Getting a professional bra fitting...
 

Even before I lost weight, a well-fitting bra is something I always had to have. I knew how to measure to get my bra size. I was a pretty solid 40D before I lost weight (44" bust).

Well as I lost weight my bra size changed constantly but my underbust and breasts continued to shrink at around the same rate. I went down to a 36D, 34D, but from there my breasts stopped shrinking at the same rate. I went down to a 32DD and now I'm measuring in at a US 30DDD/G or a UK 30E/F. I'm guessing I could go up or down a cup size or band, depending on the brand/fit, but I won't know unless I try some on.

If there was anything annoying about weight loss, it was the changing bra sizes. I like my bands really tight!! It got so annoying when they got loose...

I was totally turned off from getting fitted for bras by a "professional" when I had a poor bra fitting in a department store. I knew I was a 36D due to my measurements but the fitter told me I was a 40D or 40C. I WAS WEARING A BADLY FITTING 40D WHEN SHE MEASURED ME. When I told her this she brushed my complaints aside. I left, not wanting to try any bras on that I knew wouldn't fit.

Well I think it's time for me to get fitted by a REAL professional so I can have an idea of what bras I'm going to need now that I'm pretty much at goal. I've found a few lingerie stores nearby and I'm planning on calling all of them up and seeing what sizes they carry (just so I don't waste my time going to stores that only carry DD and lower).

Has anyone had a real good professional bra fitting? What can I expect? I plan to go in knowing the signs of a good-fitting bra and a poorly-fitting bra so I can gauge for myself if the fitter is good, but I also don't want to brush aside the wisdom of someone who knows what they're doing.

You know, I've gone to three bra stores and guess what? They still want to add inches to the band size. I don't get it. Sure, it feels snug in the store, but hours later, it's sliding up the back like nobody's business.

I just measure myself and then order online if I can't find a size in stores. I'm lucky in that I have a large rib cage, so it measures 34" and I have like almost zero fat left on my ribs and back, so I probably won't lose any more there. So, I can find a few 34DDD/F around on sale for a decent price instead of having to pay a fortune. if I had a smaller rib cage, finding a smaller size would be near impossible. I have no idea why in stores you rarely see anything smaller than 32" yet I KNOW most women have much smaller rib cages than I do! They must buy band sizes to big!

Are you near New York City? You need to go see Linda the Bra Lady. She's legendary! Google her!

If you're in NYC, go to Intimacy (either 90th and Madison or 62nd and 3rd; they're both great). They don't call the owner "The Bra Whisperer" for nothing. I've been to both locations and they give the best fittings EVER. They don't even measure you. They HATE measuring tape. Instead, the woman may have you take off your bra, then she will look at your breasts for a couple seconds, leave the room, and come back with the best fitting bras you have ever owned. However, be forewarned, these bras are not cheap. Be prepared to pay at least $80 for one.

A well-fitting bra will be snug in the band (on the very first hook and eye) and properly contain your breasts in the cup without spillage or wrinkling. The bra band will be parallel to the ground all the way around your rib cage and the intersection of the bra cups (not sure what this is called) will lie flat on your chest. Your breasts will stand upright in the bra and should not fall any lower than half way down your arm. Straps will sit comfortably on your shoulders and will not dig into your flesh. A properly-fitting bra will make you stand upright and your girls stand at attention.

And, BTW, DDD cups are equivalent to F, not G (which is DDDD).

I'm always confused about what style to get: demi, balconette, plunge, shelf, etc. My breasts have a weird shape, PLUS I have the added bonus of one being half a cup size larger than the other. If I get a C, it fits one perfectly, but the other is spilling a bit. If I get a D, it fits fairly well on one, but then the cup around the smaller one is squished in and my breast wants to fall out.

Blargh.

I have had this happen to me too.. They measured me a 38 when I Am a 34.. I wear it on the tightest hook too so I know it fits.

Best bet would be to go and try on the SAME bra in lots of sizes. I did this at Fredricks of Hollywood at they were so nice about it. They even helped me get sizes I didn't have... They also carry larger cup sizes in smaller bands.

I always try on a bra before I buy anyway.. they are like jeans.. some fit and some don't.

I'm also boggled by how bra sizes just end at 32 in a lot of places. I see so many women who are more petite than I am and they just must not be wearing the right band.

A loose band drives me nuts. For now I resorted to taking in a few of my bras because I just. can't. stand. it.

But I guess if you're used to a loose band you just keep wearing the wrong bra..

Oh yeah! I know about her! :) I work in one of the other boroughs of NYC so going to Manhattan isn't all that difficult, but I want to try places close to me. I've found quite a few nearby and I figure if none of them are good then I'll head into Manhattan.

Yeah I'm prepared to spend some $$$...which is why I'm waiting until next month, lol! I spent too much this month to go bra shopping.

Thanks for the store suggestion. If the places near me don't pan out, then I'll try the places in Manhattan.

I'm sure they see lots of breasts, I'll have to remember that when I have a hang up about bearing the not-so-firm girls to them. Thanks for the heads up though :) I'm prepared now because I'm sure I would be shocked if someone at the store told me to take off my bra! :lol:

I think it seems to be no-man's land above DD sometimes. I've seen different brands do different cup sizes above DD (The US is weird with its bra sizes I guess), which is how I got the DDD/G size. FWIW, I measure at 30.5" around my underbust and 37" at my bust. I've had to go down a cup size than I measure at times because of the shape of my breasts (other times I don't). The only way I'd really know which bras to get is to try them on.

Honestly though I don't even care about the cup size. I just want a bra that FITS

I have weird shaped boobs too. Push up bras just don't work for me at all and mine are actually slightly off center (fun!) so I've found that molded cup bras are really the only ones that work.

I've heard that you should buy bras that fit the largest breast, but I don't think that always works for people :/

Oh I always have to try it on. When I was briefly a 32DD, I went to VS and tried on about 15 or so bras and walked out with one! I'm very picky!

I was going to try Friedricks, but I saw on their website that they start at 32 bands, so I can't buy bras there.

re:
 

Whatever store you end up going to, I've found it's usually best to go during the day, during the week. That's when the regulars are working and not the weekend college crew.

Are you a member on thirty-two D yet? If not you should join! They have a number of native NYers there (and actually people from across the US and a few abroad like myself) but it's all about finding stores locally that do professional fittings well, sometimes member sell bras or review new ones and they also can help with fitting questions. It's really helped me a lot and is a great place to ask questions. ;) I know for sure that they've had reviews of lingerie shops in NY there.

Personally, I've never had a good bra fitting in my life. I remember being about the same size I am now in college and going in for a fitting... the lady told me I was a 34DD! (Currently I'm about a 30H/28HH) so, yeah, that was horrific. I went into Victoria secrets once and the lady was extremely rude and sad basically that I was too fat for their store. I've also had another fitter (this time in Germany) refuse to let me try on smaller bands/bigger cup sizes because my waist was too big (I think she also hated me because this was shortly after having my daughter who was with me at the time and I've had problems there when people see a young mom). Basically, I don't trust anybody!

Personally, I just order everything online and hope for the best, returning ones that are horrible. However, it always seems to happen that I lose weight in between an order and nothing fits right. :( However, since you're at goal you might be pretty stable and be able to order. Why not order the same bra in a bunch of different sizes and return the ones that don't fit (if you don't want to go the professional route)? Most places have pretty good return policies. There's also a store based in Canada (Butterfly Collection) that will do skype fittings.

I can't help your question but only recently has wearing the wrong bra size started bothering me! It was kind of like I never noticed how annoying it was. Then I was trying to wait until my bra size had changed more significantly before I spent the money but it got to the point where I couldn't stand it anymore. Measured myself at a 40C and bought two bras online from Victoria's Secret on Christmas Day. They fit PERFECTLY (And during their semi annual sale so $40 for two bras was also perfect). I couldn't believe I had been walking around in ill fitting bras for so long.

Three weeks later, they are just as ill fitting as the bras I was wearing before them. Ugh! I can get the bands to fit snugly on the last hook but the cups are emptying out. My poor boobs =(

I'm happy to be losing weight but I haaaate spending so much money on bras. /end rant hehe.

berryblondeboys- I've actually been working on a survey about underbust measurements because I've been wondering this too. My guess is that for women at a normal BMI 34" is probably the absolutely max that they'd need in terms of and band size going all the way down to about 24"... I'll post the link to the survey once it's done. ;)


Have you heard of Ewa Michalak bras? They are HANDS DOWN the highest quality bras that I've tried to date and many of their cups include removable pads so you can correct for asymmetry. The bras are absolutely gorgeous and they come in a massive range of sizes. They ship from Poland so weight times can be long BUT considering that the absolutely MOST expensive bras on their site are $43 (and on sale they can get down to about $25) and their shipping flat rate is around $10, they're actually cheap than most places that you can buy from in the US. ;)

Just curious, did you measure your underbust very tightly??? 40" sounds really large for your weight/height. Also, a lot of times bras with too big bands can appear to fit perfectly in store but after more wear the band starts to slide up.

Another question... is your central gore flat against your chest? Do the wires enclose all of your breast tissue on the sides?

It is an expensive journey at that and my boobage and it's support has been very important to me, so I don't like to "skip" buying new bras.

I started at a 40 (at 255-275) G (five bras).

Then I went down to a 38G and got three regular bras- This is where I got my first sports bra too - just one.

Then I went down to a 36F -had three regular bras and - got two sports bras in a 38DD.

Now I'm in a 34F - I have three regular bras and got two sports bras in a 36DD.

That's a lot of money on bras in a year's time 14 new bras. But... I'm 42 years old, have had two babies - breastfed a total of 3.75 years and while my breasts have never been perky (too heavy to be perky), they aren't any more saggy now than when I got married when I was 23 (before kids). I was worried about that because my mom always went without a bra when she was at home and her boobs completely flattened out and sagged - looked just like those middle aged women you see in native tribes. My mom is the same size as me (she's just shorter). So a good bra and bra wearing does make a HUGE difference in their 'upkeep".

I just went through this ... I went to Nordstrom b/c I love one lady who works there (if you're in the DC area, I'll share the info!).

Turns out I've gone from a 38D to a 36DD to a 34F/G(!). Translation: less back fat, same boob fat.

The new bras I bought were like killer tight in the back, loosened up with wear.

It's worth it to get measured IMO. I am not great with the tape, and measured myself as a cup size smaller than I actually was. I'm planning to go back again at 145 lbs. Hopefully by then I can shop the mainstream lines ... because it costs a lot of money per bra at this size. More than it did when I was at 190!

I was looking at my ribcage and back this morning and I 'might' be able to lose another inch there, but probably not enough to go down to a 32" band size. 34s are very snug right now and because of the shape of my ribcage, the wires of the bra push hard against my lower ribs which tend to stand out a bit from the upper ribs.

And yes... I have a very large rib cage. I'm not at my ideal weight yet and my under bust measurement is 34". So HOW can most women need 32-36"?

This!

Ok, so I got my survey up and running!!! :D I'll post about it later but it basically just includes questions like what is your underbust, height, weight, frame size etc and would just take a minute. If you ladies could fill it out it would be great!

Right now (see here and here) there's a lot of women advocating for Playtex (on their facebook page and through emails) to remove a calculator online that tells women to add anywhere form 3-6" for their band size! It told me try 34DDD bras (absolutely insane as a 30H/28HH). So I'm hoping if I can some good results from the survey we could send that to companies to get them to change their fitting policies. ;)

LOL wow. I don't have much hopes for a proper bra fitting now (but I'll still try) but thank you ladies for your input! Turns out I have to go to Manhattan next month to help my fiance out with something. While I'm there I plan to check out the bra shops!

Vex - thanks for the tip! I usually end work around 2 so I can probably get one of the daytime, weekday fitters ;)

runningfromfat -I am so sorry to hear about your bad experiences :( I got scoffed at VS once too at my SW which turned me off from going there. I only went there recently because I NEEDED a bra or I was going to shoot someone, lol (and there was a sale so… :lol:)

I know I'm at goal, but I think I might be losing more inches due to lifting. I haven't lost weight, but I notice that my underbust got smaller. I don't know if that means some pounds are about to come off or what. So I guess I'll see :?:

It's really strange how we're stuck in the 32 being the smallest size mindset. I'm thinking that more women are below 32 bands than we would be led to believe.

My ribcage is weird. I know that for a lot of women their underbust is equal to or close to their waist measurement, but my ribcage is very, very triangular. It's widest at my back (right around my bust) and then curves inward sharply, leaving me with a 25" waist. It's why I always need a TIGHT band and a good set of straps on my bras or my bra slides DOWN (or up. It changes from day to day).

And I'll be sure to go respond to your survey once I get home and can measure myself again ;)

And LOL I did the Playtex thing and it put me at 36A!!!! Wow!

Daki - VS bras are just terrible, actually. I notice they stretch out fast. Not worth the money. I only bought one because I knew I wouldn't be able to wear it long regardless and it was on sale.

shanhat81 - yeah same thing happened to me. I lost 7" around my bust total but 10" around my ribcage, so I went up in cup sizes.

berryblondeboys - It's so weird! But what I also don't get is why the "smaller" band sizes in the stores (32, 34 bands) always have the smallest cups! Finding anything above a C or a D in those bands in a regular store is next to impossible. I remember when I was a 34D. I found ONE bra and luckily it fit.

Some of the more expensive bra brands (Prima Donna, Chantelle, Freya etc.) actually go down to 28 band sizes. And some of those 28's go up to a K cup. Check out biggerbras.com

Yep. Measured tightly, the center part is flat, and I don't have any breast tissue to shove in on the sides. My underbust was actually 41" (41-33.5-43) when I measured, but I have also lost about 12lbs and at least 2" from there since then. My back is ridiculously fatty, lol.

For what it's worth I've been paying attention to your posts on bras, measuring, and sizing and have poked around your blog on numerous occasions lol. I find all of your information extremely helpful and have incorporated your tips into how I measure myself and buy bras. So thanks a lot for all of your efforts! I know they helped me and I'm sure I'm not the only one :D

Thanks! I actually really appreciate you pointing that out because it disproves my theory that most women close to or at a healthy BMI have a 34" underbust or under. Good to know!

I'm glad my blog has been helpful to you and it's really good to hear that you found some bras that fit. :D

This thread has actually been really informative, so thanks everyone!

I was also wondering about the 34" thing ... but man, I would prefer not to be a 28K.

I've been thinking a lot about bras and also checked out runningfromfat's blog. I just ordered a couple of cheap Bali bras on sale to try out a much smaller band size that I have now, using my underbust measurement of 35" (rounded up to 36). I completely guessed on the cup size, though, going with my usual D. It sounds like most of you have switched to smaller bands/bigger cups so I'm curious about how they'll fit.

Thanks for all the great advice!

I have good luck finding large size bras every few months at Off Saks outlet. I just picked up a 34f Chantelle bra for $15 the other day. They wanted $65 for that bra company at the local bra boutique. and it was a good fit.

Yeah, I'm nowhere near a healthy weight (35 pounds away), and my underbust measurement is 33". I guess it depends on your body shape. I'm an extreme pear shape, so I have a very small top and a huge bottom (that I love!). I've lost very few inches on my bust (about 8" bust and 6" underbust) compared to my waist (11") and my hips (11"). But, I also have very little back fat, so that's awesome.

Oh, damn you, berryblondeboys. I so envy you. I wish I could get a Chantelle bra for $15. The cheapest Chantelle bra I've come across was about $50 on sale.

I was scouring around the internet and I managed to find a 30F Panache bra for $19 with free shipping. Let's hope it fits! :crossed:

I just lost about 4 inches off of my band size but I am hesitant to get my exact measurement because it is so tight.(went from a 42 to a 38 in about 3 months) has any one bought tight and tried bra extenders until they lose that extra half inch or so? Maybe I should take the leap and just get the 38. At an H cup I go through bras like mad anyway. They work hard.

Yep! I've definitely done it. I've even done that with a sports bra (I really only needed the extender for about a week or two) so I was pretty happy with that. ;)

So the bra came today (wow! fast!) and it fits like a glove! It was a steal for that price too. I'm very happy to have something that fits ;)

Time to order more!

:woohoo:

I'm waiting on some bras that should come next week. Here's hoping at least one of them fits! :crossed:

Good luck!

I just ordered two more from figleaves.... I was way too excited to buy bras lol. I think I'm getting addicted!! Figleaves is fast too--they already shipped out!

I had a good experience with figleaves too. Unfortunately at the time I didn't know how customs worked here and got charged an arm and a leg through customs, ugh! :mad:

Hey would you want to review the bras on my blog? ;)

Of course! :) I would be honored!

Great! Just send me a message when they arrive and you're ready to write it. ;)