Attention Walmart shoppers: You are not getting bigger, the world is getting smaller!
So I finally got out for my clothes shopping spree. As it turns out, I’m not a size 10…. I’m a size 8. (!!!) My initial reaction was “NO FREAKING WAY!” and then I remembered… I’m being played. Big time. Do you remember hearing about that whole “vanity sizing” thing. Oh, yeah. Bummer! Well, the truth is I have *never* been a size 8. I remember when I was in college, and I went through a starvation diet phase – I managed to get myself down to a size 9. I bought a pair of jeans. Neither the diet or that size lasted very long.
So in the last few years, they’ve changed the size scale. But still – I’m sticking with the fact that the last time I had to buy a pair of jeans (which was in 2005 or 2006) I was buying size 16 jeans. I can’t believe the size scale changed since then (if it did, SHUSH! I don’t want to hear about it!) 😛 There is also the issue that I tried on jeans from Costco, Walmart (Levi brand), Old Navy, and in all cases the size 10 were too big – size 8 fit. So unless they’re all trying to play to my ego, could I have really gotten down to a size 8?? Being that I am still a size 16 in my head – as far as I’m concerned, this is all just a cruel joke the world is playing on me.
I’ll never know the truth. Either way, I have jeans that fit me, they’re not falling off. They’re flattering, and I feel good in them. That’s all that really matters.
Updated: Actually, I may need to bring these jeans back. :/ The stupid sizing is pissing me off. After wearing them for a few hours they feel too loose. I’m not sure if they’ll shrink or not… but with the vanity sizing these companies have done, and with the weight I’ve lost, I’m just totally confused what I should be wearing. I wish they had a simple chart that would tell you what size to buy based on what your measurements are. Screw generic sizes!!
My name is Jennifer and The Working Mom is my online journal. I'm very bad about updating it regularly. I like writing, but not as much as I 
I hear ya!
I recently read an article about companies that custom-make jeans based on, shocking!, your actual waist and inseam measurements. Perhaps that is worth a try? I know not discount store prices, (seems to start at about $50 which I know is a lot…), but maybe it is worth it? Please post if you try! I will live vicariously… (I just googled make your own jeans and a few companies popped up…)
Well, I was hoping not to have to spend so much on a pair of jeans (hence why I was shopping in Walmart to begin with. LOL!) I went back to Old Navy and tried on the size smaller (6) and they seemed to fit better. (We’ll see what happens after I wear them for a few hours). I also tried on a size 4 and those were DEFINITELY too small. I wouldn’t have even thought to try on the 6’s in the first place since I KNOW I’ve never even come close to a size 6. It just feels like I’m being lied to. Like they’re trying to make people not realize they’re getting fatter.
The clothing compnies are in cahoots with McDonalds. People can eat all the big macs they want and say “It can’t be bad for me, I’m the same size I was in highschool!”
It is infuriating, isn’t it? Guys can buy based upon their waist size, why can’t we? I agree with Jamie above that the clothing companies don’t want you to really realize your true size (i.e., measurements). After all, seeing calories on a fast food menu tends to make one rethink choices, and I’m sure knowing the true measurements makes people rethink a purchase and perhaps wait until they lose more weight. I tend to think about what size clothing I am ‘in’ rather than what size I ‘am’, so I guess even I distance myself from the measurements as well.
There are some companies that make jeans in measurements for girls too. Target’s Mossimo brand comes to mind. Although they tend to go for the low-rise-hip-hugging look. Not sure that’s what you want either.
Mostly it’s the more expensive brands like Seven for all Mankind. I would look at Khols or Macy’s during a sale if you can hold out for a while.
I had the same problem last year when I lost weight. I bumped past sizes 5-7-9 in junior high and never saw them again but suddenly at 30 I’m a size 9? WTF? I’m certainly not the size I was in 8th grade. It makes no sense. Before long I’ll be a size zero and poor skinny chicks will be shopping the infant department.
@Jamie – That’s exactly it. It’s like they want people to think “OMG! I’m down two sizes!! I’M WASTING AWAY… MUST EAT MORE!!”
@Jen K – LOL! Love the visual of skinny chicks shopping in the infant department. Seriously – I mean now they have 0 sizes and 00 – 10 years from now 0 will be the same thing as 000000… Yeah, that’s definitely not confusing. It will be so much easier just to eat up to a normal size. (kidding. I won’t do that, I swear!)
I just recently decided to put that pair of favorite jeans from high school in the donation bag, and I’m pretty sure there is a size 10 from the 80s or 90s in there — want me to send them your way so you can put the size thing to the test? 😀
The Wal-Mart jeans are always stretchy. So annoying!
I don’t think that having vanity sizing makes me want to eat more, lol. I will say that as a plus size lady often times I eat on impulse and don’t make the connection in my brain between what I put in my mouth and the weight I put on. Meaning that while I’m shopping for clothes I’m not thinking about eating ice chips and celery and while I’m eating bacon I’m not wondering if I am going up a size in clothing…. So when I go shopping (not making this connection in my brain lol) and I try on clothes I feel utterly helpless and depressed because it’s not like I can uneat all the stuff I have impulsively and emotionally ate since the last time I went shopping. I understand that Vanity Sizing is not to make people feel like they can eat extra, so much as take the edge off of the horrible feeling that you get when you go shopping later. That all being said, as a plus size lady that sounds up until now like I like vanity sizing — I don’t. I do not like it because as everyone says, it is confusing and you get so turned around in what size you are for what brand/store you are in that it’s a pain in the neck and if someone decides to buy you clothes as a gift, it’s a nightmare. Also because I don’t make the connection between eating and weight (obviously consciously I do, but I don’t think about it in the moment) as sad and depressing as it can be to discover or be faced with your true size, it helps you to work harder to bring it to the forefront of your thoughts so that maybe a little more than normal you might make the connection in your brain when you are deciding what to eat for lunch that day…. I’m not saying discovering I’m gigantic will suddenly take away the impulse to eat chocolate, but I think it would help at least some of the time, which is better than when you are vanity sized.