BMI approaching obese

Do people say this to derail from the truth?

Or because they also want to fill the bingo card up too.

At my height the difference between being normal weight and obese is about 2 stone. Obese no longer just means a Hattie Jaques sort of size, the definition has changed.

There was another thread like this recently.

Obese isn't as enormous as people seem to think it is. We've become desensitised due to so many people being overweight.

Ut doesn't. It goes up to morbidly obese

Theres a massive range within a healthy BMI, how do you not know this?

I'm slightly shorter than you and was 12st12lbs a month ago. I wear a size 12 and didn't feel "obese" but the scales don't lie. I'm now losing weight as I do not want to be obese and it's not good for your health.

And that’s why there’s a range within the “healthy” category: to be a healthy BMI at my height I can be anywhere between 8st 6lbs - 11st 7lbs - a whole three stone which accounts for different body shapes and big boobs and lots of muscle and solid bones and all the other things which women say means that BMI “doesn’t work” for them.

I personally wouldn't put too much faith in BMI as it doesn't take account a lot of factors or that people have different body shape.

I've spent the last few years teetering just under the overweight threshold. While some of that is made of muscle and therefore more helpful to health than not, the bit extra is on my waist, and not beneficial. It makes my body heavier and slower. Not a health disaster in itself, but weight has a habit of creeping up and I'm getting to the age zone where that gains momentum so it's not a trend I want to continue. Meanwhile I haven't changed clothes size. Some more structured clothes from 15+ years ago are looking snug. More stretchy ones are fine with a lot more inches to go. I'm currently in loose, stretchy size 8 trousers that could see me through to being noticably rotund in the middle (exagerated by being short). Based on comfort of my everyday clothes, I could easily be significantly overweight and still in size 8-10/ S of selected garments.Meanwhile my vintage size 10s with a 26" waist are long gone.

If I said to most people I knew that I was within a couple of lb of being overweight, they'd either roll around laughing or take it personally.

But it's not a value judgement, it's just a fact that I'm around the point of having more abdominal fat than I require for good health, and I prefer to stay in that optimal zone and maintain it than to continue gaining over time.

It is very easy to have more surplus fat than you need and overlook it for a good while. Nationally 63.8% of adults now are overweight or obese. It is "normal". BMI of 20-24.9 is less common than 25+ and more so as adults get older, or by neighbourhood. It's not an easy topic to discuss in RL, it gets very emotive, and it is a sensitive topic to face up to and easy to ignore until it is a bigger issue to manage.

I worked in retail in the sixties, I was a size 10 then, still a size 10 despite being two stone heavier. Sizing is definitely much bigger. If I make a pair of trousers I have to cut a 14, dress patterns reflect ones actual measurements.

I think it's a shame obese as a term goes from BMI to infinity. The other categories have limits.

It's a medical term. That's all.

I was a 16 at 5ft 9 when my BMI was obese briefly.... It is hard to quantify sometimes. I'm now just 6lbs over healthy BMI but I don't think I look overweight or maybe I'm just deluded.

It is hard to tell! And obese is such a loaded term

The poster I replied to say they fall into the overweight category.

Its not really for you to say whether their being overweight will or wont cause them weight related health issues.

It’s an unhealthy weight and you have too much fat. I say this as someone who had the same wake up call at 37 I was 5’4” and 12st 3. You prob need to lose 2 stone and I recommend intermittent fasting (there are FB groups) and strength training. I’m headed for 50 now and have kept the weight off with these methods although in peri menopause it’s not easy. I don’t know how old you are but trust me it gets harder over 45😖

But did size 6 even exist in those days? It sounds like shops didn't stock anything below a size 10 back then.

My point is that if you're a size 8-10 in any UK shop, you are very unlikely to have weight-related health issues.

Whats your issue exactly?

Snap!
We've lost sight of what a healthy weight is - check
Vanity sizing, size 12 now would have been a 32 in the 1980s - check
If someone could comment on carbs or portion sizes that would be great...

Obesity is not a moral judgement. It's a simple medical fact.

Super market clothes are huge…

My waist measurement on the tape measure is a size 18, yet Im buying 14s and 16s

Come off it - a size 8-10 is not going to be obese, even at marks and spencer.
^
M&S sizing has crept up a huge amount over the years.

I have a suit that I bought back in 1998.
The skirt is a size 12 and yet today the waist is the same as a size 6 M&S Chinos.^

M&S does fit large. I would say 1 size up, while next is either true to size or fits small. I wish all had same bloody sizing🙄