Why all the bra blogs? UPDATED

I'm a bit of a bra evangelist.  Once I found out I was not a 34D but a 32DDD, and finally had bras that I didn't have to adjust 50x a day, I was a convert.  I resized my daughters from 34A to 30C and 34B to 32DD, and I'm now a 30F myself.  I believe that it's very important for a woman to have the right-sized bra, and unless you've been to a fitting at some place like Nordstrom's or Intimacy (or Bravissimo in the UK), you too may be wearing the wrong-sized bra.  Victoria's Secret (ptooy) does not count, they don't carry a lot of sizes, and will just try to stuff you into what they carry.  Granted, a lot of you ladies are still on the weight-loss path, but don't wait until you're at your goal weight to get a new bunch of bras.  You should buy a few new ones along the way.  Most women will lose inches in the underbust, which means your old bras won't be supportive enough.  A good supportive bra will make you look better in your clothes (even if they are too big now!) and will feel better too!  No more shoulder straps digging in, no more quadraboob, and a lot less back fat when the band isn't drifting up towards your neck in the back! 

Step 1:  A good starting point for a lot of women is measure your underbust.  That's your band size!  I measure 30.5".  Sometimes rounding to the next band (32) is more comfortable, but it's just not supportive enough for me.  DO NOT ADD  4-5"!  If I use those crazy calculators online, I sometimes get sites telling me I'm a 36B. 

Step 2:  Next, measure around your full bust.  Some women can get away with measuring without a bra on and get an accurate measurement.  If that's not you, measure over your best-fitting bra (I measure using a sleep/sports bra, just because I can get away with it).  This will be low for some ladies. My measurement is 37. You can also try bending over and measuring as you are facing the floor. This may give you a measurement that's a little high, but this may be more accurate for some ladies who are wearing a really ill-fitting bra.  My measurement is 41.

Now subtract your underbust measurement from your full-bust measurement.  Each inch difference is one cup size.  I believe cups in the UK go up to L now.

	UK	US	EURO
inches	AA	AA	AA
1	A	A	A
2	B	B	B
3	C	C	C
4	D	D	D
5	DD	DD/E	E
6	E	DDD/F	F
7	F	G	G
8	FF	H	H
9	G	I	J
10	GG	J	K
11	H	K	L
12	HH	L	M
13	J	M	N
14	JJ	N
15	K

So, my difference between the underband and the smaller measurement is 6.5.  I round up to 7, the F cup, because we don't want a cup that is too small!  The other measurement gives me an H (UK).  I know for myself that's way too high, but you should probably end up in something in between these two cups.  The smaller difference is correct for me.

You are still going to have to try bras on to find styles/brands that fit, but you'll at least be in the right ballpark size-wise.  You'll also know if someone is not doing a good job of fitting you.  If a fitter tries to put me in a 36C or anything over a 32, I'll know they are adding those extra inches instead of actually looking to see if the bra is supportive enough!

Be kind to yourself and get fitted and go shopping for new bras!  It's a new year!