Question:
I have looked at many before and after profiles here, it seems that lots of people

look like they weigh much less than the actual weight. Does anyone know why people who have been heavy for many years look slimmer at a certain weight than people who are not overweight to start with.    — Melody M. (posted on October 22, 2002)

October 22, 2002
Your bones become denser, and thus become heavier, from carrying around the extra weight. It is interesting to have your body composition tested. It shows how much of your total weight is lean body mass. Mine showed that my lean body mass is 135 pounds and I am 5'5". That means if I weighed 135 I would have 0% body fat!!
   — Kris V.

October 22, 2002
Kris, this makes so much sense to me. I weighed almost exactly this much nearly 30 years ago, but I definitely do not recall being this slim. In fact, I think I was at the top of the Met Life tables then, and it was my one and only brush with a "normal" weight! These days, though, I sometimes catch glimpses of myself in windows or whatever, and have to do a double take -- who the heck is that long, thin person?
   — Karen I.

October 22, 2002
I am confused by that too. Right now I wear a size 8 and I weigh 171 pounds. In high school I weighed 150-160 and wore a size 11.
   — Linda A.

October 22, 2002
Melody, I agree. Some people carry their weight much differently now than they did years ago. As far as clothing sizes go, manufacturers have made the clothes larger but kept the sizes smaller to apease the weight conscious people in our society. Women who were a size 5 their whole lives would RESIST buying an outfit if it were several sizes larger. We as a country have gotten fatter....so they have made the clothes larger but maintained sizes that our egos can deal with! Hugs, Kathie (in Hawaii)
   — KathieInHawaii

October 22, 2002
When you've carried around A LOT of extra weight for many years, you've developed muscles all over needed to carry that weight....and muscle is a lot heavier than fat...but I'm the same....was 145 in high school and a skin-tight size 12....I've now 157 and a size 10.
   — Lynette B.

October 22, 2002

   — wemax2

October 23, 2002
In addition to our bones weighing more because we developed heavier bones to compensate for all the weight bearing we did, keep in mind that clothing manufacturers have gradually changed clothing sizes over the years to sell more clothes. Its a well known secret game they play where they keep reducing the sizes on the label but not reducing the actual clothing sizes. Haven't you noticed that depending on the manufacturer/designer, you can wear several different sizes? I can wear from a 10-16 depending on the cut of the clothing. Makes sense-wouldn't you rather buy a size 10 something than a size 16?? The only type of clothing that doesn't seem to go in that direction is wedding dresses, which always seem to be in such large sizes.
   — Cindy R.

October 23, 2002
I don't know if they are answering your question, the way I read it, but here is my take. When we gain a lot of weight, many of us hate to be in front of the camera. When many people here were thinner, they let their pictures be taken, and therefore, when the time comes to post a picture of themselves on here, they find a flattering, or at least one they can live with, to post, so I think that a lot of the profiles you see here, are old pictures of people taken when they were much thinner, and smiling in front of the camera. Hope this one helps.
   — Ron E.