Everyone here has had some great points. I agree whol heartedly with what another poster said about clothes being tight before vs comfortable or loose now. Also, sometimes the weight comes off in some really odd places. Like your back. After 30 lbs lost for me, I've gone from wearing a 38 (sometimes 40) bra band to usually a 34 (sometimes a 32). My face has seen the biggest change and has slimmed down way more than the rest of my body. My abdomen or arms where I'd LIKE to be smaller? Little change. I agree that lifting can dramatically change the composition of your body.

Thanks everyone. I'll add more weight training in and just keep on crossing my fingers that eventually the weight will come off in the places that need it most!

I lost 35 pounds before I went down one size, from an 18 to a 16. Now I've lost 10 more pounds, and that's dropped me from a 16 to a 14. Women's clothing sizes are very weird, and our bodies lose weight from different places. Try not to get discouraged. If you keep at it, you'll get to where you want to be eventually.

I started at size 20w and by the time I had lost most of my weight I was down to a size 14. I bought several pairs of pants, thinking no way am I going to get lower than that. Now, my scale has not really gone down in the last couple of months but I am wearing a size 10 in misses now. I can wear my 12's but some of the dressier pants I wore this week were a size 12 and almost falling off. I have added in some additional strength training/toning exercises, maybe this is the reason even though I have not lost, my cloths sizes are smaller.

I just thought I would let everyone know that I actually did lose a size! You were all right about the 13s being too tight for me to really be a 13. I went out jean shopping today for the first time in a couple months and as I was shopping I remembered the feeling of trying on 10 different pairs of 13's, and only have one of them fit me and all the others being to tight. I was in denial about what size I really was. However, I decided to try on a bunch of 11's... AND EVERY SINGLE PAIR FIT!!!!! Even though some of my 13's at home fit still, all of the 11's I tried on fit perfectly No jumping to get into them. I actually had a choice about which ones I wanted to buy. I almost cried in that change room (tears of joy!). Woot!

Womens clothing sizes are all over the place. It's seriously weird.

Some jeans have spandex, some don't. Sizes vary from brand to brand and store to store.

Right now, I'm anywhere from an 8 to 12 in womens, and 9 to 13 in juniors.

It varies so much, brand, womens, jrs., 100% cotton, part cotton, part spandex, who knows. I've found mens jeans run much more true to size, and they don't come with all the hoopla of womens jeans. And they are cheaper, and usually wear like iron. I have 3 pairs of plain Jane, Wal mart mens faded glory jeans, fit great, look great, tough as heck and have big pockets! $10 a pair!

Then with womens lets throw in the cut, high rise, mid rise, low rise. In low rise, which I won't wear, I outgrew that in the 70's, I'd need a 15/16 jr. Bffllt.

The whole womens clothing size thing is a crap shoot. I just try it on, if it fits, great, if it doesn't, try another size, if it still looks like crap, try another style or brand.

What I really wish for is stability and consistency in bra sizing.

I think the difference sometimes is in your weight composition. my friend and I lost about the same weight (40+ pounds) but I went from a size 10/12 to a size 4 comfortably (size in tops as I am pear shaped) while my friend is a 6/8. she carries more of her weight (apple shaped) around the mid section so we surmise that makes the difference as many clothing sizes take into account the waist measurement.

The good thing is that you have LOST weight! Whoo hoo..the rest will follow. It did take about 18lbs before I saw the first real difference in clothing size so i am sure if you continue you will see more of a difference soon.

Thank you for this post! I know it's several years old, but I just googled "losing weight but not pants size" and of course this forum popped up, lol.

On Weight Watchers, I've now lost 21 pounds and have not seen one bit of difference in my stomach size. My measurements have dropped in all other areas.. hips and boobs the most (damn, the ones I wanted to keep haha) but my stomach is exactly the same! My pants are definitely much looser overall, but not in the area of the button... where it matters. Ugh.

I'm glad to know this isn't some strange thing happening only to me, but it's unfortunate to know how common it is.. especially with how hard we're all working.

In the years since this post was made, has anyone had any improvements?

I was in the same sizes for a long time when they were plus. As someone said before, that could have been bc there was more spandex or whatever in them. I don't know, or just bc plus sizes allow more room?

Now that I'm in normal sizes, it does seem like every 10 pounds or so is a size. But this varies by brand of course. I can try on an 8, a 10, and a 12 in different brands and they'll all either fit perfectly or not at all. No consistency.

same for me!! I looked and felt thinner but everything fit, everything.

I think it's because I'm short I need to lose more to actually see it and actually buy a smaller size.

I didn't read everyone's replies so I apologize if I'm repeating what was already said.

But if you are just losing weight with dieting, you may not see the kind of results you would if you were exercising. I've seen many pics on other forums and pages of women that have a before and after and they are the same weight in each pic or even 5 - 10 pounds heavier in the after pic but noticeably smaller. Sometimes they will post their change in pants sizes too, and many go down 1 to 2 sizes...all due to weight training. In other words the woman stayed 135lbs but went down in clothing size. Because she is losing fat and gaining muscle. I'm sure you can google before and afters to see what I mean.

You need to make exercise an everyday thing, and that means cardio but also weight training if your main focus is smaller clothes. Especially at your weight. When someone is very big the weight loss will mean smaller clothing, but I noticed when I was close to goal that it was intense exercise and toning that really made me shrink in clothing size.