fitspo boobs

I have talked at length before about the minefield that is being a chubby chick who lifts and doesn’t want to lose fat/get lean. Back when I used to read a lot of lifting/fitness blogs, a trope that came up time & time again was that women might not want to lift/get lean, because leanness means smaller boobs. The refrain from those bloggers was usually that abs > boobs; and lower body fat = health, which is allegedly a better payoff than the joys of big boobs. I’d respectfully disagree, for myself personally, as I won’t deny that one of the reasons I don’t want to get lean (along with sheer laziness) is that I like my boobs & I think I look pretty good at 30% bodyfat.

Probably not surprisingly, I get a lot of hits on my blog from people searching for boobs. In fact, probably 40% of my hits are boob-related.

So in the spirit of giving the public what they want, let’s talk about boobs – guided by some of my blog hits.

big boobs fitspo

So yes, I am large of boob. I have always been large of boob, and honestly, it’s not something that has ever bothered me. I never liked wearing button-down shirts anyhow.

There are a lot of myths about having big boobs that seem to endure – that they’ll inevitably give you backache; that only larger boobs sag; that they will prevent you from exercising etc. In my experience, none of these are true.

For starters, life with large breasts is 100x easier if you have one thing nailed down: wearing the right bra. Not even just the right sized bra, but one which fits your breast & body shape. If you’re currently struggling with uncomfortable bras, feel at the end of the day that you just can’t wait to rip your bra off, have backache and/or shoulder pain, then take some time to check out the many bra bloggers around these days. Don’t rely on getting a bra fitted at Marks & Spencers (or other department store where they wield a tape measure).

My favourite bra bloggers are Fuller Figure Fuller Bust, Curvy Wordy, Thin and Curvy and Weirdly Shaped and Well Photographed. There are loads more out there if you have a good Google. These ladies really know their stuff regarding bra size, breast shape and bra types. There’s so much more to it than just size – boobs can be shallow, top/bottom heavy; shoulders can be narrow or wide-set; and all these things make a huge difference to how your bra fits & feels.

With regards to sagging: I’m afraid, IME, boobs tend to sag whether they’re large or small. Sure, the effect of gravity means larger ones might seem more likely to, but a few visits to the communal changing rooms at your local swimming pool will reveal that pretty much all boobs succumb to its effects eventually. And guess what? It’s natural. No, it might not be desirable (to our Western ideals anyhow), but nature’s a bitch like that.

As for not being able to do some exercises: this is true, to an extent. There are two things I can’t do easily – one is upright rows with a bar (my boobs just get in the way); and the other is a shoulder stand (my boobs sort of fall onto my windpipe and I can’t breathe). Everything else, though, is fine – I can live without those two. Sprinting? Yes, it’s possible; you just have to (wait for it) wear the right bra.

booty and small boobs fitspo

This is, of course, another perfectly cool configuration. In fact it seems to be the default one. Rock on, my small-boobed sisters! (But do it in a good bra.)

32ff selfie

I am a 32FF. FF, eh? My boobs must be THE SIZE OF MARS! Except they’re not.

You see, there’s no such thing as “FF-cup” boobs. Or “DD-cup” boobs. Or even “A-cup” boobs. Why? Because band size is as important as cup size.

I’m going to refer to George’s excellent posts about bra sizing, here (and steal a few of her pictures).

Take a look at this picture:

Image via Fuller Figure Fuller Bust, from Curvy Kate

Yes, both of those women are wearing D+ cup bras. The bras are by Curvy Kate (who I recommend highly!) who only make bras in a D-K cup. Do they look like D cups to you? The secret is in the band size. As band size decreases, cup size decreases too – so the cup on a 38D and the cup on a 28D (which these women likely are) are very, very different sizes.

Here are some other great images of D & DD cup women:

Image via Fuller Figure Fuller Bust; originally created by Lobby Biuściastych/Stanikomani

And finally, G cup women (the band sizes are European, so e.g. a 65G is a 30G in UK sizing):

Image via Fuller Figure Fuller Bust; originally created by Lobby Biuściastych/Stanikomani

OK, these ladies all have ample bosoms, but we’re not talking BOOBS THE SIZE OF MARS, are we? So if you’re someone who thinks that anyone over a DD cup has hilariously over-inflated comedy boobs, or is a virtual cripple, think again.

I do find it irritating when women in the public eye mislead us on the size of their boobs. For example, the lovely Coco Austin (I’m a huge fan!) has her measurements on various websites as a 39D or 34E. Looking at the images above, do you think that’s right? For starters, her back is tiny, far smaller than mine – and I wear a 32 back. Secondly, a 39 back size doesn’t exist anyway. Thirdly, those implants are much more than a DD or E.

Back in ye olden days I used to do web development for an “adult entertainment” company (hey, porn sites need web devs too!) and even then the bra size mislabelling annoyed me. There seemed to be this idea that models could only be labelled a DD/DDD at most, so once they were obviously beyond that, the magazines & websites would add inches to their back sizes (no matter what size the model was wearing in her daily life!). So you’d wind up with a very petite model, with a tiny back & large implants, being labelled a “40DDD”. No, no and no!

Please, media, can we have some realistic bra sizes used? If nothing else, it’s going to make women who do wear DD+ bras feel less, well, freakish.

So there you have it. If you think big boobs are a barrier to exercise – they’re not, you just have to work with what you’ve got. And if you think DD+ boobs are comedy melons, maybe I’ve helped change your mind (or not; I guess the idea of “big boobs” is pretty arbitrary – if you think anything over an A is big, then so be it).

As for my favourite bras – personally I couldn’t live without Freya, Curvy Kate and Fantasie. My sports bra of choice is the Freya moulded sports bra (seriously, I can leap about in this thing and my boobs stay put). Hopefully I’ll review a few more sports bras on here in the next few months.

And finally, here’s me & my boobs, Google boob hounds. Happy Googling.