Is anybody else convinced that a size 4 today was a size 10 twenty years ago?

I dropped a few pounds over the summer while training for the 60 mile breast cancer 3-day walk and can now fit into a size 4. I was about this same weight in high school and distinctly recall buying size 10s back in the 80s. I certainly don't feel like a size 4, nor do I really think I look like what a size 4 should look like, but alas I just bought a size 4 dress and size 4 slacks from Ann Taylor over the weekend.

It's cool that I can wear a 4, but am I really wearing a 4? Or am I wearing a 10 with a 4 label? Is the expanding collective American gut creating a need to fudge (pun intended) a bit on clothing sizes to make us feel better?

I wholeheartedly agree. I am close to feeling healthy enough to maintain instead of wanting to lose, but being between a 4-8 depending on the brand and cut of the clothing, I do feel somewhat like a fraud. I know that this isn't a "real" size. It annoys me, but what can you do?

When I graduated high school, I was 132 pounds and wore a size 12. Now, at 145, I wear a size 8? Sizes were never what appealed to me anyway. But my overall shape and weight is what I shoot for.

I completely agree. I can wear a size 4 in most jeans. I was this weight about 13 yrs. ago and wore a size 8 at the time. I now wear a 5-7 in Jr. miss jeans, which was a size 11-13 when I had lost the weight before. The size label really doesn't matter, I think most people would guess me to be a size 8-10. I really don't notice the size discrepancy as much in shirts or dresses. I still usually get a large shirt or a 10-12 in dresses.

It is crazy. Last time I weighed close to this weight, I was a size 10, now I'm a size 6. Who are they trying to kid?

i forgot where i read this but there was an experiment done where a woman tired on 3 different pairs of jeans. She is normally a size 10. At Banana Republic, she fit into an 8, at the Gap, she was a 10 and then a random pair of jeans at a department store, she wore a size 12. Well, she opted to buy the 8 because it was an 8! Most high end designers will make the clothing size smaller than it really is so that the vanity of women will win over and you will buy the more expensive stuff because it's a smaller size. I admit it, it do it too!

I think your right I weighed 20lbs less about 10 years ago, and I wore a 12
and now I wear a 12 despite the 20lb weight gain. thats not right.

I'm glad I'm not alone. I guess using pant size as your measure of success could get you in trouble! If my goal was to always fit in size 4s, in another twenty years the size 4s may have a 46 inch waist!

Crazy!

There HAS BEEN size creep, for sure! If you go to any vintange shop and look at, for example, knitting patterns, a size 13 is ridiculously small!!!! I recall being 5'5 at 135 lbs when I was younger, and coming in at a size 13-14 -- today that would be around a size 8! Here's a great link to an article concerning this issue!!!
http://www.semissourian.com/story/1173787.html
Happy reading!!!

Accept the gift of the lower...and SINGLE digit...size. Please! For the rest of us! LOL.

One thing to consider: whether you are weight training now and was not weight training then. You could be the same weight but fit into a smaller size. It makes a difference.

Thank you for the article, Freiamaya!

Here is a relevant quote:

"In the 1940s, the smallest available size was a 10. By the 1950s, the smallest size was an 8 and today, there's size 00 on the racks, Ainsworth said." (italics added)

So it depends on what number the manufacturer labels its smallest size, which complicates the comparison between then and now.

It is better to focus on health and healthy body measurements than size anyway.

Very interesting that the original measurement guidelines were based on women in the military in the 1940's.

I too have read that mfg'ers are making their LABELS with lower numbers. Women love to see that itty bitty 4 or 6 even if their hips truly require a 10 or 12.

I do know from experience with the losing/gaining/losing/gaining I've done throughout my adult life, that the body changes with time. It shifts & adjusts, and carries weight differently as you age. About 10 years ago, I was 152 and wore a 12 jeans. I am now 43 and weigh 165 and wear a 12. I was wearing a 4/6 when I was 126 at age 29. But 5 years later, I was 128 and wore a 6/8. Last summer I was 138 and wore mostly 8's and a few 10's.

It's all relevant I guess. Regardless of what I weigh or what size I wear, I'm mostly judgmental of myself by looking at myself in the mirror, and how I feel. I like it when I can eat a meal, & not walk (or roll) away feeling like a stuffed pig. I like it when I can zip up a pair of pants, and still breathe when I sit down. And I like it when my tummy isn't bulging out so far that people ask me "when I'm due." And I like it when I run, and then stop, the rest of my body parts don't keep swinging! Ya know?

I agree! I'm wearing a size 2-4 pretty much everywhere I shop so that's the story I'm sticking with. Most people who guess my size guess a size 2 or 4 (in fact, it's surprising to me how many people guess my size correctly just by looking at me--I guess I feel fatter than I look). I'm 5'3" and weigh 118; I don't need to be any smaller (despite the fact that my profile says I'm trying to get to 115) and I don't need to make myself feel bad by focusing on the fact that my size 4 might really be a size 10.

From "What Not to Wear" last week, Stacy said that the numbers were merely a guide, as every manufacturer is different. I know how "sacred" a number becomes ("I swear I will NEVER be a size -fill in the blank here - again"), but it is a mistake, I think, to place your self-worth on a mere number. You really shouldn't focus on what your "real" size is - just try to be the best size whatever you can be.

Sizes are a joke! I have clothes from when I was thin 10 years ago, they are size 8's. Yesterday I bought a pair of jeans from Walmart, a size 4! I can still wear the old clothes just fine. The funny part is the size 4 was the smallest size I could get in this particular type of jeans. So now what do I do when I have "undergrown" these pants and need some smaller ones, LOL never thought that would be a problem.