I was watching TV (American show) and a woman said that she had lost weight and hence she changed dress sizes, i.e. 8 to a 6 and now she is a size 2.

My question is if she lost anymore weight is there a size 0. Some of us (jokingly) thought perhaps she disappears as 0 means nothing, etc. So what happens, as we have baby sizes in Australia like 0, 00, and 000? Just had to know out of curiosity.

I was always told to add four - so our size 14 is a size 10 US. I guess there is a point where they head down to the girls sizes.

Thanks for your reply Copago. So a 2 would be a 6 but do they have anything lower for the super super skinny?

On another thought on dress sizes - I am a 10-12 Aussie style. Why or why then I now have to buy large to very large to get something that fits.

My daughther (who is overweight and has low self-esteem) comes home upset as she is about 14-16 and has to buy something labelled extra large.

I know we buy a lot from Asia and Asian women are a lot smaller, but this is not doing a lot of good to kids who have a (perceived) major overweight problem. I heard on the radio that a size 14 is the 'normal' size these days. The manufacturers should recognize this.

I am also tired of looking at matchstick movie stars. Made my daughter sit down and watch a 50s movie for her to see what a 'normal' and 'healthy' body looks like. My husband also agrees - boobs and a backside is nicer (the hourglass figure) of those days and is far more sexier than todays.

I've never had to look in the super super skinny section to know

I spent the day with a 14 year old girl a couple days ago, we did a bit of shopping and went to the pool with my son. She bought a size ten pair of shorts (SHORT shorts!!! Her mother is going to kill me! lol) and she is quite tall and has a lovely figure. At the pool she wanted to take my little boy in the water and when she took off her dress she said along the lines of "ugh I'm soooo fat!!" Oh please, I thinks and asked her if she really thought she was fat and she did. It took quite a bit of talking to get her to say she thought she did look okay which I thought was a good start and maybe, hopefully, some of the conversation will stay in her memory when she goes through the inevitable teenage angst periods of being fat.

many of the models they see are 'skinny' in my view, of course there are very healthy skinny women but I can see that it could be damaging to a teens self esteem when they aren't 'skinny' and have this shoved down their throats from all angles.

What I am finding unbelievable sad is that young kids - I mean 5 year olds, etc., are being diagnosed anarexia (spelling ??).

Then I get annoyed at young mothers who are telling their kids "not to drink anything but low fat milk" "not to eat this because of its fat content" etc., and hear them constantly telling their daughters how fat they are or going to be.

But then they do not take them to swimming, or other sports/activities but want them to be quiet and sit down. Playing computer or watching TV seems to be the thing I've noticed.

On reflection I should include boys - as my son is so fat conscious (both in food and his own body) (started when Heart Foundation put on fat=death ads on TV). I told him he should get a job as a fat controller - he cuts every bit of fat off and even does not eat butter. Very frustrating to watch him turn over each piece of meat to scrutinize it.

Yes, there is a size 0 in North America - disgusting, isn't it!

Thank you Skunkee - now I know. I find it unbelievable and express the same sentiments as you.

It is disgusting, skunkee! In the past couple of years, they have also added a 1/2 size. I suppose that is for women who can't fit into a 0 but can't bear to be a 1. Who knows.

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(the hourglass figure) of those days and is far more sexier than todays.

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I agree. Most of the women who are considered 'sexiest' these days are so thin they look more like young boys, straight up and down, with no curves at all. I always thought we women are supposed to have curves.

In the old days, 1/2 sizes were same-size alternative for the well endowed. That is, if you fit a size 8 except that it was tight in the chest, and a size 9 was a little too big everywhere else, you would go for a size 8 1/2.
I don't know if they still do this - it was always a high end store or dressmaker thing. Seeing as how I buy my clothes from the Walmart sales racks these days, I don't know what they're doing at the other end of the scale.

Yesterday we went to the mall to do some shopping and saw a sign in a store window that read "we now carry sizes 1/2, 0, 00, and 000"! My husband knows what size I wear so had some frame of reference and said that anybody wearing those sizes have got to look like sticks. I have to agree.

If an aussie size 14 is a US size 10, and a girl who is an aussie size 14 is overweight, then you have all just unraveled every bit of pride I had in finally getting back into a size 10 jean, into which I haven't fit since before I got pregnant.

Even when I was a skinny young thing, I never wore less than a ladies size 4. And I was too skinny for my build. My bones stuck out a little. Looking at pictures from that time and remembering how I still felt fat, I wonder what was wrong with me. And I see teenage girls walking around with legs that aren't much bigger around than my ARMS, and I seriously wonder what's wrong with THEM. When I was in school, there weren't girls who looked like that, and I'm not 30 yet, so it hasn't been long enough for there to have been a dramatic shift in average size. Even skinny girls didn't look like that. It makes me wonder what these girls must be doing to themselves to MAKE them look like that. It can't be natural or healthy.

The young people and fat thing bothers me too. I mean, parents telling their kids not to eat fatty foods and such. Fat is important in a growing person's diet. No kid under age 6 should drink anything less than whole milk unless they have a medical condition that specifically disallows it. Parents have a responsibility to do what is healthy for their kids, and that means they have a responsibility to KNOW what is healthy for their kids. And not only should parents not be judgemental of their children, I even try very hard not to be judgemental of myself in front of my child. She's young, and doesn't really understand body size issues, but I know that as she grows, if I don't school myself to be cautious of my self-judgement in front of her, it will contribute to her own view of herself. I'm not actually overweight for my size, but I am not happy with my body, and I know I make comments about that. If my daughter grows up thinking that someone who is not overweight is still fat, it will do no end of harm, especially if it is her reasonably healthy and not unattractive mother who says those things.

Apparently the 'average' size of British women is our size 16 that is the same size as Marilyn Munro was.

I am about 14/16 bottom and about 16/18 top. Before my illness I was straining in a size 22 so my currently size is much better for my health and the best thing is that I can now buy clothes in any shop, not just th extra size ones.

Not wore a dress for at least ten years...just about another stone to lose and then I'll try to get one! But sizes are so different from shop to shop!