size grumbles. (okay it's really a rant)

  • I started my weight loss journey at 215 pounds. I currently weight 185. WHY DO ALL MY CLOTHS STILL FIT???

    Yes they fit different. Yes my 18's are mostly way two big. But all my 16 jeans still fit. I am INCHES smaller. I know. I've got the measurements to prove it. Why is it I can't go to the store and buy a 14 or a 12. I've lost 30 freaking pounds! It's frustrating. One of my weight loss buddies (stupid men and their freakishly fast loss) has lost 55 pounds 4 pants sizes and 3 shirt sizes. He just got rid of a ton of stuff and I'm still in my same jeans cause they fit JUST FINE. They are a little lose in the waist but look good on the butt and thighs. I want to have to buy a whole new wardrobe too I know I've got a long way to go and the size will eventually have to change, but for now, I just want to scream.
  • Aiseline, I had the same thing happen. I was wearing all the same clothing until really just the past couple of weeks. Yes. some things were a little loose but nothing was even truly huge on me. It was so frustrating because if you had asked if I was stuffing myself into all these same clothes 30+ lbs ago, I would have honestly said no. They weren't loose but they fit.

    Hang in there, my guess is that you'll have a size whoosh very soon!!
  • I've lost over 40 lbs, and I'm mostly wearing all the same clothes. The biggest thing was that I was wearing clothes that were too small for me. I plan on wearing these clothes until they're practically falling off before I get new ones, because I want to buy the smallest size possible, so that they last as long as possible - I have a lot to lose!
  • dont feel bad i started at 258 (size 18) and didnt get into the next pant size till 220 at which point i was wearing a 16 thats a 38 pound differance ... now at 215 the 16's are looking saggy already .... the funny thing is from 229 to 220 made all the differance in the world the size 18's fit FINE at 229 but at 220 they just wouldent stay up anymore ... for me as long as the number on the scale is going down i WILL eventually get there !! so will you dont give up or else this time next year youll wish you haddent !!!
  • I'm 37 down and still wearing some of my fat clothes simply because the next size down doesn't quite look right yet. It's frustruating to say the least! my body shape has changed but my size not really. weird. I guess we just have to be patient!!

    (by the way I started at nearly 220 and am now 181 so kind of similar to your predicament!!)
  • I think in the beginning it's a slower transition. I think I started at like a 24 or 26 and when I got pregnant I was down 70 lbs and a size 16/18. So that was about 4 sizes. In December I had lost another 15 lbs or so and bought some new size 14 pants and they were a tad snug, now only 12 lbs later at 174 and those pants I bought in December are just hanging on me. I can pull them down without unbottoning them. In fact today I'm forcing myself to go out and go shopping because I can pull down all my pants without unbottoning. So hang in there, all of our bodies are different and you'll see it soon. You might want to just go try some stuff on, you may be suprised what fits you. Also there is such a drastic difference between stores. I literally can be a 12 at one store and a 16 in another.
  • I'm the exact same way. I'm 30 down, and still wearing my old clothes just fine. The only difference I've noticed is I wear medical scrubs at work and my bottoms look a little looser, but nothing remarkable.

    I want to be in smaller sizes too!!!!
  • Did those of you that are losing weight but not size exercise on the way down? That can make a HUGE difference.
  • There is also the cut.

    Somewhere around size 12 or 14 it switches from being 1 inch differences between sizes to 2 inches. Like the "border" between the largest of the regular size and the start of the plus size.

    For instance, the diff between an 8, 10, and 12 pants is about one inch bigger in waist, hip. But in the same brand, the pants diff from 14, 16, 18 is more like 2 inch diff. 1 inch is roughly 10 lbs, 2 inches is roughly 20. (This is just rule of thumb, mind you. )

    Where the "border size" is by brand can vary, but hang in there. You can make it through this!

    A.
  • @stella1609- I do cardio daily, swim once a week , and do weight training at the gym 3 times a week. I also have a rather physical job. You would be surprised how much work merchandising in a department store can be. Cloths are heavy. You are also up and down ladders all day.
  • Quote: There is also the cut.

    Somewhere around size 12 or 14 it switches from being 1 inch differences between sizes to 2 inches. Like the "border" between the largest of the regular size and the start of the plus size.

    For instance, the diff between an 8, 10, and 12 pants is about one inch bigger in waist, hip. But in the same brand, the pants diff from 14, 16, 18 is more like 2 inch diff. 1 inch is roughly 10 lbs, 2 inches is roughly 20. (This is just rule of thumb, mind you. )

    Where the "border size" is by brand can vary, but hang in there. You can make it through this!

    A.
    The analogy I've read a couple of times on 3fc is to imagine a big, full roll of paper towels. At the beginning of the roll, you have to take off a whole lot of sheets to notice that much difference. But as the roll gets smaller, taking off just a couple of sheets makes a visible difference in how much is left.
  • My weight loss has stalled, but when I lost the first 30 pounds, I did at least an hour of cardio per day, plus weight training once a week and yoga twice a week. I'm kickstarting the exercise again, and planning to add pilates - maybe that will help?
  • I can still wear most of the clothes I started with. EIGHTY pounds and I still, for the most part, have the same wardrobe.

    Because I look in the mirror and every day see the same person I saw the day before, it's very hard for me to see any difference at all. When I renewed my driver's license I kept my old one, because I could see that my face was fatter in the old photo.

    I don't really avoid the camera, but I don't go out of the way to get my picture taken either, so I have very little photographic evidence of my progress. Living in (mostly) the same wardrobe, it's hard to believe that there've been any changes.

    Oh, there've been signs of progress. I had to get rid of one pair of spandexy jeans because they were WAY too big (but they were a little loose when I bought them, and I thought maybe the spandex had stretched out - I knew it was some weight loss, but because everything else still "fit" I wasn't as excited about shrinking out of them as I should have been).

    I've had a few signs that I'm smaller, but because so much still fits, it's hard to really embrace the change. My first sign of progress was being able to buy a blouse "off the rack" at Lane Bryant to wear to my MILs wedding about a year ago. I haven't been able to shop at Lane Bryant for more than 15 years, so it was progress (but in the back of my mind, I'm thinking that I just lucked out that a few of the knit tops were REALLY stretchy).

    Then I fit into a pair of jeans (no elastic waist) at Fashion Bug. Really excited about that (but why do some of the old jeans still fit, I thought).

    Then only a couple months ago I bought a pair of jeans that I couldn't zip - and now I'm wearing those jeans all the time, and my Fashion Bug jeans fit, but are much looser.

    My husband recently told me that he was glad I had FINALLY gotten rid of some of my larger sized clothes (even though I thought they still fit, but were just a little too big), and he reminded me that "doesn't fall off my body to the floor" doesn't mean a garment fits.

    It's slowly sinking in, and it really helped that I found a few photos of me at my highest weight, and more recent photos, and were able to compare them side by side, and see there really HAS been a difference, but to look in the mirror, I'd have never known it.

    I really think it's true of everyone - it's hard to see much difference, because we see the same person in the mirror every day. The brain just doesn't compare what we see today with what we say six months ago, it compares it to what we saw yesterday. It's why the people we see frequently often don't notice the changes either, because you look the same as you did yesterday.
  • Aiesline! I am so glad you started this post! I have lost 25 pounds and am wearing the same jeans! I thought something is seriously wrong here. They are stretch jeans which at my top weight I was stretching to the max. Now when I wear them they are very loose and I don't have a huge muffin top poking out. I must have gone a long time without buying jeans as I won't be able to get into my next ones for another 5 pounds.
    Thanks again for this post; it was just what I needed. Couldn't have come at a better time!
  • If I remember correctly, I was in a 14 or 15 when I weighed 173. I waited til I lost 35lbs. before I bought any new clothes, cause I knew I would have to buy clothes again when I got down to my goal.