Page 9 | Is size 12 seen as "big" generally?

SabreIsMyFave · 15/01/2025 09:38

This place never ceases to amaze me. Some posters class a woman who is a size 12 as 'big.'

Stop the fucking world, I want to get off!

Seriously, some people need to have a word with themselves if they a class size 12 as 'big.'

And don't anyone coming at me with the 'yeah but what about someone who is 4 ft 10 to 4 ft 11' bollocks. Most women are not that short. The average height for a woman is 5 ft 2 to 5 ft 6, and no WAY is size 12 'big' at any of those heights!

(Actually a size 12 isn't even 'big' for someone 4 ft 10 to 4 ft 11!)

.

Snapncrackle · 15/01/2025 09:41

Devilsmommy · 15/01/2025 07:49

Just shows the difference even an inch in height makes. I'm 5'7, 8st12, BMI 19, size 6. Definitely depends on height and build

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My waist is tiny I think maybe 26 and but I’ve got big hips / bum and boobs so even though I’m slim I’m curvy if that makes sense

Mumofmarauders · 15/01/2025 09:43

I'm 5"3, size 12. I'm certainly squashy (had two kids) but I like how I look and my bmi is healthy. Sometimes people make comments to me like "you're lucky, you don't need to lose weight" so I guess it seems fine to others too.

I work in HE so teach a lot of young women, and I reckon a size 12 might look bigger on them because of their age, if you see what I mean. A lot of them seem impossibly slim in a way that I never was (that's youth plus genetics for you, I guess).

Devilsmommy · 15/01/2025 09:46

Snapncrackle · 15/01/2025 09:41

My waist is tiny I think maybe 26 and but I’ve got big hips / bum and boobs so even though I’m slim I’m curvy if that makes sense

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Same as me. For a size 6 I've got a big bum 😂 always been slim but curvy

Mumofmarauders · 15/01/2025 09:46

cornflakecrunchie · 15/01/2025 01:08

Bloodyhell, I'm a size 18, I THOUGHT I was ok, but after reading all these comments, I feel like a monster!
Is that all people think about? And BMI - I wouldn't know what that was if it jumped out & bit me.
Hugs to others the same size or more than me. You're beautiful - don't let it upset you. Luckily, as well as apparently being the same size as a rhino, I have a skin like one, too, so am confident & couldn't give a f*ck what the self-obsessed skinny minnies think!

I LOVE seeing people of different sizes looking beautiful. I work with a woman who I guess is probably a size 20 and she's the most attractive woman in our place of work (I mean, not that I've done a poll but she really is ace looking!)

ohime · 15/01/2025 10:32

I'm 5'7" and weigh 143lb (erm can't ever really figure out how to calculate stone, sorry. Google says 143lb is ca 65 kg). I'm a UK size 12, but often buy clothes (except work clothes) in 14 as I like them to be roomy. Like the OP, I always felt like I was perfectly fine - but when I moved from the US to the UK I suddenly became a 'large' when I'd always been a 'medium' before, and it also seems that people view me as a larger/taller person than they did in the States. While growing up I felt like I was average in every way - not over- or underweight, not tall or short. In the UK I feel viewed as tall/big for a woman (although I know many women my height and taller!), and I keep encountering questions like this post, which make me think people here are just generally a bit smaller, or at least that's the ideal...??

Usedphone · 15/01/2025 10:47

ohime · 15/01/2025 10:32

I'm 5'7" and weigh 143lb (erm can't ever really figure out how to calculate stone, sorry. Google says 143lb is ca 65 kg). I'm a UK size 12, but often buy clothes (except work clothes) in 14 as I like them to be roomy. Like the OP, I always felt like I was perfectly fine - but when I moved from the US to the UK I suddenly became a 'large' when I'd always been a 'medium' before, and it also seems that people view me as a larger/taller person than they did in the States. While growing up I felt like I was average in every way - not over- or underweight, not tall or short. In the UK I feel viewed as tall/big for a woman (although I know many women my height and taller!), and I keep encountering questions like this post, which make me think people here are just generally a bit smaller, or at least that's the ideal...??

I also come from the other side of the pond, and most of my life I was a US 10, UK 14, and like you thought I was pretty average.

I'm a lot shorter than you though (5ft3) and now that I've lost weight, I can see that a UK 14 definitely meant I was "big". I now know my "ideal size" is a UK 8/6 - so 4/2 US

Onceachunkymonkey · 15/01/2025 11:01

ohime · 15/01/2025 10:32

I'm 5'7" and weigh 143lb (erm can't ever really figure out how to calculate stone, sorry. Google says 143lb is ca 65 kg). I'm a UK size 12, but often buy clothes (except work clothes) in 14 as I like them to be roomy. Like the OP, I always felt like I was perfectly fine - but when I moved from the US to the UK I suddenly became a 'large' when I'd always been a 'medium' before, and it also seems that people view me as a larger/taller person than they did in the States. While growing up I felt like I was average in every way - not over- or underweight, not tall or short. In the UK I feel viewed as tall/big for a woman (although I know many women my height and taller!), and I keep encountering questions like this post, which make me think people here are just generally a bit smaller, or at least that's the ideal...??

Who is asking you questions, your a mid healthy bmi woman, that sounds incredibly odd.

FlatStanley50 · 15/01/2025 12:14

Sally20099 · 14/01/2025 20:53

Unless you are over 5.5ft then it’s likely your BMI at a size 12, would classify you as over weight and therefore bigger than optimal health. If most people are size 12 that makes it normal but not clinically healthy.

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This is just not true. I am 5 foot nothing and size 12 and my BMI is healthy. I am not thin, I am medium, I would be happier at a size 10. But my BMI does not classify me as overweight.

ohime · 15/01/2025 12:21

Onceachunkymonkey · 15/01/2025 11:01

Who is asking you questions, your a mid healthy bmi woman, that sounds incredibly odd.

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I've been referred to as 'a big lass', which took me a bit aback. I was also amused to find that I'd gone from 'medium' to 'large' by simply taking an eight-hour flight. That said, an informal survey of my former US and current UK work colleagues finds that the majority of the UK men are around my height or slightly shorter, while most of the US men were taller than me.

Didn't mean to hijack your thread, OP, sorry - just wanted to point out that how we're perceived, and thus how we see ourselves, is completely relative. In a related issue, I've also become much older by taking said flight! In the US, we say 'the over-65s' to refer to those past middle age, while here we say 'the over-50s', which took some getting used to! All I can think is that the UK has a much longer history, during much of which people didn't live much past 50... ??

Whoknew24 · 15/01/2025 12:24

I would say it’s big.

im 5ft 2inches
weight 8 stone 5lbs
i wear an 8

id look really big in a 12. However I don’t judge others size in any way, but in answer to your question I would say it’s biggish.

MidnightMeltdown · 15/01/2025 12:26

SabreIsMyFave · 15/01/2025 09:38

This place never ceases to amaze me. Some posters class a woman who is a size 12 as 'big.'

Stop the fucking world, I want to get off!

Seriously, some people need to have a word with themselves if they a class size 12 as 'big.'

And don't anyone coming at me with the 'yeah but what about someone who is 4 ft 10 to 4 ft 11' bollocks. Most women are not that short. The average height for a woman is 5 ft 2 to 5 ft 6, and no WAY is size 12 'big' at any of those heights!

(Actually a size 12 isn't even 'big' for someone 4 ft 10 to 4 ft 11!)

.

Edited

But a size 12 IS big for some women. The problem is that you can't really generalise, even when two people are the same height, and muscle mass, they can be built differently.

Even ethnicity plays a role. I'm mixed race, and according to the NHS, a BMI of 23 put me in the overweight category, so I can easily be overweight at a size 12. My mum is 100% white European, and can reach a BMI of 25 before she hits the overweight category.

I'm an average height (just below 5 foot 6), but I have a smaller build than a lot of my white friends (particularly around the shoulders and the rib cage).

You can't blame people for having different perceptions of what is classed as 'big', as most people will automatically reference this on their own body type and dress size.

cornflakecrunchie · 15/01/2025 12:42

#Leaves self-obsessed thread..

squirrelslikenuts · 15/01/2025 16:59

JackieGoodman · 13/01/2025 17:58

It does depend on height really, but the average height woman, eg 5ft 4 a 12 is a medium size IMO, not slim but not "big" either. Also build, someone who's a small build will be "bigger" if they need a size 12, whereas a tall broad shouldered woman could be quite skinny at size 12.

I was told by a physio at the GP's, that at 5'2 size 12 that I was obese. I'd had a fall.

I was horrified, and starting stressing about my diet for the next 6 months.

Crystall88 · 15/01/2025 17:06

No one who fits in a 12 is going to be massive but I'm just thinking back to after I'd had one of my kids. I'd put on about 2 stone and though I could still fit into size 12 leggings and elasticated jogging bottoms, I was more like a 16 in jeans and fitted clothes, I just didn't want to accept it. The sizes in different shops can really vary too.

squirrelslikenuts · 15/01/2025 17:06

She sounds petite to me. In which book at a size 12 is she fat, with a narrow frame.
I think this BMI thing is a bit off. Yes, there are bigger built short people, but they are not size 12s.

MusicMakesItAllBetter · 15/01/2025 17:46

piperoo1095 · 13/01/2025 17:51

Hi all,

Not trying to cause controversy here as I am genuinely interested. But do most people consider a UK size 12 to be "big"? I only ask because I see a lot of posts online at people "horrified" that they reached a size 12 and to me it's never seemed bad at all. Perhaps I've been living under my nice little rock of ignorance. Of course I'm sure height and build plays a massive role too!

No. Well... It depends on the person, their frame, height etc

MusicMakesItAllBetter · 15/01/2025 17:48

MusicMakesItAllBetter · 15/01/2025 17:46

No. Well... It depends on the person, their frame, height etc

Edited

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Pressed post before I'd finished.

On an average 5'6 person, no.

On a 5'2 person, it will look bigger

KhakiShaker · 15/01/2025 17:53

SabreIsMyFave · 15/01/2025 09:38

This place never ceases to amaze me. Some posters class a woman who is a size 12 as 'big.'

Stop the fucking world, I want to get off!

Seriously, some people need to have a word with themselves if they a class size 12 as 'big.'

And don't anyone coming at me with the 'yeah but what about someone who is 4 ft 10 to 4 ft 11' bollocks. Most women are not that short. The average height for a woman is 5 ft 2 to 5 ft 6, and no WAY is size 12 'big' at any of those heights!

(Actually a size 12 isn't even 'big' for someone 4 ft 10 to 4 ft 11!)

.

Edited

This.

Can’t believe some of these posts. Size 12 is just normal FFS. And I’m a millennial who grew up being told Bridget Jones and J-Lo were fat.

Deeperthantheocean · 15/01/2025 18:27

DancingHippos · 13/01/2025 18:03

In the 80s, I remember going shopping with my mum for her cardigans in M&S. She was a size 12 then but because of 'vanity sizing', that would now be a size 8.

True, and going way back to the sizes in 1950s. The dresses my Mum wore were TINY, probably a size 6 but were a 10 to 12 then.

Deeperthantheocean · 15/01/2025 18:31

All depends on the manufacturers. I've put on weight and have clothes size 8 which are comfortable and 16 which are tight! X

ffsfindmeausername · 15/01/2025 20:02

JohnTheRevelator · 13/01/2025 17:59

I think opinions on sizes have changed considerably over the years. When I was 18 and at college (way back in 1981) a size 12 was considered 'ideal'. It was certainly what I was always striving for! But if you were a size 14 you certainly weren't considered huge. To be honest,I don't think anyone I knew among my social circle was smaller than a size 10. Nowadays,I think many women see a size 8 as the ideal size. But I do think that clothes sizes themselves have actually changed. I think a size 12 now is more like a size 14,a size 8 is more like a size 10. I am 61 now and a size 16 but I certainly don't feel (or look,I hope!) humongous!

I agree with this about the clothes sizes have changed over the years. i was always a size 10 years ago now I have to buy a size 8 and my weight/body shape is still the same. I've heard other women say this too when we've been discussing clothes.

TattyPhoenix · 15/01/2025 20:45

I'm 5'8" and size 12. I don't think I'm "big".

Anothernamechane · 15/01/2025 23:21

Me on the left with a size ten bottom size 12 top

Me on the right 10 lbs heavier with a size 12 dress

Healthy bmi in both. 5ft 4

Usedphone · 16/01/2025 06:10

You can't judge clothes size and BMI in this photo I'm a mix of size 8 and then (the cardigan is an XS!) and I'm an unhealthy BMI.