It's that time of year again when, to our horror, they roll out the bathing suits. I'm just wondering what size is too big to wear a bikini? I am 5'8" and my weight fluctates between 130lbs & 135lbs...now I know this sounds like i'm skinny but the problem is I was a fat kid so I have saggy skin, cellulite and stretch marks. It's like I'm skinny but fat at the same time. I workout 7days a week (cardio and strength training) but alas it seems like i will never be firm. I want to wear a bikini and I did on my honeymoon last year ( I was about the same size) but I feel like maybe i shouldn't have gone there when I see all these girls with perfect bodies running around in bikinis. So where are the bikini boundaries? Do I say F-it and be proud of the 70lbs I've lost over the years or do I wear a snow suit to the beach because my legs look like a nightmare and my tummy is not flat as a board? i'm also pretty pale so that doesn't help.

I think if YOU are comfortable in a bikini, WEAR IT!!! No one person looks like the "ideal" to all people and wearing a swimsuit at the beach or pool isn't for anyone else's pleasure but yours and possibly your S/O's. Who cares what anyone else thinks? If we all subscribed to some unattainable ideal and chose what to do or not to do with hair, makeup, clothing, accessories and activities, most of us would never leave the house!

Live YOUR life!

I feel the same way, and I'm bigger than you - 5'7" and 150 pounds, nicely proportioned but definitely a little jiggly in the belly. I don't have an answer, I have some gorgeous bikinis that I will likely wear, mostly because I've spent money on them - that said, I'll also probably be insanely self conscious the whole time.

I think if you carry yourself off with confidence yu can look good in pretty much anything! I'm quite self concious myself so wearing a bikini is something I dread especially now that I've put on quite a bit of weight, but I think when Im on the beach, its only noticeable if a woman doesn't carry herself off with confidence. If she does, I don't think people would look at the things that you would think they are looking at.

As human beings I think we tend to pick out our flaws a lot of the time, and more often than not people haven't even noticed what we think they have

so get the bikini on and be confident!

I don't think there's a number on which you can decide whether you can wear one or not... What looks great to one person may look awful to another or vice versa; thus, there's no pleasing everyone.

I'd never, ever wear one no matter how skinny I get because I have stretchmarks.

I say go for it! Believe me, most folks are too busy thinking about how they look (good or bad) to worry about how someone else looks. You can always do a sarong for a little extra self-confidence.

As for me I'd never ever wear one either, just like 26.2. I'm the exact same color in July as I am in January. If I wore a two piece anything, people would go 'snow-blind'!

As long as you're comfortable. I had a friend in a size 20 that would wear them. She just had a baby and her stomach was covered with red stretch marks but she wore it proudly. Even at a size 6 I wouldn't wear one.

If you don't feel comfortable don't wear it.

Honestly I think that a bathing suit that covers your mid section shows off your figure just as much as a 2 piece, but covers the stretch marks and mini rolls. I see alot of women on the beach in 2 piece bathingsuits who aren't fat but don't necessarily have the stomach to pull it off. In this case I think that a one piece would be MUCH more flattering. Wearing a one piece or a tankini that looks great on you is better than a bikini that doesn't. IMHO unless you have a perfect or near perfect body, a bikini isn't the most flattering thing to wear, the majority of women over 30-35 should not be wearing them.

Also your height and weight information is pretty useless in this topic...Because if you weigh more and it's due to muscle we wouldn't be able to accurately judge. I would say if you can pinch more than an inch on your stomach and/or have muffin top that it's best to wear something more conservative (which doesn't have to mean unsexy).

Please don't feel singled out, I am asking this to anyone who feels this way, as apparently, I am in the minority, when I say that one should not need to be the "ideal" to wear what one likes and behave as they feel.

Who makes these rules? Why are they obeyed? What goes into deciding how and why these rules come about?

I am saddened by these rules. I refute them!

I knew I would get bashed for this. I'm just being honest, at the beach people will point and say crap behind your back if you wear a bikini and don't "have the body for it".

I'm just talking about dressing for your body...evolutionarily women with hourglass figures are considered attractive. If you watch shows like "what not to wear" they don't say that people of all shapes can't be attractive, they say that you have to dress the figure you have to make it look the best that it can. The goal is ultimately to make people look longer and leaner...ie you would not advise someone that is 100lbs overweight to wear tapered pants because it would make them look even rounder.

In going with the theme of dressing yourself, in the most flattering clothes possible...a tankini/ 1 piece is more flattering on someone that has a flabby stomach. Most people in our culture would agree. If you maybe have nice legs and nice boobs, but a little flab on your stomach, it would be more attractive to cover the "problem area" in order to draw more attention to your better features.

If a person feels comfortable showing off their body and doesn't care what people think...go for it.

Hey, to be sure, NO BASHING is taking place from me. Did my disclaimer not come through? Was I not specific enough? I am questioning these ideas, ideas many people have, not you, specifically. Just so happens your comment hit on several of the issues.

People will do that if they want, regardless of what one wears. Cellulite in a bikini is noticeable, as is covering up in shorts and a shirt. All I am saying is one person's ideal in terms of beauty clashes with another's and so on, so when does it stp, when do we stop letting other people's perceptions dictate how we feel, act, dress?

ok so basically it's up to whoever is wearing it? I don't have rolls or anything. actually you can see my ribs and hip bones. I figured since my legs were nasty and you could see them whether I wore a one piece or not and one pieces only enhance the fact that I have no butt I'd go for the two piece. I suppose you girls are right though everyone else is probably too worried about how they look on the beach to worry about me. I'm just real self-concsious. I imagine myself looking like I am huge. I just think like wow people claim jennifer love hewitt and britney look fat in a bikini I must have looked disgusting. as for the weight i posted not mattering my measurements are 34 26.5 36. that probably doesn't help since you can't see me and I still think I look like I ate a baby. I guess this was a stupid question. Sorry to waste your time.

Personally, I tend to gain my weight mostly in my belly/thighs/butt. At my current size, a bikini wouldn't be a good look. I go with a tankini & coordinating shorts in swimsuit material (Lands End makes a lot of that type of style). Comfy & it covers everything.

I don't think one needs to be "ideal" but if there's a significant amount of flab (which there is in my case now) that would hang out of a bikini, other choices might be both more comfortable & flattering. Even at my thinnest (120), the only 2 pieces I wore came up to my waist for the bottom part. I had enough of a belly back then to make it unflattering for me.

To take it out of weight & skin exposure, no matter what my weight, I look better in dresses which come in at the waist & then flare out a bit over the belly. If I wear an empire style dress, even at my thinnest, there's a belly bulge. And since the fabric drapes down from where it comes in under the bust, I just look bigger than I am. The same dress, in the same material can look drastically different on me depending on how the waistline is designed (empire waistline or fit & flare at the waist).

Whoa, what happened here?

I think this is a great discussion and many people ask themselves the same questions you've asked here. People worry about what others think, all the time!


Niiiiiiiiice measurements, by the way.

Even having been over 300 pounds, and then nearly "normal," I would NEVER wear a bikini. I wouldn't wear a bikini if I looked like the size 16 Miss Britain mentioned in the other thread. I'm torn at seeing overweight women in bikinis, because 1. it's nice to see high self-esteem and confidence in an overweight woman, and 2. I don't like looking at a very overweight or obese bare body (especially my own). Saying that, I have a choice not to look at them, as does everyone else, and usually I don't. I think even if people don't admit, they feel the same way. Even at over 300 pounds, I would see a heavy woman showing too much skin and flab, and I thought it was extremely unflattering. I've seen many attractive larger women who dress nicely and look amazing (not in skimpy tank tops and mini skirts). Everyone I've ever known has felt the same way. Even my sister, who's currently 350. I don't like anyone dressing downright slutty, but it seems to bother me more when the woman/girl is very overweight.

Phyllis, I'm sure you look fabulous in your bikini! Rock it!