Silly Question About Vanity Sizing. Is It Good or Bad?!?

Updated on November 08, 2010
J.L. asks from Frankfort, KY
10 answers

Okay, just had my 3rd child four months ago and am FINALLY back into pre-preggo pants. This third baby weight has been the hardest no doubt about it, but I haven't been working out the way I should be. Anyway, the other day as I was looking through my closet, trying to find something to wear for our eldest sons preschool graduation, and I pulled out some capris from way back. The size 11/12. Then, I today, I pull out some shorts that I purchased two years ago to wear, that fit by the way, size 4. Right after having my third little one I went to the Gap wearing my maternity skinnys (I still couldn't fit comfortably into my size 10's which were purchased before first child) and fit into a size 6. (No way, I'm still not into my size 8's) So, as I'm aging and having babies, my clothes seem to be shrinking as my scale digits get higher!!! What's going on?!?!? Yes, the vanity sizes do make you feel better, but for goodness sakes, I'm 5 foot 10 inches and weigh 150 on a good day. Size 4? Really? Give me a break!!! I do think if you buy clothes at the mall, the vanity sizing is worse than those bought at local stores, or should I say I'm a super model size at the mall!!! hehe! Anywho, what do you all think about this? Are we finally super models in our post pregnancy bodies!!!

My point to this question is do you think its good or bad to have different sizes for different stores? How can I fit into a size 4 (I haven't been in a size 4 since middle school/Jr high.) I don't think it's really a size 4! I think it's wrong to have a different size for different stores. I personally think that at my height and weight I am a true size 10, so when I try on clothes from the mall shops and I'm in some tiny sounding size it irritates me. Just recently bought some shorts from Walmart, size 10... I'm not going to shop at any particular store just because I wear a smaller size in their clothes. So my question to all of you women out there is this: do you agree with and like the vanity sizes or not. (I personally think it's ridiculous, give me a size and let me live by it!)

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C.C.

answers from Tampa on

I think it's a pain in the neck, I'd like to have SOME idea of how things will fit without having to try them on.

4 moms found this helpful

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C.S.

answers from Fort Walton Beach on

As the mother to a 12 year old daughter, I think the vanity sizing is awful! She is growing up with the misconception that anything over a size 2 is huge. Many of her friends are size 0, and that is what she would love to be. However, she is already taller than me and about the same size (thinner and much firmer, but still). She will never be a 0 and I can't help but think that if her friends wore clothes with "real numbers," she would not feel so insecure when we all go shopping together or they swap out clothes. As an adult, the vanity sizing doesn't make me feel anything one way or the other, but I certainly see how it is affecting my pre-teen.

3 moms found this helpful

V.W.

answers from Jacksonville on

I must not be shopping at the places you ladies are! I am almost 5'7" and average weighing about 140 lbs. I am 41. I started a new eating plan last summer and went from my highest weight ever (excluding when I was pregnant) of about 165, to my lowest since I met my husband, 137.5 lbs. I HAD to go buy new jeans. EVERYTHING was falling off of me. I went from a size 12 (at 165 lbs) to 10 (when I was in the 150's range) and when I HAD to buy to keep clothing on my body at 137 lbs... I fit nicely into a size 8 in Levi's jeans. I probably could have squeezed into a 6 (they do have that stretchyness to them these days), but I wasn't sure I would be able to keep the weight off or continue losing a couple more pounds, and didn't want to be stuck with NOTHING to wear.... I have NEVER, even at 137 lbs, been able to fit my butt into a size 4!!! WHERE are ya'll shopping?!

3 moms found this helpful
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C.S.

answers from Las Vegas on

If I put on a size 4, I would be afraid I couldn't get them off!

3 moms found this helpful

A.G.

answers from Pocatello on

the whole sizing thing is kinda crazy. And it all depends on the type of store and the department you shop in. Like some may be a size 6 or 8 in the misses or womans section but a size 11 in the jr. department. I am a small girl and I still never know what size i will be when I walk in a store. Like at DownEast outfitters their smallest jean size is a 0 but that is actually too big for me...in their store I would need a 00 which they don't even make. but then I go to American eagle and I'm a 0 or a 2 depending on the type of pants I buy. Then I also have a pair of jeans from JcPenny's that's a size 3 and two other pants from different stores that are size 1. It's really crazy. I actually started to measure myself and then looked up on line what size I should be going by my measurements but I hear ya.....it is crazy how stores will just put a size on pants with what seems like no rhyme or reason.

3 moms found this helpful

M.R.

answers from Rochester on

I also went from an 11/12 to a 4 after having kids, but have been working out and found that my pre-pregnancy clothes were falling off of me. I have never worn junior's sizes, so the sizes I wear are Misses (they fit differently and run bigger to begin with). Part of me felt like it could not be quite accurate that I would ever wear a size 4, but I know that my body is smaller. I feel healthier and know I am in much better shape after having kids. Sometimes I feel like the sizing can't be right, but since I am consistently the same size in different brands from different retailers (again, never juniors), I am finally convinced. When I bought a new scale my weight changed overnight, but the differences are always the same. I try to go more by how I feel, how my clothes fit, what my measurements are, and only partially by my weight. I'm just under 150 pounds (on a good day, too!) and not quite 5'6." I don't know what to say with the way your clothes are fitting differently with different sizes, but I don't put a whole lot of stock in those numbers, anyway. I just like to consistently find something I can put on. You probably look awesome whatever the label says.

Now, if only my bra size were easy to find in stock... That would be glorious. :)

Where I shop: JC Penney mostly, sometimes Sears, Target, and always Victoria's Secret online. I do wear a size 4 for jeans from Victoria's Secret and a size 6 for their slacks/pants. I really don't get it. I know I have compared sizing charts for major retailers and have read that some of the department stores like Penney's and Sears follow standard sizing rather than glamor sizing, but that is a new topic for me. I was thoroughly entertained by something published about Kim Kardashian being a size 2, which apparently Kelly Ripa is as well. How hilarious is that??? :) I do have the muffin-top, too, but everything else on me is smaller. My husband has requested that I not lose any more weight on top. :D

2 moms found this helpful
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A.C.

answers from Charleston on

I recently lost a lot of weight and I weigh now what I weighed when I got pregnant with my first child (in 2004) and I was a size 8 then and I kept those clothes and now those clothes fit but when I need to find new clothes I have to buy a 6 or 5. I really dont understand why companies are making people think they are smaller then they are. I think it may be a backwards step in fighting obesity in this country

1 mom found this helpful
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K.H.

answers from Huntington on

As a plus size (or whatever we are called nowadays) who had worked hard to lose 60 lbs, then gained much of it back as a result of pregnancy, I dread shopping for clothes. I spent more money than I wanted to for a nice pair of jean capri's, only to have them so stretched out in an hour from all the spandex that they are sloppy. I'd assumed since I knew my size and they fit in the dressing room, they were the right size. Glad I am a size smaller, but not happy to waste money on clothes I only plan to wear a short while!

So now I *think* I'm a size smaller and shop in another store, but can't even get my big toe into that store's size.

As frustrating as all of this is, try being stuck in the 'no man's land' between misses and plus sizes. There is a black hole between 18 & 18W where you look like sloppy in the larger and lady of the evening in the smaller.

1 mom found this helpful
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E.M.

answers from Louisville on

Whats the question???? size 4 at 150 lbs is awesome im a size 10 and im 158... not sure if that answers your question

D.M.

answers from Denver on

I wish sizing was standardized. It would make shopping a heck of a lot easier.

I do think 5'11" and 150 is probably pretty slender though.

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