I went out last night to buy new pants because nothing fits right now. It's a good problem to have when your weight is going the direction you want, and not so when it's going a direction you don't. But sizes are a mess anymore.
I started this summer at a size 18. When those pants got loose I used a belt for a while, and managed to bypass needing anything in a 16. When I got to 14 I was happy because my favorite pair of jeans in my closet is a size 14. It's a pair of Calvin Kleins I got on sale at some point during my weighty journey either up or down several years ago. They would probably get classified as "mom jeans" by someone because they actually come up over my hips to my waist, where, frankly, they should be. That whole mid-rise trend is not fair to those of us whose torsos are just a battlefield of stretchmarks.
Anyway, my weight has been up and down enough times that I've had several occasions to break out those size 14 jeans. Now they are loose again and I had to buy a pair of 12s. The 10s I have still gathering dust in the closet from the last time I was smaller will have to wait until I've lost another ten to fifteen pounds.
But here's the thing: Another ten or fifteen pounds from now I will be the weight I was when I got married in 1997. And back then I was a size 14. I also remember shopping for pants in high school in the 80s. And I was a size 14. There is a forty pound difference between where I am now and where I was in high school. That is insane.
Which makes me wonder why I'm going to all the trouble of swimming a mile every day and being disciplined about what I eat because apparently if I just wait long enough I will be a size 10 again without even trying. Or maybe the pendulum will swing the other way and I will be back to being a size 14. (Either way, nothing short of a sari has ever fit me that my brother has brought me back from India because there sizes are a whole other thing and my 5'10" frame is off all the charts.)
When men buy pants, we use two numbers: waist size and length. Seems like those are are at least two variables you have to account for. And while those two variables probably aren't independent, they're not that well correlated, either. So I've always wondered how women buy clothes using only one number. Women's bodies seem to have more variables than men's, in my estimation.
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I think there is too much reality in those numbers for women for some reason. My biggest problem is length! I just bought boots to go with my pants because as my size gets smaller the lengths get shorter. Which doesn't make sense. But neither does putting the "Smalls" on the top shelf and the "XLs" on the bottom,
DeleteAgreed! I do not struggle with my weight, I am fortunate in that my baby weight does eventually come off and stay off barring any obvious lifestyle failures on my part. (Eating 5lbs of Halloween candy in one week last year was a mistake...) But nonetheless, I never know what size I am. Freaking arbitrary numbers. I have clothes with many different sizes from different times, styles, etc. that all fit. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteWomen have the added fun of being different sizes on the same body. Even when I'm down to a size medium on the bottom, I still have boobs ready to bust buttons off things that are smaller than an XL. I should just learn to really sew and make my own clothes and be done with it.
Delete(5 pounds of Halloween candy made me laugh!)
If you eat all the Halloween candy in one night, it doesn't count. But, yes, I was a size 6 25 years and 25 pounds ago, and I am a size 6 now. Pretty neat trick, I think...
ReplyDeleteSo if someone was a size zero 25 years ago, what are they now? Or do the littlest sizes stay the same because some people can't get smaller?
Delete(Must be the magic of Halloween night that the candy doesn't count then.)
Oh my goodness, I can identify with this entire post and comments SO much!!! I bought some shirts a year ago because I wanted some bigger shirts that were not maternity and actually fit. I'm having the same problem as you now- have lost some weight and nothing fits, so I went to buy new clothes, aaaand... I found some, in the same size, from the same store, that fit now. So yes, apparently in just a year, all the dang sizes shrunk....
ReplyDeleteSomehow, my husband managed to bring me a dress back from England (their sizing chart is different) that fit, given only my pants size. It was a miracle!! He says he did it all himself and there was a size conversion chart, but I swear some psychic salesperson must have helped him... He usually can't even find clothes here that fit!!!
That is a miracle that your husband got you something that fit. I don't think my husband has ever tried to buy me clothing of any kind, which has been wise of him. My brothers are not so wise and occasionally bring me teeny tiny clothes from other countries and I never know whether to be flattered or annoyed at their lack of observation skills when it comes to the shape of their sister.
DeleteCongratulations on going down to those older jeans -- whatever the number on the tag may say!!
ReplyDeleteAnd you're right - the way sizes have been downsized is ridiculous. In high school, when I weighed less than I do now, I was a size 6. Now I'm usually a 4 or a 2, and have even been a 0 with some pants. (Which is ridiculous. I'm petite and fit, but not skinny. My stomach is far from flat. What do supermodels and skinny teenage girls wear if? Are they making negative sizes now?)
Thanks, Jane!
DeleteI think there are double zeros. (Which is funny to me because with my hand files the higher the number the finer the file cut, so my 00 file is coarser than my 0.) Anyway, I think we should scrap the whole sizing system and start over to make it more like what men do and get over any vanity about what our actual measurements are.
First, congrats on the weight going the way you want it to! This is such a long slogging journey. I'm so happy for you!
ReplyDeleteSecond, omg, I'm dying with laughter! You're absolutely right! Have you seen this about mens vanity sizing? It's CRAZY! And to think it's even worse for women. UGH!
No, I hadn't seen that! How can Old Navy call forty-one inches 36"? That's ridiculous. We're all doomed.
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