Lost 3 stone - still not gone down a dress size

[NotPerfectlyAdverage]

I feel like I post this every two weeks. But today I wore a size 18 dress from M&S I bought two years ago in the sale. It's chiffon with a side zip. No streach and fitted. I wore it this time last year. I wore it today. I can maybe pull it loose one inch below my bust where it is the most fitted. How does this work? Where has the three stone gone? There is zero chance I squeezed into it before as its fitted chiffon. It would have ripped. I wouldn't comfortably get into a smaller size of this dress either. I put my height and weight into AI who said I'd be a UK size 14-16. I'm a size 20. I don't mind. But I look thinner. I can't work it out?

Are you pleased about this or disappointed?!

I don’t want mine to ‘disappear’, particularly, but I cup size or two’s reduction would be very welcome.

I don’t care either way TBH. I mean I was not big busted before but now pretty much flat.

I've just about lost 2 stone and I'm definitely down at least 1 size... even my XL TUI exercise leggings are falling off me - had to get new ones in large.
Also, the size 22 skinny jeans I bought before MJ that I wore on Friday night needed a belt and fit more like a straight leg.

I probably lost a lot of inches because I started exercising a month before starting MJ

Can you post an image of the dress? Maybe on with you ideally with no head visible?

Could it be you were actually a bigger size but wearing elasticated clothing

I'm 5'4 and 12st and I wear a 12 now in most things, except a 14 in some trousers. So I think it must very much depend on body shape as people said and also that it happens very quick - I went from a size 18 to a size 14 seemingly overnight!

I've lost almost 3 stone and I'm still wearing my size 18s.
I think, at my heaviest, I was probably a size 20 but could squeeze into an 18 as I like comfy clothes ie stretchy but now the 18's are a bit loose.

I really hope so. I feel dread that all I have lost is muscle. I guess there's no way to know for sure. I'm going to up my exercise in the new year. Before I lost the weight I was too out of puff to have much energy.

Normally I would say yes, but in this dress that's not possible. It's a lined chiffon dress with zero streach or give. The lining is thin as it the dress and you tried to squeeze into it, it would rip very easily.

Firstly, well done on your weight loss!

What shape are you? If you are apple shaped that will make a huge difference. Also, how muscular/toned are you? Do you exercise a lot? I am the same height and at that weight was a size 12 I think. But I am an hourglass figure, with big bum and boobs and a small waist. I exercise a lot as well, I have been a regular swimmer and walker for many years, so I also have a lot of muscle. Even at 95kg, my legs were pretty solid. This all makes me more compact, so I always looked smaller than my weight. At 95kg I was never bigger than a size 16. If you aren't muscular/toned, that will make a difference to your size too.

It sounds like you are shrinking though, and the PPs about the kitchen roll effect are so true. Now I am in the 60s, I think I look different with every kg lost. Maybe not to others, but I notice. At the heavier weights it takes more loss to notice. But you will get there, you are already doing it!

Dress sizes differ though so that m&s size 18 chiffon dress may have been a 20 elsewhere. Also I was 13st 1lbs 5ft 3" and would wear 14 clothes and stretch them out but I was really a 16. I just refused to wear anything bigger sizes and had small hips but apple shaped body and inflammation with swollen hands and fingers and I have higher muscle mass as a woman, started at 43% before my weight loss now I'm 37.3% so I always weigh heavier than I look. My friend who is 5ft 4 and 12st 5lbs has more fat and less muscle and wears a 16. Didnt think that was possible but our bodies vary so much.

It will suddenly happen. At 3.5 stone it really started to show for me and then the sizes just kept falling. I’m 6 stone down now and a size 12 from a 22/24

@dontletmedownbruce You’ve lost 19 pounds, but most importantly what’s your bmi and height?You will lose it from your chest, but obviously, you need to lose more weight for this to happen.

Interesting. Weight loss can be so weird! There will be a point where you will wake up one day and everything will be loose

I agree. I’ve lost almost 4 stones and have gone down a dress size. Im approaching two dress sizes in some brands, but my M&S trousers in my original size still fit, albeit loosely (and they were probably far too tight when I started!).

But it’s good to do measurements everywhere. Even daft places like your neck (mine has decreased nearly 2”. I’ve lost 8” off my hips and 5” off my previously huge bust (still got plenty left!) It’s strange how it disappears unevenly.

I'm the same. I've lost nearly 3 stone. Down from 15 stone 2 to 12 3. I'm just under 5'3. It's only really the last few weeks I've gone down from an 18 to a 16, and all most my 18s still fit me without looking too big. It's weird. I expected to drop a dress size much quicker. I'm not very fit and toned though other than my legs, which are quite muscular as I walk a lot.

Congratulations on how far you have come so far - near on 20% of your body weight gone - the health benefits outweigh any dress size shift

Unfortunately now, ( that's said tongue in cheek ) you are now at the stage where the exercise needs to be upped. Not that Im saying a couch to 5k , but start the lunges, get the tins of beans out to work the arms, get the steps in

And another trick - get the boobs properly measured for a bra I went down one size by doing that

Ive not lost any more weight this past year - Ive maintained - a few pound either side of what my body is happy with , but Im two sizes down on that final weight loss . What I mean is, Im a completely different size at 9 stone - 2 years down the line because now I dont work on loosing, I work on maintaining and exercise is part of that

For me its walking, cycling and ( sometimes) getting the skipping rope out, doing lunges and squats whenever Im cooking and dancing like a loon along to the radio when alone

Your body shape will change, be patient , but start putting the work in

Ive lost 4 stone and gone from a size 28 ( at 20 stone) to a size 20/22 at 16 stone. I am 5ft 7.

A friend and I have been on the injections for a while and joke that while we weigh much less, we're still wearing the same clothes - it's just that now we don't look like a porchetta roast oozing out between the strings 😅

What's the kitchen roll analogy?

The other thing is, if I was honest with myself, I was probably really a size 22 but wearing size 18-20 clothes - stretch fabrics and elasticated waists are very forgiving. I’m still wearing a size 18 but it’s loose now. I am also generous of nork, so even though my clothes are much looser, they’re still fitted across the bust.

Op. It is very odd if this is a fitted dress that fits the same as it did when you were 3 stone heavier.

the only thing I can think of is have you been exercising, it could be you’ve lost weight off your arms, legs and bust, but not your stomach and backside,

Different people lose weight differently depending on fat distribution. I lost a stone recently and dropped 2 dress sizes. I think it depends on height as well

I think it’s because we were squeezing into our clothes when we probably should have got the next size up. Also we weren’t buying clothes the next size up so anything we did buy was slightly over size. I found once I dropped one size, the others came quickly afterwards (because the first 2 real drops were just to fit into my existing clothes)

I was the same Took 3/4s to drop a size but I also know I did squeeze into some 20’s and maybe stretched them ….,,

tho you say you can’t with this dress. But sure it fits you better

take photos wearing same clothes every month and measure

for months I didn’t see a huge diff in my outline then suddenly I did and people started to notice at the 4s mark

I started aug 24 I was gutted I couldn’t even get 16 up my thighs in jeans in Feb25 but June 25 massive and a 12

i literally dropped 3 sizes with the stone or two

did you take measurements when started ? I measured every 4w and now 18mths later huge diff and 7s loss - 20 to a 10/12

keep plodding. The weight is going

my wrists are thinner - my watch slips off without undoing it

had to resize my ring once at healthy weight and lost 100lbs - just over 7s - fingers slimmer

feet smaller

boobs massively smaller and sadly spaniels ears but look ok in a bra

it all adds up

but always take measurements and pics