there is a certain amount of arbitrary in sizes. four seems like a lot.

Someone once commented that dress sizes were designed by 16 ferrets on crack. Doesn't sound impossible.

I don't pay as much attention to size as I do comfort of late, so I probably take a larger size than needed. Also, yes, sizes make no sense. When I buy something on line I have to read all the reviews to see if they run small or large, usually it is small.

Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure some of it is people who went from a 10 to a 6 counting it as 4 sizes rather than 2 (can they be that dumb?) But still - 60 lbs was from size 20 to 18 (or a lot of 2XL to XL). Seems like it ought to be more. Though the wardrobe that I don't have to *completely* replace says to be thankful!

Someone once bought something online ... I think it was a crocheted vest. She posted a picture of it being worn ... the size was so ridiculously small that it would only fit on her cat.

Epic, I have the same reaction. In my FB group for the program I’ve been doing there’s all these people who are like I lost 12 pounds and two sizes! Like what??

I think there’s a few things happening here. For me personally, I carry a lot of my excess weight around the middle so while my waist has shrunk, it had further to go Also, I think a lot of my clothes, didn’t really fit all that well, and were either stretched out or maybe too snug in the waist to begin with.

But I also think you’re right on that the gradations in sizes are smaller at the lower end.

That, or else people are fudging their data, or squeezing into smaller sizes that they don’t really fit just yet.

Probably all of the above.

I think sometimes as people lose weight, their body composition shifts, and for some people that can mean that a big loss translates into only 1-2 sizes, while for other people a smaller loss translates to more sizes. Bodies are so fucking weird.

Jeans are the devil, in that I can pull one pair completely off without unbuttoning or unzipping them, but the next smaller size doesn't fit. How is that right, devil garment? How? You are why people live in leggings.

I was the same clothing size for my entire twenties no matter how much weight I gained. Then after I had kids my body changed shape/size so completely I had to replace my entire wardrobe. There's just such a huge overlap between Womens' Clothing Sizes Are Bullshit and Bodies Are Weird Sometimes that I couldn't even begin to predict what would happen if I lost a bunch of weight now.

Yeah—I’ve also lost 60 pounds and gone from a 14 to a 4(!) now. But I would say that I was mostly wearing the bigger of my 14s and so on, and still could wear 12s for a long time. The last 10 pounds or so have gone from 8 to 4, so there’s definitely more change in tiny increments there. (Also my waist is still not that small but I have no ass anymore so things fit around my hips…I’d rather have an ass?)

Also definitely size inflation going on—I have a size 8 skirt from college that still barely fits, even though I’m 5 pounds less than I was then…

meara, do you mind if I ask you about the drug you're on?