Sizing = how da hell, scratching head..

i'm 5ft 4in and currently weigh 215 lbs. i am wearing size 14 clothes mostly and even can fit into some 12's.

i don't understand, either.  'cause when i was in college, i weighed 180lbs and wore a size 12.

i agree that muscle mass and being toned make a big difference. 

i know this doesn't help, but, decided 2 chime in.

sorry!

I appreciate it.  At that weight in 1997-1998, I was a 020/22.

I understand it, but it still makes no sense.  I agree, cost is a factor, as is shape, height, etc...

lol. I understand what your talking about. I am 5'5 and 3/4...yes I add ever inch to my height...weight 250 lbs and wear a size 18-20 depending on how its cut.

Now I actually have an answer to this. The reason why smaller jeans can fit a larger person is because jeans are no longer made "fit to size." Designers know that the american population is getting larger and more obese. So in an effort to continue to sell clothes they are playing with the minds of people. They make what really should be a size 14 jeans read a size 12.. This way Americans get a false sense of remaining the same size even though they damn sure know they scales is moving on up and the consumer is more likely to purchase from them because they get to remain the same size they have always been. FALSE ADVERTISMENT is what it is, they are lying to people and the people are eating it up. A lot of companys have fallen to this but a few are staying true (i believe gap still aint fall to this yet cause I can't fit nothing in they stores).

If you can't tell after that my field of studies is marketing. Thats the ONLY reason I know the answer to that. BTW, pretty much all my jeans are a size 18 or 20 unless I by them from online, in which case they are a 22 or 24...the real size I should be wearing. Just a little food for thought.

Ha!  True, true... or, I can go to Lane Bryant and say I'm a size 4-5 (depending on my fluctuations!!) for their Right Fit Line.

I will have to go with that whole muscle theory - cause at 190 and 5'8'' I can wear NY and Co size 10 pants....... now - jeans, whole nuther story..... at 180, I'm in some 8s at NY and 10 Gloria Vanderbuilt jeans..

my goal weight is 165 - so i suppose I would be in 6s with that.....

What really confused me was going into Macy's to buy my first pair of jeans in a regular department store (not lane bryant) in decades and finding sizes like 29, 30 and 31.  I had to get a sales associate to help me figure it all out because I had no idea where to begin. 

I remember those sizes, b/c that's how back in the day, I had to buy my Guess and Girbaud jeans, lol... it's the waist size and how they do in most countries.  Well, with a 20-22in waist and 36-40in hips, that didn't work.  On to the men's dept I went.

Another thing to consider is that over the years of hauling around all this weight our bones had to overcompensate and get a lil stronger and denser. I would never have thought I could button let alone wear some 12 jeans all day. But in college at 180 I was wearing 16s from Lerner's. They changed to NY&Co and I can wear thier 12 pants and 14 dresses cause of these big hooters lol

I'm 5'4" and hovering around 200lbs and currently wearing a size 14 and a few select 12's.  After the baby, the goal is to fit a size 10 comfortably (whatever weight that is).

There are a couple of factors at work here...I'll detail a few (from my experiences)

1. build---as others have mentioned, depends on how compact vs. jiggly one is. (like that scientific breakdown?) I remember watching Richard Simmons growing up and seeing the white women crying talking about they weighed 225 but looked more like 275 and wore the clothes to match.

2. how you like your clothes to fit. My preference is fitted---so my sizes in clothing that i *choose* might be smaller than someone who weighs the same/less and likes a baggier look (separate from shaping--like buying a larger size to accomodate butt vs waist etc)

3. Shaping---where your weight is carried, short vs long waisted, busty, hippy, etc. Someone may wear a 14 (that is properly fitted) but because of the way they carry their weight, look like a 10 or a 18.

4. The style/quality/type of clothes one purchases. Usually, less expensive/cheaper quality clothes are sized smaller. However---this is more "true" sizing than the higher quality clothes which, as someone has mentioned, have gotten bigger as the size numbers have gone down. I wear a lot of vintage clothing, and have found some 18s (60's - 80's era) to be a good fit, while 14s and 12s are like hell NAW! But in modern clothing, i have things that range from 10 -14.

5. Some ppl lie, and their sizes aint their sizes at all. or maybe they got in an 8 one time, and that number felt good to them so they stick with that as their story.

either way, it's less about the number and more about how i look/feel..FOR ME. I know some ppl are really concerned with the number...whether its clothing size, weight, or measurement. Find a good balance.

ETA: as a point of reference I am about 5'6" (im taking that half inch dammit) and around 200