Athenas, tell me about your wetsuit.

I wear an orca wetsuit, and love it, but it has a pretty straight fit.  It feels snug enough in the shoulders but never roomy at the waist or hips. 

I'd always heard that ProMotion was a good brand for bigger-hipped women.  Sorry it doesn't fit you well now, but maybe another one with a size up could be your "off year" wetsuit?  Just an idea...whatever you decide, it pays to try before you buy, so shop around your local Tri Shops. 

Happy shopping, -Sunny 

I have a Zoot full, women's XL. I love it!  We are about the same size although I carry more weight in my 'top half'--I do have very muscular legs and my rear is far from small.  Pix if you are interested, although none are of me actually doing a tri--it's a goofy photo shoot:  http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/photos/photo-thumbnails.asp?albumid=7860 .

Keep us posted as to what you find!

ok, other sex chiming in. I have been working on a review for BT on wetsuits. A quick glance at my numbers, and you might want to consider a DeSoto 2 peice suit. The reason I suggest it is the are a great suit for disproportionate people. You can get say a size 5 for a bottom and a 4 on top, or what ever the sizes would be. You look like a size 5 based off just weight and height issues, but check the site. Plus the T1 suits are VERY stretchy.

I also reviewed F2R, NeoSport and ProMotion full suits for this review. F2R looks like they might work off the shelf. You could get into a mens cut for NeoSport it looks like. If you liked the ProMotion, you could go back to them. One of the things I liked about them was they offer the ability to custom fit new wet suits for hard to fit people. It is extra, but a good fit is so important.

Either way, I reviewed all these companies because they were Clysdale friendly. They all want the suits to fit, so give them a call, or at least hit there web sites.

BTW, you are getting a sneek preview with this post. This is an extream readers digest of my next 6 videos comming up.

Most of the info I have came off of each companies websites, but feel free to ask more detailed questions, as long as you are willing to take a guys point of view

A trick I recently learned is to put your feet into a plastic bag before putting them into the wetsuit--then the suit slips over easily--it might make a suit that was hard to get on a better option.

While we are on the topic of easy on, here's an easy off for a full suit.  Unzip in the water, dip down and fill the top with water and pull from the neck--the water pulls the arms and top off easily, and by the time you hit T1, all the remaining water in the suit is in the legs so they slide off quick, too.  Try it before a race, though!

I cut the bottoms off the legs and arms in order to make it easier to get on and off. I wear the entry level Orca suit (£99), but in a man's size because the women's suits don't come big enough for me. It's pretty tight on the hips but fits well everywhere else. I'm 5'11" and about 200lbs.