>>32428That is correct. The terms were developed largely by the women themselves, to try to give a general identification for being a certain size in life. At least traditionally, it was:
BBW - Big enough to be treated like the “fat friend”; have to shop in the plus size section
SSBBW - Too big to shop for clothes in brick-and-mortar stores; have to plan outings around seating (chairs/benches with no arms and/or securely built); rare to not be the biggest person in the room
USBBW - This came later, but was meant to describe a size where getting around at all / leaving the house is a challenge, and clothing options are crazy limited—think the beginning of My 600lb Life stories or Echo
Obviously, different people slide in and out of these categories at different weights depending on their particular heights and body types, but it’s helpful to think of it more as a way of identifying how weight impacts what life is like.