General

What stores are you shopping at?

American clothing sizes at the mall are quite diverse these days.

Ignoring stores that specifically cater to plus-sized women like Torrid, you can find clothes for the size 18+ crowd. JCPenny, Belk, Kohl's, and Dillard's have clothes up to size 24. Places like Torrid have up to size 6X.

I think you're both right, but stores like Kohl's and JC Penny are more department stores than "mall" clothing stores like H&M, Forever 21, etc... that have focus on the juniors section and top out before the bigger plus sizes. That being said, I think those stores have bigger sizes than they did a generation ago just because Americans are bigger, and obviously plus size specific stores are a thing.

If you are going to talk about places like H&M and Forever 21, I wouldn't use them as a benchmark for BBW-dom. I'm a thick and curvy woman. I rock a size 12, and I have DD cups. I am too small to wear plus-sized clothing.

Yet I avoid those stores because I know the clothes will be too tight in all the worst places. My thighs are thick, my hips are wide, and I am one flex away from shredding some of those sleeves.

I don't think anyone would categorize me as a BBW.

Great?

You're missing the point. Stores like the ones you are brought up are so fatphobic that they will label you as too fat for their clothes without you even being fat. So, they cannot be a reliable benchmark for anything.

That doesn’t make Kohl’s a “mall clothing store” anymore than Walmart is a mall clothing store. Kohl’s sells bedding and blenders. It’s a lower end department store. Department stores cater to plus sizes/big and tall a little more than mall fast fashion.

But sure, fast fashion isn’t usually known as being a good fit for a wide range of body types. Not a single person is arguing that.

Since this is a international page, the store example will never work
Since different places even big companies like H&M will carry different stuff and sizes !
I life in Germany and if you can’t get clothes from H&M oder other major stores u def. Had more that one cheeseburger maxi meal stored around your midesection before entered that category!

BMI is I think for most people not to bad!

Below a bmi of 30 it’s difficult to say since u can look fat and out of shape but also have a muscular build short legs.
So bmi 23-30 is a mix of normal, fit, chubby curvy !

BBW- to me it’s the point were you get fat !
Meaning there is no way hiding all that body with “good” clothing etc.
so bmi 30-35 is a good common ground
- for a Person that is 5 f 7 inches or 170cm that would make a weight of 190-220
Deppending on the distribution and overall build !
So most of the def are not far of 🤝

Ssbbw and USSBBW is harder to define and are more an adult entertainment related therm at leat to me.

Weight ranges are even more difficult since it comes even more down to distbution build height and all the other factors
SSBBW to me is when you exceed one kilo per cm of height —> so 170 cm 170 kg
5,7 and 375 pounds

USSBBW 500-600 pounds but not sure if I have seen one in real life

It’s tough shopping when your double if not triple the size of most normal sizes women get it particularly bad because even the plus size stores cut it off at size 24

Id say like I said before that bbw/ssbbw have more to do with body fat displacement than a bmi or set weight, maybe it’s closer to bmi but someone with a toned yet big muscley body gonna have a pretty high bmi being that muscle is heavier than fat. Belly fat and how the weight settles on the body are big factors

These classifications are like trying to accurately guess someone's weight on sight or a picture. Impossible. Just too many unknown factors, muscle mass, body composition or bone density and everyone carries and distributes fat differently.

Clothing stores is the worst indicator, imo. Fashion world is notoriously unkind, unhinged, unflattering to plus sizes and refuse to even provide women functional pockets! Sizes and fits can vary from one store or brand to the next. BMI was never designed to be an indicator of health let alone accurately measure obese individuals. Weight and height can look very different on multiple people in 200 pound range, from curvy, stocky, plump to downright fat. I'm kinda short and didn't look or feel very fat at 200+...

However I accept 200 a minimum requirement for a BBW given they've got a bit of belly with their curves. Not chubby plus size like 12\14\16 at least 18 or into the 20\22\24... Heavyset, plump to chubby fat should count too. Maybe by 300 you could say I'm entering into Bonafide BBW territory, undeniably fat... impossible to hide round shape or disguise my apron belly. Looking around to see you are the fattest person in the room or realizing your bigger than someone else you'd consider a BBW. I've also broken down several seats on couches I frequent, mine, a friends and dad commented about cushion of their loveseat recently.

As for when you can classify someone a SSBBW 400+ or 450? Personally think that line in even more of a gray area, but you might be in the range if; shop almost exclusively online for 4x or 5x encounter constant reminders your too big to sit comfortably almost anywhere, including your car. Standard office chairs, restaurant seating, movie theaters are a squeeze or worry if some furniture will support weight. Not just fattest in the room but whole workplace, an entire staff, including different shifts. The fattest person almost anywhere you go, even at a Fair, buffets or among other BBWs you are noticably fatter. It's rare to clock anyone your size and sometimes months pass or even just a handful of times over past year you've encountered anyone bigger while out day to day.

I also think this range is larger, goes beyond 600 up to 700 and USSBBW is a rarity, even around FF. Beyond morbidly obese to immobile and bed-bound, fat isn't just a partial handicap but has physically become too much to function. 800 minimum to 900 and breaking world records or qualify for Guinness.

Its not exclusively about numbers, on scale clothing tags or public opinion but more individualized standards. Daily interactions with our environments and levels of difficulty fitting into those environments we encounter. Be it your own physical limitations or worrying about weight capacity and seating options, how being fat affects your life.

I don't know if there's an actual source out there, but I've always heard that BBW is anywhere from 140 to 350, SSBBW is 350 to 600, and USSBBW is 600+. What's now, there's the 400/500/600/700/800/900 clubs, where the person has reached that weight. That one comes from Dimensions magazine back in the stone age, I think. At least, that's always been where I've seen people comfortable taking the title.

Otherwise, it's realistically whatever you decide it means. A person could say that their waist measurement is 68" and they are an SSBBW, and they weigh 300 pounds. That measurement would certainly be in line with other SSBBWs and SSBHMs despite the weight being lower.

So to answer the question... it depends.