I have to agree that sizing is a variable measure - I have a size 2 Isaac Mizrahi skirt, a size 4 Ann Taylor dress, I'm mostly into 6's and 8's generally, but still wear 10's in a few things. Very frustrating - men would not put up with these kinds of shenanigans!

My BMI is in the normal range, 23.4, but as already noted, it's not a consistent measure, since we all carry our weight differently.

Lyria and maalice, you ladies who are about my height and 10-15 lbs heavier than me are making me mad at my body because my waist is still 28.5" - and you guys are at 26". Stupid apple shaped body. Why is my belly fat so hard to get rid of? I bet I'll have to drop another 10 lbs before I have a 26" waist. I'm envious.

You're only an inch taller than me and wearing the same jean size and smaller tops than me? My BMI is about 28 right now, and yours around 31, there must really be no correlation between BMI and size! And you must be pretty fit to be wearing such small sizes At that weight I think I was in size 16w pants and XXL or XL tops.

Kilketay...I'm envious of you!!! I only got about 14 pounds to drop to get to your weight and doubt that my waist will be a 28.5. Mine is like a 33 right now. I'm only dropping half an inch a month and about 5 pounds a month. 5 pounds, 3 times, half an inch, 3 times...only gives me about a 31.5 inch waist. How depressing!!!!

Aw hon, I bet there are parts of your body that I wish I had, too. With comparing bodies, it tends to be a bit of a "grass-is-always-greener" thing because we only see the things that we wish we had...and I guarantee you that were we standing side-by-side right now, I'd be saying "Man, I wish I had her _____ and _____ and..."

Besides, a 28.5" waist is nothing to sneeze at!! I have a very fit, very healthy friend who would kill to have a waist that small! (She's built like an H, and she's always commenting about my waist...whereas I would kill to have her legs, arms and boobs...ahhhhh, why can't we ever be happy with our body types? )

I'm happy! You can be, too! You can't change your type, but you can change your size and shape with weight loss and exercise. That's as good as it gets! (short of surgery...)

Jay

My personal experiences:
at my all time high 250lbs, I was in a size 24...now lost that, went to 135 into a size 6...
leveled out about 150 and was in 8/10.
This time I bounced to 215 in a size 16
down to 160 in a size 8/10 and now at 170 (ish) I am in 10/12 I have always been either a Large or Medium shirt depending on the style/manufacturer.

The biggest unexpected hurdle of weightloss, I'm finding, is trying to get an actual handle on what I actually look like. I'm beginning to think that I see myself through a funhouse mirror! I guess the key is to learn to shift the magnifying glass from the parts of ourselves that we dislike to the parts that we're proud of...?