Dr. Travis Stork: It’s your health in the headlines today and our next topic is something I’ve heard a lot of women complain about, ‘vanity sizing.’ So, explain this to us.

Dr. Lisa Masterson: Well, it’s all slippery slip but basically, it’s putting smaller sizes on bigger clothes. So, someone may think they’re size zero when really, they’re size two or four, or the opposite, they may think, “Oh! I’m actually fitting into a size eight” when really, it’s a size ten. Now, this is a size eight and this is a size eight.

Dr. Travis Stork: All right, I’m a size eight, so I’m going to try this on.

Dr. Lisa Masterson: Okay. So, that’s one eight.

Dr. Travis Stork: Now, the size eight can’t get a little cozy.

Male: Yeah.

Dr. Travis Stork: Don’t hurt circulation.

Male: Travis, you’re not a size eight.

Dr. Lisa Masterson: You might hurt something.

Dr. Travis Stork: If I zip this up, my voice would go up to this.

Dr. Lisa Masterson: Yeah, exactly.

Dr. Travis Stork: So, these are both size eight.

Dr. Lisa Masterson: These are both size eight.

Dr. Travis Stork: And is this supposed to be bigger?

Dr. Lisa Masterson: And different companies. So, that should be larger. That should be a more of a true size eight.

Male: So, it should be easier to get on?

Dr. Lisa Masterson: Yeah and you know, the thing is, I really think women shouldn’t have their self-esteem wrapped up in the size of their clothes and I think that’s really where it comes down to. You see! Those are bigger. You look great!

Now, the problem is, health wise, are we leading people to say, it’s still okay to be overweight or tricking them or making them think that they’re actually losing weight. People may think they may have lost weight when they really haven’t because of the difference in size.

Dr. Travis Stork: This is such a huge issue. If I told you on average after the age of 18 how many pounds an average woman gains per year, I think you maybe a little shocked, 2.2 pounds per year and there’s a reason for that. It’s because if you do nothing, your metabolism is going to slow 5% every decade. So, maybe in your 20s, that’s 100 extra calories a day, you’re not burning off. In your 30s, it may be 200 extra calories a day. So, if you don’t make any adjustments, you’re putting on weight and then you’re trying on clothes that are a fake vanity sizing, you may not even realize what’s taking place and this is true for men as well. The reason that this is such a major issue is you can be putting on 10, even 20 extra pounds a year without changing anything because slowly what happens is your body changes its ratio of lean muscle mass to fat and it’s a vicious cycle because the fat slows your metabolism.

So, the more weigh you put on, the slower your metabolism, the more weight you put on, the slower your metabolism, that’s how we do the 2.2 pounds per year. It happens to both men and women in that 5% statistic I gave that your metabolism drops 5% per decade. That is not written stone. That is if you do nothing. Believe it or not, if you do resistance training, if you bike, if you walk, you’ll decrease that drop off, you can actually increase your metabolism as you get older if you increase your lean muscle mass.

Dr. Lisa Masterson: But you know there’s one way to gain like 40 or 50 pounds without doing anything.

Dr. Travis Stork: Well, you have to do something.

Dr. Lisa Masterson: You do have to do something and that’s pregnancy.