This suit helped my daughter drop significant time when she returned back to competitive swim after taking about a year off. My daughter is about 5'5 and weighs about 145 pounds. She usually wears a size 30 in most suits. I bought her a size 28 and that seemed to work well for her. She is curvy and has a larger bottom than top, so I knew that she would really struggle with a 26. It took her about a half hour to get it on the first couple of times she wore the suit. The top part did stretch out a bit, after wearing it a few times, but like I said, she is much smaller on top. Customers who complain about the suit stretching out after a few wears don't understand how tech suits work. Unfortunately, tech suits generally only last a few meets. That's why swimmers should only wear them for really important meets. My daughter has worn hers for 3 meets now, so the suit probably only has another 1 or 2 meets left in it. I just purchased her another for Christmas (great cyber Monday deal!!!) to get her through high school regionals, states and then year round championship meets.. This is a really great suit for the price. It's also Fina approved, which matters if you are competing at a high level.