Congratulations Julie!! Glad to hear your feeling so well and out living!! It's a very exciting time for all of us! Jan

Thank you Linda!! That was a GREAT explanation, I've always been confused about the crazy "size and Deptment" thing and havining two teenage daughters, we shop all departments, and try on lots of different sizes to find a good fit. my one daughter will fit in a size 3-4 or 0 depending on the store or manufactuer, and my other daughter (more like me at her age) will wear a 16 or 18, but w's are two big in the hips.....I never buy cloths for them any more as gifts because I never get it right (thank God for gift cards!!!) I get headaches just thinking about shopping for cloths with them. Now me on the other hand am starting to LOVE cloths shopping for myself, so many nice thing to wear in the smaller sizes and it ALWAYS amazes me when they fit or when I have to try on the next size down!!! Have a Great day everyone!!!

Hi Julie! Congratulations!!!! I can't wait to get the the 100 lb mark too! I am down approx 87lbs in 6 months and feeling fabulous. This weekend I'll be going skiing and snowtubbing for the first time ever! Last year when my husband and kids went, I stood at the hotel doing homework for a class I was taking, that was really an excuse not to go because 87 lbs ago, I was just too afraid to even try it. This year, thanks to this wonderful tool, I am extremely anxious to try! good luck to you and I wish you continued success! Maryellen

Had to share! http://pic50.picturetrail.com/VOL487/441688/6273639/230592843.jpg

OK young'ens I will try to explain this size thing to you. I think I can anyway. Misses sizes are even numbers like 6-8-10-12-14-18 and on. When Womens sizes were first starting to be made they just continued right on from there, with 20/22/24/26, etc. All of these misses and women's sizes are created with the Average Woman in mind. I think the height is usually 5'6", at least that's what I was always told. And being 5'6" they were usually the correct length for me. Petites have now taken the place of what were half sizes, (something I haven't seen in awhile) half sizes were for a shorter woman and also a woman that was shorter from the shoulder to the waist. But I believe most of the time now they are just called petites. Junior's like 9-11-13-15, etc. are just usually designs that are more for the young, they are sometimes also a little shorter through the whole garment, much as a young teen would be. The other issue you run into sometimes is that there will be 14, 16, 18, in places that will have the W after them. Meaning they are smaller woman's sizes but they are cut fuller and larger than the 14, 16, 18 that does not have the W. Lane Bryant and Specialty stores are usually the only ones that use the 14, and 16 that is a fuller cut size. Having said all of this there are bound to be companies that will try to make us feel better by using a smaller number and making the garment larger, but when they do, you usually pay a lot more money for the item. It really becomes a head thing. Also over the years the sizes have actually been made larger. I wore a size12 Jeans 35 years ago at 150 lbs. and today I am wearing a size 12 Jeans at 180 lbs. So it is a whole lot about marketing. If you have confusion just try on till you find what works *******ways found that when I was in the larger sizes that just used 1x, 2x, 3x. That I didn't get as good a fit, but had no choice but to wear what I could get, unless I was going to sew the items. And I won't start on the sewing sizes as that's a whole different ball game as well. Linda W.