How much weight do you need to lose to go down a dress size?

Suja

Like many of you know, I am on a post-baby weight loss journey. My baby has just recently started sleeping through the night (he's a year old) and I feel like I can finally focus on weigh loss. I have lost 10 pounds and have another 20 left to go before I reach my pre-pregnancy weight from my first kid.
I'm curious how much weight it took others to go down a full dress size?

My size 10 clothes are a little loose but size 8 is a bit tight in the waist. As an apple, I carry my weight in my midsection and that will likely be the last place the weight comes off. To me, it feels like I need to lose another 10 to comfortable go down a size in fitted clothes, like a tailored sheath dress. I probably can go down a size with a couple more pounds in more fluid fits.

I realize it varies a lot with height and body shape but I would love to hear other people's experiences.

10 years ago

Body Type

26 replies

Latest reply was from Olga

Anonymous

It took a 15 lb. weight loss for me to comfortably go down a dress size. When,ever I lose weight, inches come off my midsection and hips.

10 years ago

Staysfit

Veteran

I am guessing that is very dependent upon your height and body type. My weight regularly fluctuates up to 6 pounds during a given year, summer to winter. I think I read somewhere that for pant sizes, 8 pounds is supposed to equate to a change in size. I sincerely doubt that there are any hard rules. I have lost up to 15 pounds when I am sick with a bad migraine due to nausea and my pants still fit. They do get loose, but I wouldn't be able to take the next smaller size.

10 years ago

Joyce B

Veteran

It varies depending on the size you are at. For larger sizes I found it took more weight loss per size than for smaller sizes.
YMMV though.

10 years ago

Elly

Veteran

I've been up and down 30 pounds within a dress size. I'm an hourglass and gain uniformly all over. I'm overall a fairly muscular woman, without any weights-- add weights and I build muscle like crazy- I'm also 5'9". I don't think I look much different between 135 and 160 pounds-- I notice much bigger differences in how my clothes fit (although they always do, I've been about the same pants size for 8 years) based on what type of activity I am or am not doing. I can be at my highest weight, but have loose pants.

So, body type and muscle mass is a huge factor.

10 years ago

crutcher

Veteran

I have always been told that 12 lbs would takeyou down one size...

10 years ago

Karie

(website)

Veteran

I've been basically the same weight all of my adult life. For me, what makes the difference is healthy, mindful eating (and by mindful I mean all things in moderation) and exercise. With exercise, it's Pilates (my favorite class is like a boot-camp Pilates) and jogging/walking plus a little weight bearing stuff. When I'm doing that, I'm at the smaller end of my two sizes.

10 years ago

cheryle (Dianthus)

(website)

Veteran

I have read that it is 10 lbs but I find it can vary depending on the clothing item and where in my weight range I am. If I drop from 138 to 132, this is a size in pants but minimal change in tops. I see to gain first in the hips/thighs and then in the mid and upper body.

10 years ago

Zibbets

Veteran

Since muscle weighs more than fat, you could conceivably stay the same weight and go down a size. It depends on where you start and what changes you make.

10 years ago

ironkurtin

Veteran

Sorry, but I don't think there's a set weight to size. It depends on how you carry your weight and how your body is made. For baby weight, I was always told 9 months on, 9 months off, but obviously that's not true! (Darn those old wives' tales!). If I may suggest a strategy, I would focus on cutting out processed carbohydrates (bread, pasta, cornmeal, etc.) and sugar. Be strict and you will lose weight. Also, do weight training if you can, and if you do cardio, do high intensity, short duration - for example, I run a set distance (like a block) as fast and as hard as I can, then walk back. I do this five times, then I'm done. You don't need to be a on treadmiill all day.

10 years ago

rabbit

Veteran

My experience has been the same as Elly's, I'm not quite as tall, but it takes about 30 lbs for me to move fully to the next pants/dress size across most items. Also even at my lowest weight in high-school around 110 or so, I was only two dress sizes down from my highest weight around 165. Of course there is wide variation across items, but as a general rule of thumb. I think a lot depends of frame size and muscle mass.

Like IK I've had the best luck dropping excess weight in general (which does make a difference in my energy level and overall proportions/fit of clothes) with the exercise she recommends and dropping processed carbs as much as possible (no bread).

10 years ago

Suja

Veteran

Thank you for responses. I expected it would vary a lot due to several factors, height, body type, muscle mass, etc. Like Dianthus, My pants size seems to be going down but I see no change in tops sizes.

IK- I totally agree. There were a couple months where I wanted to lose weight but wasn't strict and the scale didn't budge. In the last 6 weeks, I have been super strict, monitoring what I eat and my exercise in MyFitnessPal and weighing myself everyday and I lost 10 pounds. I also am doing interval cardio for shorter durations and have found it makes the same impact for weight loss as low intensity cardio for much longer durations.

10 years ago

Anonymous

I'm 5'2" tall with a medium frame, so 15 lbs. on me is a lot. I didn't notice a change in top size when I dropped 15 lbs. but that may be because I have broad shoulders.

10 years ago

Suz

(website)

Veteran

As others have said, this really depends on your height, body type, and the percentage of fat vs. lean muscle that you are carrying.

I am 5'4" and a sort of hourglass/ rectangle. I lost 35 pounds over a period of about 6 months.

It wasn't until about 3 months in that I needed to go down a size in jeans. It seemed to be taking forever for things to change!

But by the end of the six months, I had gone from approximately a size 10 to a size 2 for bottoms. So the biggest changes occurred in the last 3 months.

Even though I am an hourglass/ rectangle, I also found that my belly pooch was one of the last things to adjust. This is probably partly because I am older (hormonal shifts). But it might also be because I'd been under chronic stress during the years I gained the weight and that kind of weight gain can be more concentrated in the belly.

The places where I am naturally smallest were the first to look smaller -- for me, that is my bust! But in fact, I was losing pretty evenly all over except for that residual belly fat, which did eventually diminish, though it is the first to return now if I go up a few pounds.

I don't notice a change in the way my clothes fit with an extra four or five pounds, but at my height if I go up any further in weight, my pants might not fit the same way, and if I lose even as few as three or four pounds, they will fit looser.

10 years ago

gryffin

Veteran

I am only 5'3" and a rectangle. I must live on the cusp of sizes. I'm usally a size 4, 4-5 lbs down and I am a size 2. But I think it's very variable, how much muscle you have, what is your frame like, how do you distribute weight - I think you have some good ranges. I only gained 17 lbs (hyperemesis the entire time) and could get back into my jeans in a month albeit they left impressions from every seam!! Later, even though I weigh exactly the same as before pregnancy my waist is 1.5" bigger so I still sized out of my skirts and pants, we won't even talk about the shoes....may they rip. It's a tough process but seeing that gorgeous, miraculous baby does make up for it!! Like most of life it's a marathon, not a sprint. A healthy body is really the goal but that does not make it any less frustrating!! Hugs and congrats on doing so well!!

10 years ago

Laura (rhubarbgirl)

(website)

Veteran

For me it was usually anywhere from 15 to 20 pounds, more when I was at the largest end, a size 18-20. And obviously it depends a lot on what you're eating (water retention etc) and changes in fitness, as everyone says. When i was actively trying to lose a lot of weight the same thing happened to me as Suz has described: I lost a bit of size at the beginning with water loss and then lost a lot of scale weight without noticing the size change for a while and then all of a sudden all my clothes started shrinking like I could barely wear the same pants for longer than a week or two without them falling off. So I think it also depends on how aggressive you're being with your diet and exercise. Slow and steady loss is less dramatic but either way it sometimes seems to take a while for your shape to catch up to your scale weight, if that makes any sense. And if you're nursing or have recently stopped nursing that'll affect things too.

I would guess that at a size 8-10 and average height, it'd be around 10 pounds between sizes.

10 years ago

janni

Active Member

I think I'd love to lose weight, but honestly I just can't seem to find the gumption to do so I vary about 20 pounds lbs throughout the year. Go from a loose 8 to a tight 10. Right now in a comfortable 8.

10 years ago

Gigi

Veteran

For me, it takes me about ten pounds to go down to the next-smaller size in bottoms. I tend to gain weight in my hips and thighs...my bust will gain only after my hips and thighs have had their share.

10 years ago

Suja

Veteran

So many great thoughts! It makes sense to me that it takes more weight to go down a size in the bigger sizes but just a few pounds in the smaller sizes.

Suz - think you are both right that it can take a while for the body to catch up with weight changes and that most of the body changes happen when you are more significantly down.

Laura - I am still breastfeeding. Most women I know say that it helps them lose weight but I actually think it is making it harder to lose weight. My body wants to hang on to the fat.

Also, I wanted to make it clear that I'm not pining after any particular size just trying to see where I might end up when I hit my weight loss goals.

10 years ago

Aziraphale

Veteran

Eek. I'm not sure about dress sizes. I have so few dresses, and I don't think I wore any at all until I was back to my pre-pregnancy size.

I would say it took about 10 lbs of weight loss to go down a pants size. I gained 40 lbs with my first pregnancy, and went up at least four sizes, so yeah, 10 lbs a size. It took 12 months to get back down to my pre-pregnancy weight. I did no exercise at all for the first six months, but started running and hiking after that, which helped things along a little.

Things were complicated after my second baby because I had managed to grow a grapefruit-sized uterine fibroid during that pregnancy, and of course those don't go away, so although by 12 months I had lost all of the 'baby fat', my waist didn't go back down. The fibroid shrunk a little postpartum, but then started to grow again, and four years later I had to have it surgically removed (by which point it had grown to the size of a small MELON). So now my stomach is flat again, or flat-ish -- as flat as it will likely ever get -- because now there's a little extra skin left over from both pregnancies.

It was also a little harder after the second baby, I suspect, because I was 35 by then, so middle age was on the horizon. Also, I'm now three or four pounds heavier than I was before kids, although my overall shape is similar. I suspect, again, that this is caused by age and not by the pregnancies themselves.

Hopefully that gives you some idea.

10 years ago

columbine(erin)

Veteran

Hmm. It must vary a lot and clothing sizes are all over the place anyway. I've lost 30 lbs of baby weight over the last 2 years and feel like I wear the same size, actually. I do need to size down in some of my favorite brands this year, but I'm not sure whether it's because they've given in to vanity sizing, or because I did lose some inches. It's odd.

10 years ago

Sheila

Veteran

As everyone has said it is hard to judge and depends on a number of factors. I find dress sizes vary so much with the brand I can't tell whether I will be in a Size 4-6-8-10. My hips lately are holding weight which is unusual for me but I attribute to hormones as well. When younger weight fluctuated directly at the bust.
The style of dress matters as well. I have no shoulders as well so sometimes a size 8 will look "dropped shoulder" and huge on me up top, but fit in the hips. Shift dresses are more reliable as there are no shoulders to be accounted for.

10 years ago

rachylou

Veteran

We-ell, I think I sit right on the cusp of two sizes at my best weight - so 5 lbs can be the difference between a pair of pants fitting or not fitting. Depends on the pants. 10 lbs for dresses, but I suspect some dresses are even more forgiving than others.

10 years ago

Echo

Veteran

Like others have said, it very much depend on body type, but the old adage about the last to go on is the first to come off is true for me. So if I previously gained in the midsection and then gained in the shoulders, the weight in the shoulders would come off first because it was the last to be gained.

Additionally, pregnancy can change your composition. Your hips may shift or widen regardless of weight, and you may carry weight differently from how you did pre-pregnancy. And if you are breastfeeding, some people lose weight faster and others keep on an additional few pounds until they stop.

Last, body composition makes a huge difference. Muscle occupies less space per pound than does fat. I have seen incredible transformations where a person has not lost a pound, but has simultaneously lost fat and gained muscle and appeared to lose 20 pounds or more.

10 years ago

gesturepoke

Active Member

I may be repeating others at this point, but it depends on body type, and the type of exercise/diet you're using for weight loss. If you're doing more strength training and gaining muscle, then you could theoretically go down a dress size without losing as many pounds.

I've lost about 35 pounds so far and gone down 2 dress sizes so far. So, I guess that's about every 15 for me.

9 years ago

shiny

Veteran

I'm a petite, so take that into consideration, but it always seemed to me that it takes only 5 lbs (or less) to vary between a size 0, 2 and 4; 10 lbs to vary between a 4, 6 and 8, and 15 lbs to vary between a 10-12-14.

9 years ago

Olga

Active Member

You should forget about your weight altogether. Just like size is just a number, don't obsess about it. All that matters is how your body looks and feels and how your clothes fit and flatter (even if it means going a size up).
The reason why weight doesn't matter for your looks is because muscles are a lot heavier than fat, so when you lose fat and gain muscle you may gain weight but drop a size or 2. And you need to gain muscle because it metabolizes calories way faster than fat. So just focus on your fitness level and throw away your scale - all it does is adds unnecessary stress to your life.

9 years ago

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