What would be considered a fat size in UK?

Reading up on past forums left me curious. Is a US size 12 considered to be big/overweight there? What would be considered big?

isn't the average UK size a 16?? so a 12 would be a UK 14...I've noticed through work that most women are tipping the UK 22 dress size. When I sold dresses the quickest sellers were the dresses over the size 16.

I don't personally know any British women who wear anywhere near a size UK 22!! Most of the women I know are in despair if they have get size 12.

I think there are more ''chubby'' women here in my are of the UK (northeast) than in my last area of the US...what I call normal size since I would fit into that catagory!    but very few obese women here. So...I would say most here that I see are UK12-16. Of course, there are some very slim women too. The thing I have noticed is that many women here are much smaller on top than compared to their middle and lower parts, narrower shoulders and small arms etc. Just body shapes I guess.

If you're worried about ''being fat'' here, well, one thing I have noticed personally is that there isn't so much a ''stigma'' if you're an adult woman and are not a US size 4-8...I think that is seen as a bit ''abnormal.'' For good or bad, lots of women in my area ''let it all hang out'' even though in the US they would be classified as fat!

The thing I have noticed is that many women here are much smaller on top than compared to their middle and lower parts, narrower shoulders and small arms etc. Just body shapes I guess.

Yes, I've noticed that too... women here are often pear shaped. Interesting observation lol! I think women are prouder to be curvier, and ample chests are definitely something people flaunt because being big on top is something that's very celebrated here, no matter how "curvy" the rest of you is. (Too bad for me, I'm not exactly huge... lol.) But strangely enough there's also a larger proportion of skinny, model-type women here than you'd find in the US -- and geally's right, although there are alot of chubby women, it's rare to see anyone actually obese, whereas it's pretty common in the US.

My SIL is a 22...and last chrimbo my co workers were talking about where they got their dresses from and sizing. Pants! I can't find the article about the average Britton size. We were discussing about the rise in childhood diabetes....

No idea on the 'fat size' question, but I would concur with some of the other posts.  I'm definitely a fat size at UK 22/24 thereabouts.  My impression is that British men are boobie crazy though -- so I see loads of cleavage flaunted about everywhere -- women that have it & women that don't who are wearing bras to push what they have up & out.

I don't personally know any British women who wear anywhere near a size UK 22!! Most of the women I know are in despair if they have get size 12.

You may not, but there are plenty of them. Besides, a UK 22 is only a US 18/20. And depending upon your height and build, not necessarily seriously 'fat'.

I think I'm going to bow out of this thread... it has the potential to get me a bit riled up...

I wasn't trying to rile anyone, just stating that I don't know any. Come to think of it, there are two ladies where I work who are quite hefty; I would say they wear far larger than a UK22. But they're the only two I can think of, and both are in late 50s early 60s.

Hey, I wore a US 18/20 most of my adult life, so don't get me wrong!!

Sorry Carla, I think I'm having a PMS moment!! I know I'm overweight but when people start trying to define what is and isn't 'fat' I get a bit irritable! 

when people start trying to define what is and isn't 'fat' I get a bit irritable!

LOL Amen to that. Fat is relative, I am a US 8-10 depending on what I wear sometimes a 12, I am fat in my circle of friends, they are size 0-2! In my head I've always been fat and always will even when I was two sizes smaller, just a body image thing. I get the question, but really who cares what is "fat" and what isn't, shouldn't it be more about healthy and happy?

shouldn't it be more about healthy and happy?

Precisely. And I can say this, if I were a size 0-2, I wouldn't have my husband. He can't stand women that skinny. He calls them 'breakable women'. He knows I need to lose weight for my health but he's quite happy with my hourglass curves!

  And I can say this, if I were a size 0-2, I wouldn't have my husband. He can't stand women that skinny. He calls them 'breakable women'. 

I have to fight the urge to give them a sandwich.   I've always been bemused by the idea of a size '0' -- if you're zero, wouldn't that mean that you're essentially invisible?

I was a UK 12 when I moved here. I just lost about 20lbs though. Now, 2 kids later, Im a UK 16 and I really dont feel fat at a size 16 despite what the scales say. I think us larger women are made to seem fat because most the stores only carry sizes up to 16 or at the most 18. Recently I went to FCUK and wouldnt be able to get one leg or boob into anything they had in that entire store!
Whats the average size of women in the USA? 14/16?

I think so Pebbles.

My favorite though is that stupid Liz Hurley... she saw Marilyn Monroe's famous white dress in a museum or something and commented that she'd 'kill herself if she were that fat'!! WTF?? If I'm not mistaken, Monroe was a US 14!!