HOW I BECAME A SIZE 6
Yes, I've lost weight. But when I weighed this much in my 20s, I was between an 8 and a 10. MSNBC reports on a survey to measure the trend:
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Well into what paleontologists of the future might call the Fast Food Drive-Thru Epoch, the most complete body survey conducted in 50 years shows Americans have super-sized, particularly in the waist and hips.
TC2, a company based in the Raleigh suburb of Cary, used light-pulsing, 3-D scanner technology to measure some 10,000 Americans of all ages and ethnicities. The SizeUSA survey confirmed that all those extra french fries have come with a price.
The study was funded by clothing manufacturers, the military and colleges and universities, all of whom have a keen interest in body sizes.
Size 8 has long been thought to represent the measurements of the average American woman. In the clothing industry, a size 8 officially is supposed to be a 35-inch bust, a 27-inch waist, and 37-1/2-inch hip.
But in the survey, white women ages 18 to 25 came in, on average, at 38-32-41, with white women ages 36 to 45 coming in at 41-34-43.
In truth, some manufacturers made the adjustment years ago. Some sell a size 10 as a size 8 to flatter women's vanity, TC2's Jim Lovejoy, who conducted the survey, said in a telephone interview Monday.
Of course, as ergonomic experts have started to notice, no one really comes in a standard size. There are too many potential variables. No matter how you renumber the sizes, I'll always have short arms and long legs, a short waist, and a very small waist-hip ratio. So nothing will fit. (And don't get me started on shoes.) That's why there are tailors.