welcome to the club!

ps. whatever you do, DO NOT buy those Ipex things, they make your boobs look like shit. no joke.

I get the next size up in the Angel and get one of the IPEX ones, too. The IPEX ends up fitting great, the Angel one gaps a bit in the cups, but the band is fine. I get neither because each bra is close to $50 and their semi-annual sale is in June.

I'm wondering, though, if I'm really a 38D. I've had 36C bras for a while, but the newest ones I've been buying haven't fit the best. But the other thing is that it's that time of the month and maybe I'm just retaining water. I've never been a normal girl when it comes to my periods, what with the irregularity of them (didn't have a period for a year after I briefly went off of birth control) and not having cramps.

I think what I'll do is go back after my period's over to get re-sized. That's the practical side of this post. Here's where the solace part comes in. [cont.]

Victoria's Secret sucks. I'm going to get fitted at a real bra place.

Victoria's Secret is known for giving completely awful bra-fitting and sizing advice. Head to one of the old ladies in the lingerie department at a major department store.

I used to be a size 6 in my shoe size, my dress size and my ring size. Now I'm a 6 1/2 or something like that in shoes, a 12 or 14 in dresses, and something like a 9 in rings. And I know that as far as dresses are concerned, I'm exactly the size of the average American woman, but they also say the average American is obese. This is why I don't own a scale.

So for the longest time, I was secure and happy with the fact that even if I was big in other places, my breasts were "perfectly sized". 36C isn't a scary bra size; it's nice and normal, big enough to entice but not big enough to solicit the bad kind of admiring comments.

But--and please forgive me, O larger chested Team Vag members--I'm not ready to be a size 38D. I don't want or need all the baggage that comes with it. I have enough baggage of my own with being at least 40 pounds heavier than I should be. I like being a curvy girl. I don't think I'm ready for the D club.

Do you think I'm weird for feeling this way?

on preview: TPS--you have a real bra place you can recommend?

Take it from me...don't get measured there.

Teenage girls don't know what they are doing!!

(I love how none of us gave you time to finish your story. Way to go, consolation-givers! Hee.)

It doesn't make any sense that you'd go up in both cup size and band size, really. Especially since you said the cups were gapping -- sounds like maybe you'd want the 38B?

In any event, I wouldn't sweat it too much based on VS measuring.

I'm not sure I've ever been properly fitted. I've been wearing shelf-bra camis and simple sport-bra type things for ages now. I've got one black push-up that kills after a few hours and one everyday nude color proper bra that I wear under white. I wore it yesterday and the wire worked itself out 150 degrees so today I'm back in a cami with a loose sweater.

TrishaLynn, I'm carrying a lot more extra weight than you and NONE of it is going to my boobs and it bums me out. Enjoy it. Embrace it, others want to.

I heard a place called Intimacy is really good for fittings (ok, so I heard it on Oprah); you make an appointment and they take the time to fit you for bras. They're on the expensive side, but I bet it'll be worth it. I'm probably gonna wait another month or two of going to the gym while my boobs continue to shrink.

Meanwhile, I know what you're talking about with sizes- it's hard to let go of a size. I used to be a 6/8, now I'm more of a 4/6, and if I go to a store and the 4 doesn't fit, forget it, I ain't buying it.

On the other hand, the D(D, in my case, at least until I'm refitted) club isn't so bad. You tell the boys your bra size and they love it.

I was recently accosted by a saleslady at VS who insisted on measuring me. She also seemed to enjoy repeatedly barging into my fitting room without knocking.

Anyway, I too am a member of the big boobs club. Let's just say I fit a certain cultural stereotype (see, i.e., Sarah Silverman).

It might not even be that the VS fitters are bad... I just think their bras are poorly made (I'm speaking of large sizes- I went from flat-chested to a C to DD overnight, it seems). They fall apart so quickly and lose their shape. And even last time I was measured and I knew my boobs were smaller and the woman said I was a 34D, the D cup pinched and folded in all the wrong places (I had underarm booby)- I had to wear the DD. Two thumbs down on VS.

Also, I agree with TPS that VS sucks. But they're always enticing me to come back with coupons for free panties, those fiends...

TrishaLynn, try this calculator and see if it tells you the same thing.

A few years ago, my husband bought me lingerie for Christmas, a cup size larger than I usually wore. I pointed it out the mistake and he said, "No. Trust me. You're a C." And damn if the old man wasn't right.

I pretty much forestall these sorts of problems by almost never wearing a bra (if I can even remotely get by with it), or any other torture devices.

So, okay - that isn't really helping you... but I'm not sure I understand the question. You say you've always felt comfortable with your boobs... until now? Until somebody else told you that you are now in a certain other "category" of boobs? Bah.

Ha! Taz gave you a boob bah!

taz: Yes. It's all a body image thing for me, I think, and me wrestling between being comfortable with who I am and who I should be according to "the numbers" and who other people like me to be.

I don't want to be super skinny, I like being curvy. At the same time, I also wouldn't mind being more toned but I don't make enough to go to a gym regularly, which was the only way I was able to lose 15 pounds and gain some muscle back when I was about 21. I also don't make enough money to eat better, and I'm too lazy to come up with my own exercise regimen. It also doesn't help that my male friends like my curviness and tell me that I'm just fine the way I am.

There's a lot of neuroses going on behind these eyes...

TPS--you have a real bra place you can recommend?

Nordstrom! Get thee to a Nordstrom!

(Does your bra ride up in back? Your band size is too big.)

I thought I was a 34C forever, turns out I'm a 32D! Rediculous-sounding size, but now bras are my friends.

And Victoria's Secret sux. Terrible quality.

On preview: I feel compelled to point out that you can eat very healthily for super cheap. Rice, beans, steamed veggies. Boring as hell, but cheap.

(No Nordstrom in NYC, Specklet- isn't that just a crime????)

Ah... well, if this is really more a weight *sigh* than a boob *sigh*, I understand it better. I have to now begin figuring out how to make myself lose weight after spending a whole life not worrying about it; I don't have any skills in this, and I feel betrayed by my body, and sorry for myself...

But I realize that I'm ridiculous. Maybe I'll figure out the middleaged spread and conquer it, or perhaps, like so many brave warriors before me, I'll fail. But the whole attached boob thing will mean nothing to me. I'm bigger now than I used to be (I can't give good number, because I almost never buy bras, but I used to always wear 36B; now, it's European sizes, and I can't even remember what the last size of that I'm supposed to be - but definitely bigger), and that means zero to me in terms of how hot I am or not.

Look, you say that you are obssessed by the numbers... I want to tell you not to spend your youth (well, 'youth' compared to me, anyway) worrying about that, because 1: what a miserable waste of youth, and 2: just wait 'til you start getting old; if you give in to numbers, you'll never survive.

Nothing wrong with being a 38D.

TrishaLynn, you forget that we've seen pictures. We know you're beautiful. :-)

Three cheers for the 'D Club'!

(no, crash, let the 'D Club' cheer for themselves. preferably something with lots of leaping and bouncing)

? NSFW

/python

my friend loves her ipex thing
but i have to say i had no idea how drastic the breast feeding thing could be.

i've changed there as well
up, down
up, down
they could calm down a bit for my liking

Bra measurements are all crazy and full of shit. And every Victoria's Secret bra I ever had fell apart in record time. Also, listen to Taz, for she is wise and knows whereof she speaks.

Nthing the suggestion to get thee to a Nordstrom Trish, or at least a fancy department store fitting place. Unless you are handled and accosted by a woman who looks vaguely like Mrs. Slocombe you'll probably won't wind up getting a good fit. Most Non-Slocombes are pretty ignorant when it comes to self bra-sizing (And I include myself in this group. Did I mention that before I went to Nordstroms for a fitting at about seventeen I thought I was a 38C? Turns out I was off by about two cups sizes. I was/am a pretty stupid kid. Or maybe I was in breast denial.)

Plus as far a shopping for bras, being a D is still a good size to be, since you can still find lots of nice cute bras in the places that everyone else uses. Last year I was downtown and wandered into the VS to see if I could try on one of those ipex thingys. Turns out the supposedly most advanced bra in the world wasn't even made for those who would need a super advanced bra the most. I sometimes even have trouble finding a decent bra at Lane Bryant. Rrgh. But that's a rant for another day.

And yeah, there are a lot of neuroses that come from gaining weight in your boobs. I don't know what to really say about that, except that some days you'll love it, and some days you'll hate it.

On preview: This winter break I walked into my hometown's VS looking for a job application, and the entire staff consisted of people I had graduated with last June. Make of that what you will.

My women friends tell me VS bras are crap.

I wind up going to Penney's usually. A lot of these department stores will advertise a "bra expert" who comes in periodically to do fittings.

As to size I wonder if brand names have anything to do with it. And not to assume anything, but if there is a possibility you could be pregnant one of the first things that happens is enlarged breasts.

bunnyfire: I'm on the Pill and as noted above, it's period week.

I don't like VS either. And their "seamless" line is not seamless at all. But recently on travel to Italy I tried La Perla. I mean it's disgustingly expensive but oh! mi! god! so nice. Only that they don't have their best styles in cupsize C. Seriously. Only up to B. And the clerk told me (in a straight face) that Italian women are B-sized. Seriously!

also, Trisha, before and during period week some women get enlarged breasts (water) so don't get disappointed just yet.

MGL: I'm actually a VS-fan because years ago I bought a Body by Victoria bra and it fit perfectly. I don't dry my bras in the machine anymore, but I also don't hand wash them (again, because I'm lazy). That black bra has gone through so many cycles with the result being only minor breakage in elasticity around the band. Two Penney's bras I had that I also liked didn't fare so well and the underwire fell out of both of them.

TL, consider yourself lucky that they aren't bigger.

Finding a 38D isn't too bad - at least you can get VS bras. I have to scour the whole mall three times to find a bra in my size. If I'm lucky, I'll find one ugly-ass bra, tucked away behind four thousand equally ugly bras that are a cup size or two too small. These engineering marvels are usually hidden away someplace awful like Sears.

I haven't made the leap to buying them online yet, just because they tend to be pricey. But I think once I get settled in my new apt, it's online all the way. Fuck Sears and their old lady bras!

sasshat: Oh, believe me when I say that I understand the plight of the larger woman because many of my other pixel and RL friends have the same kinds of bra problems. And I'm not belitting your problem by only complaining about being one size larger than I used to be. I hope you do understand that.

Like I told taz above, it's a numbers thing and a "wow, that totally snuck up on me" thing.

Man, I could read this stuff all day.

i noticed one was larger than the other from watching it in a film.
talk about sneaking up.
it's the right one.
ever since then it mocks me.

You know, TL, the only time since shortly after puberty that I haven't been a D was when I was running marathons. Then I was a C.

You just have to try the damn things on, though. Bra sizes aren't any more consistent than other kinds of sizes.

I have Something To Say on this topic.

First off, when you go to a Nordstrom (which is a good idea if you're near one) they fit you by having you try on Wacoal brand bras. Apparently they're the only brand that reliably runs true to size. They're also $60 bucks a piece, it's worth it to me for the glorious cantilevering effect but if not for you then just note the size that fit.

Also, there's nothing wrong with being a 38D (or, you know...38DD). If you're carrying a little extra weight, the boob size kind of offsets the waist thickening so you have close to same proportions you did when you were thinner. See? We win!