Rewarding yourself

[Jess Marie]

I decided to buy a size 4 dress. I am usually a size 6 or 7 depending on the dress. I hung it up in my closet, and I looked at before I took my morning shower. That dress inspired me to go down 2/3 dress sizes. I am now a size 4 dress size and I'm loving it.

Any of you ladies ever treat yourself to some new clothes as a reward for doing something to better yourself?

[goodnhose]

Yes! I'm going from a size 8 to a 6 and can't wait to find my next dress in that size.

[Valerie Louise]

Oh, I must ask.
I'm on a weight loss effort, and I'm down from 195 to 178 so far. At 5'8", I need to get to 155 just to be a guy at the right weight! I'm hoping to go further than that, but my scale says I have 145 pounds of nonfat on me.
While my skirt and pant size dropped from a 16 to a 12 with the loss so far, my shoulders are still keeping me in 16 dresses - ok, I have one size 14 that fits.
It sounds like you have had much greater weight losses to get to the sub 10 range ... could you please relate how your weight losses tied into the dress size? I'm not looking for absolutes, but would you say that 15 pounds or so equates to a dress size? Have you had issues with your shoulders forcing you to bigger sizes than your waist calls for?
Really interested in your experiences, and congrats on getting to those tiny sizes!

[JessHaust]

Oh, I must ask.
I'm on a weight loss effort, and I'm down from 195 to 178 so far. At 5'8", I need to get to 155 just to be a guy at the right weight! I'm hoping to go further than that, but my scale says I have 145 pounds of nonfat on me.
While my skirt and pant size dropped from a 16 to a 12 with the loss so far, my shoulders are still keeping me in 16 dresses - ok, I have one size 14 that fits.
It sounds like you have had much greater weight losses to get to the sub 10 range ... could you please relate how your weight losses tied into the dress size? I'm not looking for absolutes, but would you say that 15 pounds or so equates to a dress size? Have you had issues with your shoulders forcing you to bigger sizes than your waist calls for?
Really interested in your experiences, and congrats on getting to those tiny sizes!
I could have written this exactly! The height-weight chart is my goal and I'm 5'8" and down to 185 ( from 235) mostly wear size 16 but have a few 14's , they have to be stretchy material.
So, how small do you have to be to wear a size 4?

[Jess Marie]

Here is my thoughts:

-I am 5'10 and started around 185. I'm down to around 160ish (probably 163 right now). 15lbs per dress size is probaby in the ball park
-I have proportional shoulders to my size. The dress is strapless, so I'm not sure about how it will work with regular dresses.
-My chest has always been bare, as in no fat. I found that the fat you will lose is going to shed off your back, not the front. So it might not seem like you are losing weight, but you are.
- I also pretty much lost all my man boobs too, which helps to lose a dress size.
- I lost my weight by running and drinking 2 cups of green tea per day. I suggest something similar. I jogged 1/4 mile for 2 days, then 1/2 mile for 3 days, 2/3 for 4 days, 1 mile for 5. I was down 6 pounds after that routine, maybe a little more. I'm running 4 miles a day right now and I'm feeling great.
- I'll post pictures of me in the size 4 on my Flickr. I'll edit this and put a link in, give me 5 minutes.
- Good luck. I'm here if you need anything regarding this.

[Jess Marie]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jesscdphotos/6670031635/in/photostream/

This picture is the only one of me in a size 4, unfortunately. It was a little tight, but I've lost 2 or 3 pounds size these have been taken.

The blue dress a few back is a better representation of the size 5, which is not much bigger than the 4, obviously.

[JessHaust]

Wow, great dress! And it fits you well. Congratulations. One question though, if 15 lbs is good for one dress size, and you are 25lbs lighter than me, and I wear a 16, and you wear a 4..... My math brain has gone i to a spin.
Really I have the hardest time with womens sizes. I can be in one store looking at dresses and the 16's seem to be right, then move to another section in the same store and a 16 is half be size it was across the store!

[Barbara Ella]

Hmmmmm...refrains from spitting up blood from biting tongue...You beautiful, young, nubile sl*ts....er divas. (Retouches concealer to hide the green tone creeping in)

Seriously, you all are very lovely, and it is good to see the focus of today's youth. Keep up the good work, and of course post pictures. Enjoy your youth and figures so that we may also.

Babes

[Jess Marie]

When you get down to 2-6, they pretty much don't vary at all. A friend of mine, whom I'm out to, is a GG and she wears a 2 or 4 dress and can do a 6 but her boobs arent enough to fill out the dress. So my guess is a person can only get so small, and the sizes between 2-6 don't very much.

[SweetPea_GG]

Where this topic has headed kinda disturbs me. I do hope everyone stats focus on what a healthy body weight is and not just what number size you are. There are many different healthy body types and not all were designed to be a size 2/3. I was only a size 2/3 when I was a preteen. Now if I was a size 2/3 I would look very sickly and extremely under weight.

I'm sorry but this topic just disturbs me..

[phballet]

haha i remembered when i went down one dress size and then treated myself to a buffet:> guess what happened to the dress size after that!!:>

[Karren H]

If I wanted to be a size 4 I'd just get my seamstress to sew size 4 tags into all my dresses... While I reward myself by going next door and buying some chocolate! :).

Getting healthier from loosing 50 pounds, 8 years ago.... was reward enough...

[kimdl93]

Sounds like a great motivator. But about this size 4 thing....I feel great when I can wear a 12!

[Babeba]

Erm, I agree with Sweetpea. Your clothes should not define you. You define your clothes. Why be so hooked up on a number? Find a shop that sells it in a number you like, I guarantee it is out there.

[Jess Marie]

I didn't do it for the dress. I did it for me. I'm a very fit person and I figured I would use a little motivator to keep me on target. I probably out eat all of you on here, but I burn massive amounts of calories (according to my trainer I burn about 4,500 a day). So, using a reward to do yourself better is not a bad thing.

My uncle is highly over weight. He bought a chocolate bar and every 10 pounds he lost, he rewarded himself with 1 brick. He lost about 40 pounds so far.

It's not bad to reward good things. 160 at 5'10 is a healthy weight. Look it up.

[Valerie Louise]

Agree with the requirement to not get carried away.
I am personally so far from that point that it is not a consideration right now. My objective in this thread is to understand where I will wind up once I actually hit a healthy ... drab ... weight. At 5'8", that's about 145 pounds of non fat, and ten of fat, for 155.
My experience so far is not what I thought would happen.
At 195, I found an excellent plaid mini skirt that fit me perfectly ... size 15. I figured I'd be enjoying it for months.
At 185, I tried it again, and it slid down too far, even with an underworks shaper.
So, I bought two size 14 pencil skirts. They fit incredibly well. (All this at Goodwill, so the investment is nothing).
At 178, these skirts now are too loose in the waist.
I bought four short skirts in size 12, and they all fit! And YES, I did try size 12's before and they were way too small.
Three pairs of jeans, different makes, all in size 12 ... fit fine!
My drab pants, which are 38's ... are falling off. They have two and a half inches of play in the waist.

BUT!
All my "XL" tops fit fine. And the size 16 dresses, while gathering more at the waist, fit fine.

It just doesn't seem to track ... you'd think that about 15 pounds of weight loss would make little difference in the bottoms sizes, but at least in my case, it mattered a lot. I would simply be in heaven if I could hit size 12 in a dress, and I still can easily lose 25 pounds and be in the median weight for my height.
I'd like to try to predict, from other's experiences ... where the next 25 pounds off will leave me in dress size. My guess is that any fat will continue to shed from the chest and back, but that my shoulders will still define that dress size ... which I think, in the limit, will be size 14.

Since we are talking weight loss ... first, I'm an engineer, so this is an experiment for me, with my body as the test article. I've learned that a pound of human fat is worth 3500 calories. You burn, just sitting doing nothing, around 1800 to 2000 calories a day. To shed a pound a week, you need to have a calorie deficit of 500 calories. What I do is eat about 500 calories through the day ... this ain't much, but if you eat things that are filling like popcorn, raisins, granola bars,fruit cups, etc, you won't get hungry (your mind says eat, but if you learn to ask your stomach it'll say "nope, we're good here!". Then I eat a reasonable dinner with the family, which is worth about 1000 calories. In the mornings I put in 30 to 40 minutes on a stationary bike - this removes 300 calories. I think walking around at work and home is worth around negative 400 calories.
So, the equation for the calories deficit is 500+1000 (intake) - 1800 (sitting burn rate) - 300 (exercise) - 400 calories (walking around) = -1000 calories daily (on a day when I'm good). I also do yoga twice a week. Since January 9, this has led to a consistent weight trend down, at about 0.28 pounds per day, or about 2 pounds a week down. You MUST not stop this during weekends, and if you fall off the wagon, just get back on. This is pretty simple gals - it is an energy balance. These numbers are really rough, but they work for me.

[docrobbysherry]

I congratulate U, Jess Marie! However, I'm confused about your size 4 dress. I'm about 5' 10" and have been around 150 lbs. for about 3 years. I fit into most size 12's, a lot of size 10's, and some size 8's. The only size 6's I can get into have to stretch like crazy!

As for excersize as a weight loss method, I don't believe in it! When I was 170 and excersizing regularly, I was hungry more often and ate more. Since I quit working out, I've learned to cut out certain things, eat smaller portions, and eat healthier. Eventually, diets and exercize will fail! Especially as u age. Only perminant diet change works in the LONG run! I'm not going to see "160" on my scale for the rest of my life!

Not only can u look sexier liter, u can be more active, mobile, and filled with energy as u age! At least, I do!

[CINDYO]

do not concern yourself with a number on an item of clothing, just..... keep yourself in great shape, work out almost daily, eat mostly healthy food, it you are overweight lose it, try on clothes if they fit properly, who cares what the number says.... too many variables with manufacturers.

[Keely]

Good news on the weight losses girls.
I'm a size 2-4 now. 5 foot 6 and 127 lbs.

[Sara Jessica]

Where this topic has headed kinda disturbs me. I do hope everyone stats focus on what a healthy body weight is and not just what number size you are. There are many different healthy body types and not all were designed to be a size 2/3. I was only a size 2/3 when I was a preteen. Now if I was a size 2/3 I would look very sickly and extremely under weight.

I'm sorry but this topic just disturbs me..

Good gosh, I couldn't agree more.

It's silly to aspire to a number, especially if that number is derived from women's clothing.

For the record, I'm a very similar height & weight, 5'9" (ok, 5'9.5") and my weight hovers around 160. I have jeans ranging from 4 to 10 and at least a couple dresses as low as a size six and even a small which fits beautifully. However, the low-end sizes are not the norm for me so I'm the last person who would run around saying "ooooweeee, I'm a size 4". I know that when I go shopping, I start with an 8, or a medium, and go up or down from there depending on the fit.

All that said, I know my weight is a healthy one and if I lose anything that I have right now, it comes off my tush which is the last place I want to lose any weight. This is what is important, that your weight is healthy. Size will follow and as I said above, all over the map is where it will follow.

BTW, from the photo of the size 4 dress you are wearing, it doesn't seem to fit you properly. A strapless dress needs to fit up around your ribcage, closer to your underarms. That brings up a couple other points about size, that the way we carry our fat along with our frame (as in "bones") which dictate not only sizing but how clothing looks on us. I think if that size 4 dress won't hug your midsection the way it's meant to, then that size 6 or 8 might be a much better choice. There's no shame in any such number. And Sherry's comment is a perfect example. I'm guessing it's her frame which is keeping her out of certain sizes despite her weight. That is something which cannot be changed. Something like that is what it is which happens to be the case for all of us.

[Jess Marie]

In that photo I was alone and my first time trying on a strapless. I have a size 4 that is very similar and it fits just fine. My arms just don't bend that way.

Also, I'm not losing weight to get into a certain size. I just wanted to lose a little weight, about 20 pounds or so, which my trainer says has been 80% fat, so I can be healthier. I did this for health reasons, not a dress number.

[AmandaM]

Don't worry about size. Misses clothes really start at 14 and below. Also, a 38 bra and below. At size 14 and/or 38, all the styles are available in all the stores. Above that, and the pickin's get slimmer. It gets really bad when you move into the XL sizes. So for any of you out there, 14 is good enough. You want to lose enough weight to get to that size AND not have a gut cause it'll be a male gut, and that's tough to hide. Same thing with muscles. Males put them on easily, so that means your workouts should be mostly cardio if you want to fit better into female sleeves, etc. And a large V doesn't help either, it'll put you up dress sizes. So, you can be a size 14 waist and size XL top! That's a struggle right there.

[Jess Marie]

Don't worry about size. Misses clothes really start at 14 and below. Also, a 38 bra and below. At size 14 and/or 38, all the styles are available in all the stores. Above that, and the pickin's get slimmer. It gets really bad when you move into the XL sizes. So for any of you out there, 14 is good enough. You want to lose enough weight to get to that size AND not have a gut cause it'll be a male gut, and that's tough to hide. Same thing with muscles. Males put them on easily, so that means your workouts should be mostly cardio if you want to fit better into female sleeves, etc. And a large V doesn't help either, it'll put you up dress sizes. So, you can be a size 14 waist and size XL top! That's a struggle right there.

Yeah. I know what you are saying about putting on muscle easy. My workout is 98% cardio. All running, jumping jacks, stairs, and a little bit of yoga.

[Silentpartner GG SO]

I hve to agree with SweetPea - this thread disturbs me too - ladies clothes are made to fit ladies bodies - men tend to have broader shoulders so no matter how much weight you lose from the rest of your body, you are still going to have a bone structure of a male -

It seems to me that you gurls here stress more about your clothes size than us GG's - just buy what suits you, fits you and feels comfortable on - ignore the size - I've got stuff in my wardrobe that varies between 3 different sizes, they all fit me the same. Its manucturers stupidity thats all.

To be so obsessed about clothes size is sheer vanity! sorry but thats the way I see it, and vanity is not an attractive quality in any sex/gender.

[ReineD]

Here's a healthy weight range by height, for males and females:

http://www.rush.edu/rumc/page-1108048103230.html

I hope no GM here will aspire to the female weight range, which is typically about 10-15 lbs less than the male (due to bone structure and density).

A good weight to aim for, give or take a few pounds, would be the middle of the range, and you would still be thin. It doesn't matter what the dress size is. Buy high priced designer clothes if you care about the size label. The more expensive the clothes, the smaller the sizes. They want to keep these ladies coming back. :)

5'6" = 142
5'7" = 148
5'8" = 154
5'9" = 160
5'10" = 166
5'11" = 172
6'0" = 178
6'1" = 184
6'2" = 190
6'3" = 196
6'4" = 202

[Anna Lorree]

I have been losing weight since November. I am 6'1", and currently weigh 170 pounds. This puts me at the lower end of the safe scale for men and mid scale for women in my height. I wear a size 6 or 7 pant/jean in the brand I wear. I wear a medium top most of the time, sometimes a large. For dresses I wear a 10 or so, again depending on the manufacturer. I'm fine with that, I know an attractive GG who is 6' tall, and she and I can swap clothes. I'm happy with my weight as compared to my size.

Anna

[roger]

Nice going! It always feels great to shrink into clothes!