside the cup. Of course it won't go if cup doesn't have room.

I can see wrinkling at the top of the cup - do you find that happens often? If so you might want to try more of a straight across balconette (more like a half cup style). They're good if you lack fullness at the top of your breast

Waist wise I am a 28, so I guess 30/32 is about right.

Sorry to be clueless, but if I have armpit fat, isn’t a fuller cup better? I have been in crop top things for so long I can’t remember what my bras are supposed to look like! DP has gone to bed so I can’t go trying on others.

I am in my 40s so most likely in peri which might be playing a part in things too?

Armpit fat can be about cup width, the height under the arms, or both. Or just a general lack of space.

Something like this - just as an example - isn't low at the armpit, but it has less fabric on the top of the bust so if you have boobs which lack upper fullness this shape can work as you fill the bottom and don't get wrinking at the top section as there isn't one. It may just have been the photo/angle/bra though!

www.bravissimo.com/products/anais-bra-ln556/#silver-ln556svr

And sometimes you can "swoop and scoop" that armpit bulge right into the cup.

I googled scoop and swoop. Did it. I definitely have fat armpits. Until now I just worried about my arse!

Don't know if it'll help but I found a web chat consultation with bravissimo very helpful. They offer zoom fittings as well.