Hi Feathers,

Just wondering/looking for opinions here - what do you think about using a specific clothing size as a goal versus a weight or measurement? I'm not sure what I want to do with myself in terms of calling "maintenance," but I think I may be happy living and maintaining as a solid size 4 (probably a 2 at Gap/Old Navy/other vanity size stores). I am about 5'4.5 and hovering around 130 lbs/59 kg. I'm not 100% sure of my US clothing size but I imagine I am a 6 right now. As much as I would love to embody the waifish Korean pop starlets I idolize, I also have to be realistic with myself.

What sizes did you wear at different weights? What's your skeletal structure like? I have a very small, youthful bone structure (small wrists, ankles, feet, narrow hips, flat chest).

At my very lowest weight of 128, I wore a US 6/8. I had a less athletic figure than I do now, so I think I am physically smaller now than I was then.

When I was about 140 lbs I wore a US 8 and a UK 12 (I did a lot of shopping in the UK around 140!).

At 154, maintenance weight for a few years (ugh), I was in denial but I was a 10 pushing a 12 at the highest. I wore a EUR 42 at Zara but a German 40, and in Japanese centimeter sizing I was a 71-73 or so.

At 167 (highest weight ever) I was slightly too big for juniors' size 13 and wore a solid 12.

Looking forward to hearing some input from you. Now that I am within a realm of "healthy" and living a much healthier lifestyle than ever before, I'm not sure what I should base my weight loss goals on.

I think clothing sizes are tough because they vary so much between manufacturers. When I was around 170 pounds, I wore a size 13, however I have a pair of shorts in my wardrobe now that are a size 11 and they just fit, even though I weigh 140. Weird. I also think that as we get older, our weight changes distribution. It's really hard to know how to judge what a healthy weight goal is! I hope there is a bunch of feedback on this....

I have to agree. This is a tricky question. This is a hard way for me to tell success personally. At my highest weight of 140 I was a US women's 4/6 but more of a 6. At 128 I was a solid 4. Basically, whether my weight fluctuates up or down 10 pounds I am still a 4. Its just a matter of how comfortable they are and how they look. So I think with my goal being 120 pounds, I would like to fit into a 0/solid 2 in women's and a solid 3 in juniors. We'll see!

At 129 I was a 2. At 122 I was a 0. At 113 I was a 00 and a 1 in Juniors. Now I have no idea: I get everything tailored.

Even within a particular brand, you may find you buy different things in different sizes because of the cut. I bought two pairs of jeans at the Gap recently, each in a different size due to the shape (straight vs. skinny).

You could pick a pair of goal jeans -- but again, there is no guarantee that they would fit you correctly when you got to that weight. I think that sort of thing works well when you're trying to get back into something that used to fit -- so you have an idea of what you will look like when you get to that size.

I agree about goal clothes. I don't ever do that. At any weight I have been there are things that look good on me and things that don't. There are certain styles that are just never going to flatter my shape. I would hate to spend money on something, look forward to wearing it, and then find out it finally fits but just doesn't look good.

I find this to be true even for stuff I used to wear. The body changes via age, exercise, pregnancy, etc.

In fact, the first time I recall being 122, a couple years ago, my size 2 pants still fit though I needed a belt. This time I was swimming in all of them. I had to give away some things I loved sooner than I had expected to.

On the positive side, I have a pair of jeans without back pockets that I never should have bought given that I am famous for my rather minimal backside. They never looked good even when I fit into them. After doing a lot of squats, lunges and deadlifts over the past year, though, I tried those on when I got to the right size and they looked fabulous! I have a round backside that fills out even pocketless jeans for the first time in my life. LOL! I was shocked. I hadn't realized until that moment that I had made such a drastic change in my body proportions this past year. After 20 years of strength training with no real impact on my derriere, switching to free weights exclusively and full-body exercises did the trick.

So I am about 167 now and wearing a roomy US12 and at my highest weight documented 208 I wore a tight US16. Since it takes me about 20lbs to lose a clothing size I am probably going to shoot for a snug US8 while being ok with a US10 if that's where I stall.

When I was in HS I wore US13 and was about 165/170. I had a lot more muscle back then, too. Which goes to show that sizing is definitely variable between and within brands as well as across time.

At 136 I was a US4/6 mostly 6. At about 129 I wore a US4 until I reached about 125 then I moved into a 2. Now at 118 a 2 is getting a little big.

good luck!

Definitely a tricky question! Seems like it varies with manufacturer. For the most part when I was 140-145 I was a 6, maybe a 4 in some things. At 175 I was a 12. I've lost almost 12 pounds and the 12s are definitely getting loose, I probably could do a 10. I'm hoping by time I'm at my goal of 135 I can wear a 4. It's been a long time (probably 5 years or so) since I've been that weight, but I'm pretty sure I was a 4!

I guess if you were going to do clothing size as goal that may be hard because you could try on a 6 and be disappointed because you were really hoping to be a 4, or vice versa! You could be ecstatic you tried on a 4, and most items you could be a 6...

At my highest weight, 145 pounds, I was in a size 10. At 140 pounds I was a size 8, at 135 a 6, at 127 pounds a 4 and at 122 pounds a 2.

At 118 pounds I was a size 0 in ladies and a size 16 in kids. Now I bounce between 114 and 115 pounds and wear either a 00 or a kids 14, occasionally a kids 12.

In t shirts I started out as a lady's medium. Now I wear a kids medium. In regular shirts I'm a kids size 10 or 12.

My boobs shrank from a 36C to a 30AA . I get my bras is the girls department.

I'm large boned but have narrow hips and lots of muscle so I've always been able to wear sizes that are small relative to my weight.

The only parts of my body that didn't shrink are my feet. I'm still a size 9w, same as when I started.

It so varies, and I'm built in such a way that my pants/skirt size will always be larger than my shirt size, even when I'm smaller. I just have hips and a booty, no matter what. I usually like this about my body, except when I have to buy dresses; then I always have to get them altered to take the bust in if I buy the size that fits my rear.

Right now, in the mid-130s, I'm swimming in my size 8 pants and I'm able to wear probably about a small/4 in tops. I know I'm not QUITE ready to dive into the darkened recesses of my closet and pull out a size 6 pants yet, but soon, probably when I break into the high 120s.

I was never able to get any smaller in pants than a 4, though, even at my tiniest and even when I was wearing size 0 tops. Which is fine, really, because the size 4 pants would fit my hips and be a little loose in the waist, which is fairly comfortable fit-wise for me.

I have a similar, small bone structure like you describe and at 141 and 5'4.5" I'm a size six. When I was down to 132-134, I was more of a 4/6, maybe closer to a 4. I also have a decent amount of muscle though, so I my weight is a little higher than one might guess from looking at me.

It is hard to go by clothing sizes though since they vary so much! At one point I had clothes in my closet ranging from an XS to a L and they all fit about the same, so I tend to just take the average of all of the brands when figuring out what my "size" is. I also fit into a smaller skirt/dress size than pants, so I don't know if I have big thighs or what, but it's all rather confusing.

Wow! I must have the highest body fat percentage of all the feathers, haha. This is surely motivation to do more pushups.

It is nearly impossible to go by clothing sizes; you're absolutely right. It's an exciting time for sure - wonder where I will end up?

Clothing size is hard to gage as people are just shaped different, and like their clothes to fit differently too.

I like my clothes a bit on the snugger side as I have a small waist (11 inches smaller than my hips) and it's hard to find pants that stay up. I'm about 140 at 5' 3 and wear a 4 in dress pants, and a 6 in jeans (although I just bought a pair of skinny jeans that have a stretch to them in a 4 - I figure they are supposed to be super tight?). My sister, who is about 5' 7'' and 125 and looks a million times smaller than me wears an 6. Her frame is bigger, even though she has less fat and muscle than me, her hips are boney, but bigger. She also likes her pants to be looser than i do...she can't stand for them to be snug around her stomach and likes them to hang down around her hip bones.

I was a loose 2 when I was 110 lbs...and I wore a 2 up until I was about 130. From 130-140 I was a 4. 140-150 I was a 6, and when I get up to 150 a 6 starts to get a bit tight and at my very highest weight between 155-162 I was a size 8. Although this last gain...I was able to wear some 4's at 152. I also wore a lot of size 6's and a size 8 in jeans.

Now that said, when I was 11 and 110 lbs I also wore a size 8, so sizes are definately getting larger! I remember going from girls sizes right into "a perfect size 8" People don't even say that anymore! Now the phrase is "a perfect size 2 or a perfect size 6"

Part of this is a height issue. At least half of the people contributing to this thread are fairly short. (The average woman in America is 5' 4".) Shorter women, smaller proportions.

This is why they have petite sizes for women under 5' 4". It is not just that we are shorter: we are also naturally smaller all over. Thus, a shorter woman is often going to be able to wear a smaller size in regular clothes than someone taller who weighs the same amount. This is also why petite clothing is made smaller. Someone wearing a 4P is a 2 in regular sizes, a 2P is a 0, a 0P is a 00, etc. This enables the 00P to be particularly small to accommodate the naturally smaller proportions of a short woman.

My legs are actually too long for petites pants, but I wear a lot of petites dresses, skirts, shorts and tops, and they are definitely cut to fit the smaller frame—not just the shorter size—of a short person.