I don't feel like my size 24 pants are vain. But I sure was excited the first time I could get them on and zipped without either lying down are holding my breath!

Shopping for my DH is very easy. Anything 32x34 in pants, jeans and it will fit. Large shirts fit perfect. I have to try things on or spend a lot of time taking stuff back. Some shirts that say large are way to short-waisted for me. Other large shirts would swallow me. I tried on a pair of size 1 jeans last night that are too small for my daughter. Perfect fit in hips and legs but an inch too small in waist. They fit right on my hip bones and I know that I can't lose an inch there, because nothing is left but my bones. Oh well, I didn't set out to be a size 1, I just set out to be at a healthy weight.

Size 1!

(I know it's vanity sizing but that is just so cool! )

Like I said, they were too small in waist but I couldn't believe I could get them all the way up, just not buttoned. My daughter hung them in her closet and said they are her "goal pants". She started today to watch her fat and calories, nothing too strict but healthier eating and getting a little exercise. She is bad to watch tv and play on computer all day. I have a hard time with her really wanting to "diet" . She is 14 and is 5'4 and weighs 129. She is thin in hips and legs but has a round tummy. I thought maybe joining a gym and taking water aerobics could be fun for us both. Is it wrong for me to let her try to lose a few lbs. ? I thought that just providing healthy food for her and having her exercise with me should help. I know she is worried about looking good for the fall when she starts her first yr. of high school.

So long as you encourage her to be happy with her own image and self worth.

My mum never pushed any of us to exercise or lose weight (bless her lol) she basically led by example. She's quite small (121 pounds at 5'7) but has a different body shape to myself...she's an apple and i'm a pear :P. We learnt good eating habits because good healthy food was what we were brought up on.

Thanks, she'd doing well on lowering her fats and cutting out the junk food. She lost 2 lbs. this week and is very happy. She has said that she wants to start walking with me every evening. I know she isn't really over-weight and I am hoping she wants to eat healthy for the right reason. She's a beautiful girl and I tell her this everyday.

I think there is nothing wrong with letting her "lose" weight, although I think THEY (who ever they are) recommend letting kids grow into the weight, instead of actually losing it, but whatever. I think being aware of ones body is important, no matter the reason. I have a 13 y/o and she is 4' 11", weighs in at 121 and wears a 4/6 (just bought an adult bathing suit for her) although for the most part she wears a kids 14. One thing to keep in mind also is that this is a cheerleader (competitive cheerleader!!) and is at practice or tumbling 4x a week, plus they have exercise "homework". So she is SOLID (great thighs and arms) except for the belly, that's the only place she's soft. I say this because if she wasn't a cheerleader and wasn't working out like she does (although she doesn't seem to recognize it as exercise, it's just fun) she would be headed down the overweight road already. So yes, let her, encourage her, help her exercise, find something she loves though, otherwise (as we all know) she will get bored and burn out. My 13 y/o has been doing this for 3 years and she still loves it, but before we found this she tried tap dancing, karate & horse backriding (which she did love, but too far away and expensive). Get her going, she'll thank you later.

Thanks for the responses. She now has a 3FC's account so she is trying to find some support with her decision to shed a few lbs. She loves to bike ride, and swim and is now walking with me of the evenings. I definitely did not put her on a diet , she begged me to help her. Peer pressure is so strong with all her 90 lb. friends.

I ordered a from vitoria secret a few weeks ago and after reading their measurment chart listed online. I ordered a pair of size 8 Jeans. When I checked back the next day in my email I realized I had selected a size 4!! oh no so I call up and they said just send it back once I recive it. Okay thats fine I thought, I hate going to the post office....but whatever. Well...when they came I looked them over, tried them on...and whats that? Oh they are a little loose!? Strange....especially since I can't fit into jr sizes (go up to a 13)

I hate the vanity sizing. American clothes should all have to go by standard sizing (well unless you are a specailty store) that way we know what to order and such.

okay part of me is happy that my tag says 4. But I also feel like a fraud. I am not even close to my weight loss goal...I guess I will be a 0 then?

I am only 1 lb. less than you and wear a size 4 in most things. However, if I buy jr.'s I get 5's or 7's. I have one pair of LEI jeans that are an 11 and they are as small as a 7. I know it's vain, but I prefer to wear the stuff with the size 4 tags, (Like anyone else will know, LOL).

This is my first reply to this board, but I do have to say that I was shocked when recently I tried on a bridesmaid dress. I told the woman I should be a 16...and she laughed. I tried on 16, which I swam in, then the 14 was still a bit roomy, then the 12 fit perfectly! I am definitely heavier and more out of shape then I was at my wedding in 2001...where I was a perfect 14 off the rack - while dieting, excercising, working out every day for those precious wedding photos! So from my experience, I would definitely have to say that the 12 of today is definitely the 16 or more of 2001.

Yeah, I'm happy I bought a 12, but definitely know those hamhocks hanging off the sides of the dress are arms of fat girl, not a sweet 12!!!

I am 5'10"...the dress is #8585 from davidsbridal.

When I was in high school in the early 60s I always wore a size 12 to 14... and I was absolute skin and bones... skinny as a rail. Those were the days LOL. Yet when I was in my 40s and got down to 170 pounds... much larger still than when in HS... I wore a size 10 and sometimes even got into an 8.

wow, I am too young to have noticed a shift over my lift-time. I never realized this was true! Now wonder some things fit, and others (same size) I can't even get over my thighs. At this rate, we should just do away with sizes all together-- it's just as much guess work now as it would be then.

Because I know about vanity sizing, I have decided to judge my progress in size based on the clothes I own... I was a size 18 in high school (I graduated in 99), and I still have my trusty, rugged size 18 long Levi's hanging in the closet... when I can wear those, then I know I have accomplished something. I don't want to go around thinking I'm a size that I'm obviously not. I actually prefer to buy mens jeans, and I did so when I was 100lbs lighter... I like being able to walk into a store, look for the brand I want, and pull out a pair of 40/36 (or whatever I'd be wearing).... I can't wait to be able to do that again, as I love my Wrangler jeans (I'm a country girl at heart).

I prefer men's jeans also... I am small in the butt and thighs, legs, etc. and men's jeans don't have the droopy butts in them that the women's do!