Here's how vanity sizing messes with MY head.

I feel so good about getting in a 10 I celebrate it. Then I remember, a 10 is an old 12. If I want 10, I need to be an 8.

I make it to 8. I feel so good about getting in an 8 I celebrate it. Then I remember, an 8 is an old 10. If I want 8, I need to be a 6.

I make it to 6. I feel so good about getting in a 6 I celebrate it. Then I remember, a 6 is an old 8. If I want 6, I need to be a 4.

On and on it goes. It's never good enough.

I have the same issues. I get so excited about being in a size and then I totally negate it by thinking how it isn't "really" that size. When in reality, I wouldn't have been able to pry that 8 on before, whether it is or isn't a "real" 8. It kind of takes the joy away. Also, getting into an 8 and then still having some 12s fit. Ugh.

Yes! I claim a 6 now and yet the 10's I'm sitting in right now are quite snug! LOL! They're an ancient find from the thrift store but I love the fit. They're not a mom jean, but my rear end does not hang out when I bend over either.

We have a tiny apartment so I'm always trying to go through my closet and part with stuff I don't wear anymore or is out of style. But I'm trying to hang on to a few old dresses and skirts from my high school, college, and grad school days to see if I can ever fit in them again in the future. Not because I need to be the same shape or build as I was back then, but because this vanity sizing we are going through is messing with ALL of our heads!

I first remember being a size 10 in 1993, age 13. Fast forward fifteen years to 2008 at age 28, I was still buying and fitting in size 10s without thinking that I was 20 lbs heavier so in reality, a size 10 should still not fit me. It wasn't until I lost those 20 lbs and found myself swimming in a 2008 size 10 skirt one day that vanity sizing dawned on me. I now buy size 8s but it is hard to keep track and feel good about that number changing over the course of time.

Vanity sizing is messing with my ability to enjoy my weight loss too! I just got a new coat yesterday, and it's a size FOUR. F-O-U-R! I never ever thought I would be that size as an adult. Anyways, now I'm hesitant to be excited about it because I really don't know what that size "means." I also have some size XS dresses from H&M, but I'm also hesitant to get excited about that.

It's so insane how much meaning and power a number on a piece of cloth can have!

I wore a size 12 in high school when the size 12 measurements were 34, 24, 34. I weighed 119 pounds at 5' 6-1/2".

My sister wore a size 3 jeans, when she could find them. She was 5' 4". What could she have weighed?

i'm trying to just ignore the size. treat is as a lie. when i get jeans i'm concentrating on the waist width. just eye balling it. i have to try them all on anyway. my current favs, from goodwill of course, say a size 10. but i don't beleive it at all. my hips are 44. i'm not a freak'n 10.

0.0001 lbs, from the sounds of it.

It's so aggravating how sizes aren't real. I'm gonna go back to America and wear 4s and feel awesome, and then remember that 40 years ago the same 4s were probably 24Ws.

At least here in Japan I have the "comfort" of knowing I can now wear the biggest size available in mainstream bjuniors' stores, which is approximately a US 4/6. That feels like a bigger accomplishment than fitting into small sizes in the US.

Vanity sizing doesn't bother me because it's a reflection of the reality that most Americans are very large, and clothing brands have taken note of that. Logically it may be strange to be 5'6", 130, and a size S (just an example), but the truth is that you are much smaller than the rest of the country. It would be silly to keep a size 0 around if no one was small enough to wear it, so companies change things to fit American's changing waistlines. Everything is relative... but I don't think it takes away from the fact that if you go down a size, you're still getting smaller. Personally, I don't care if today's size 10 was 1980's size 8. At least I'm wearing a 10, and getting smaller, instead of a 16 (and getting larger).

Ya know, that's a very good way to look at it. I like this perspective quit a bit and find it useful.

I don't care so much that my 26 1/2 inch waist, currently a size 2, would have been a size 8 not too long ago. What drives me insane is that my 26 1/2 inch waist is ... a size 0 at Express, a size 2 at Ann Taylor, a size 4 at the Gap and a 6 in most designer wear. And, oh yes, I can't find a pair of Hudson's that fit both my waist and my thighs simultaneusly. In short, unlike my husband and sons, and unlike women in most other countries, I can't just pull a size off the rack (or order it from a catalog) and be pretty sure it'll fit. I often have to take not 2 but 3 different sizes of the same thing into a fitting room to figure out which one will fit. AAGGGHHH.

i agree.

i'm finding the closer i get to goal and reading on 3fc, the more sympathy i have for women trying to find the right sizes. my sister in law has this problem too. to a lesser extent i think my dh does too. small waist, narrow hips. he doesn't complain about it, ever. but probably it's something he has noticed.

i haven't had trouble finding clothes yet at goodwill, but depending how small i get, that's inevitable i guess.