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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

How much does your size/weight bother you?

181 replies

AllAboutJazz · 05/11/2024 20:49

I'd say I'm healthy, fairly fit and active.

I make a lot of effort to cook healthy meals, drink green tea (blugh), avoid processed food etc. I'm not thin, but not exactly fat either, just...plump? BMI 22.5 but I'm short, so I could stand to lose a stone.

I own my house and have a business, really love my job, have a few friends who are lovely, a great partner and freedom to more or less do as I please - a very lucky life.

Why then am I so unhappy not being thin? It's like I can't let myself be happy, because I should be smaller.

How often do you think about your size/weight? How much does it affect your happiness?

OP posts:
Beezknees · 05/11/2024 22:20

I'm overweight. I was slim until I was 28 then piled it on for some reason, my eating habits haven't changed so I guess it's just getting older.

It bothers me sometimes but not enough to seriously attempt weight loss I guess as I've been this way for 6 years now. I seem to have stagnated at my current weight. I'm a size 14/16 and 5'4. I don't feel physically unfit, I don't have a car so I do loads of walking. I know being overweight is not great for your health and I do worry about diabetes sometimes. I'm not sure at what point I'll decide enough is enough to be honest.

Newnameahoy · 05/11/2024 22:18

Constantly. Every single day!

I was a bit bigger than the size I am now around 9 years ago, I then accidentally lost 6+ stone in 8 months and kept it off for a while (through pregnancy and baby days - I expanded a couple of years later!) During that period....acknowledged I was smaller but was still miserable with my body. Still saw only bad things and that was that. Nothing changed. I wasn't happier.

I'm now bigger again, I still hate my appearance with a passion.

I have come to the conclusion that perhaps I'm just a bit odd, I just accept that I hate what I look like. I avoid the mirror like the plague for the shoulders below as it sends me into a tail spin and focus on wearing clothes I like (wacky taste....long term) that I feel comfortable in.

I will not ever like my body, I'll never be happy with it. Big, small, wide, slight....even my feet are bizarre coming in at a men's size 11, I have learned it's better to just try and find ways to deal with it and sort of accept it

coxesorangepippin · 05/11/2024 22:14

I refuse to drink green tea and crappy faux healthy food

I eat smaller portions and try and move a lot

coxesorangepippin · 05/11/2024 22:12

Bothers me enormously

I'm around a size ten

It's a constant preoccupation

I look 5/7 years younger at a size ten

I've been 14 stone and the world was honestly a different place

thicklysettled · 05/11/2024 22:09

Yes. I'm 5'10 and a size 20. I was away on a trip this weekend that involved a lot of walking. My hips ached and I saw myself on some photos. I'm barrel-shaped. It was actually a shock to see myself as others must see me. (I'd always told myself I was "curvy" but I'm not. I'm fat.)

I'm US and tonight I shall be drinking a lot as I wait up to watch the Presidential election results. But tomorrow things have to change.

Ineedwinenow · 05/11/2024 22:08

I weigh 8st 12 pounds and 5'4 I have a BMI of 21, I think about my body and weight all the time, it's always there in my head, I have an eating disorder which I've had for 13 years, and starting to have oesophagus problems,

It's a lonely miserable place to be but it all stems from the fact food and weight is the only thing in my life I can control plus the need for looking slim as I was once a size 18 -20 and worried of being back there as I had severe health problems when I was that size, I also think I have body dysmorphia as I think I look like an average size 12-14 but I'm a 8-10 so to me other woman who wear my size look a lot slimmer than I do??

Isitfridayyetsophie · 05/11/2024 22:07

I’m happy with my weight at the moment, I never really struggled with my weight until after pregnancy.

I was a skinny teenager, I modelled in my late teens and early 20s which definitely didn’t help my body image. I remember my agent saying I could do with losing a few pounds, at the time I was 5ft 9 and 8 stone 7, my pelvis was protruding! I got to a size 12 post pregnancy which felt huge to me (objectively I know it’s not) but I really hardcore dieted for 6-9 months to lose the weight. I am finding it harder to keep off now though, I always feel a bit hungry and can generally hear brownies screaming for me at every coffee shop I walk past. If there’s treats in the house they’re eaten immediately, so I just don’t buy them. Anyway, I hate that I’m always wondering how tight or loose my trousers feel and I hate that I just can’t eat what I want when I want. But it’s sort of my way of life now 🤷‍♀️

stayathomer · 05/11/2024 22:07

Not hugely anymore, I’m a size 12/14 with small boobs, decent legs but a huge belly proportionately (had scopes etc to figure it out), that I’ve gotten down in the past by cutting out food I loved (basically if I stop eating bread cereal and pasta) and being tired and always cranky. I’ve known two people with very large food issues in the last few years and currently my 2 teen sons aren’t eating enough so it’s shown me obsession over weight is one of the world’s most useless fights

Dita73 · 05/11/2024 22:03

It bothers me every minute of every day and has done for over 35 years. I’m not overweight but I certainly feel it and despise the way I look to the point where I can’t have mirrors in my house

thenewaveragebear1983 · 05/11/2024 22:03

My bmi is the same as yours @AllAboutJazz and I too feel miserable about my size and the overall 'look' of my body. I never feel nice in clothes, I never think I look nice or slim, it makes me genuinely unhappy. I have constant 'food noise' and think about food all the time, and I feel like I have no power to override it. I run a lot and work out and it's probably the only way I maintain my (just) normal bmi. It's really exhausting and sometimes I just get really pissed off snd stampy about it, because I can't actually eat small enough amounts to lose any weight. So I just bumble along losing a few, gaining a few, and just being miserable about it.

Icanttakethisanymore · 05/11/2024 22:03

WateryBottle · 05/11/2024 21:24

It consumes my every waking moment. I’m either stressed because I’m hungry or stressed because I’ve eaten.

I'm a size 10/12

i used to feel like this, until I took up a sport I really enjoyed and started eating to fuel my body instead of feeling like I was at war with myself all the time. it’s been years and I don’t have time to do the sport much anymore because I have a baby and a toddler (although I try and be as active as I can) but I have managed to hang onto the mindset.

I hope you manage to find some peace of mind.

Iwantmybed · 05/11/2024 22:01

I've never been slim, I'm an emotional binge eater and have been since my teens. Never been happy about it but unable to make a positive change. DH is naturally slim and takes no pleasure from food. I've been a size 20, 15st at my highest. I'm now 2st lighter and just started mounjaro to lose the last 3st. I'm so excited at the thought of being a normal size at last.

Completelyjo · 05/11/2024 21:58

I honestly never think about my weight.
If I’m being critical it would be that I lose tone in my belly incredibly easily and still having a young baby it’s softer than I would like.
I don’t have scales and haven’t weighed myself since I was a teen, but I obviously have a fairly accurate sense of size based on clothing fits.

MidnightMeltdown · 05/11/2024 21:54

My BMI is currently 23.2

I was reasonably happy until the NHS decided to update their bmi calculator to put this in the overweight category! 🤦‍♀️.

Now I think I could do with losing a stone...

hby9628 · 05/11/2024 21:51

I've recently lost a stone went away this weekend and was determined not to eat crap but I did. More than having extra weight, I get annoyed with myself that I don't eat well consistently.

I've still got a stone to lose & now probably another couple of pounds from being silly last week. It's constant and tedious and more annoying that I was really in the zone & feeling better about myself & it's hard to get my focus back.

5128gap · 05/11/2024 21:51

Now you asked and made me reflect, I realise I must think about it multiple times a day. From getting up and deciding if I'm having a 'fat day', to catching sight of my relection and always ALWAYS noticing how my body looks first, well before hair or face. To thinking about the calories I'm consuming/burning. To checking how bloated I look after dinner and hoping it's gone down by morning and if not, what will I wear. I have a BMI of 21 and I'm 55 for goodness sake. And I do this. And you have made me really think about it OP.

KeepinOn · 05/11/2024 21:51

I've been actively changing my lifestyle and losing weight this year after a significant period of stress that I coped with by eating. My weight was creeping up in previous years anyway, but the past 18 months were very hard on me. Thankfully that specific stress has gone now.

I am much more comfortable with myself since losing some weight, but I wouldn't say I obsess over it or let it rule my moods. I don't weigh myself very often but I am still in the obese BMI range (just). If I want to be in the normal range I have about 20kg to lose. Feels like a lot, and I'm not convinced I'd be any better off than now. I'm strong, fit, and well, and a size 12/14. I feel pretty average at this size and like how I look in candid photos. That alone is worth a lot, not to mention the health benefits of working out etc.

I'm aiming to get down to the bottom end of overweight BMI and reassess how I feel about things then, but I don't equate my worth as a human being with my weight or clothing size. Being overweight isn't a moral failing.

Frogglingalong · 05/11/2024 21:48

Not really. I've been tracking my BMI a bit since having a baby - highest was 26.5, now down to 24.5. Pre baby I reckon it was maybe 22.5 ish? Dunno, I hadn't weighed myself for about 5 years. I'm 5'7" and I think I look normal sized, and a bit chubby when I was at my biggest but was more of a concern that none of my trousers fit.

I strongly suspect I'm on the spectrum, for many reasons, and one being because I don't really think much about what I look like. Because I can't see myself most of the time, just bits of myself? So why would I think about it. Sometimes I see myself in shop windows and I'm a bit like "jeez, you look a bit ropey". But most of the time it doesn't really cross my mind. So no, weight has never worried me that much, I don't think.

Thepeopleversuswork · 05/11/2024 21:47

Similar to a PP it makes me not just sad but furious that women are beating themselves up about their weight. Really angry that people are worrying about this to this extent.

I just don’t think about it to be honest. I am determined not to succumb to this sort of self hatred. The idea of a BMI of 22 or thereabouts being unhealthy is deeply disturbing. If your body mass is high enough to jeopardise your health then worry about it and do something. Otherwise just don’t let yourself be derailed by it.

I am probably a size 10-12. I don’t think about it much. I have never weighed myself. I eat reasonably healthily but I eat when I want and I refuse to deny myself food because of a marginal potential impact on my BMI. I exercise and I rarely drink alcohol. Like a PP I have a good life and I am just not going to derail my happiness and self esteem worrying about this.

Comedycook · 05/11/2024 21:47

I'm a size 14-16. I'm always trying to lose weight...but only because of clothes!

I don't hate myself though..I quite like myself actually. Even when I'm overweight I think I'm attractive and my body is in proportion.

Society tells women they must hate themselves. Don't fall for it.

Ptsdsuffering · 05/11/2024 21:46

Soyare · 05/11/2024 21:45

In which direction? Feeling too thin or too fat?

Too saggy and untoned and if I try to exercise to tone up I lose weight. I feel unfeminine and as if I’ve been deflated if that makes sense ?

SleeplessInWherever · 05/11/2024 21:46

I’m the biggest I’ve ever been, and also the least bothered.

I’ve always been bigger than average, I’d say, and for a long time that really bothered me.

But genuinely - I don’t care what people outside of my immediate circle think. I went on holiday in July- wore swimwear and shorts. I wear clothes that I like, without really being bothered if anyone else thinks they make me look big etc. I kinda feel like most people aren’t looking, and if they are looking and judging - that says more about them, I’m just out here existing.

It has taken a long time to reach this point, I had an eating disorder until my early adulthood. But now if I’m hungry, I eat, and I eat whatever I want without judging myself, and I’m all good with just living in the body I have.

yummyscummymummy01 · 05/11/2024 21:45

I'm a size 18 and not very happy. My DH is naturally slim and I'm beginning to feel paranoid about it. I just don't feel very healthy and it scares me. I really need to get started on shifting the extra pounds. So to answer your question I think about it a lot.

Soyare · 05/11/2024 21:45

Ptsdsuffering · 05/11/2024 21:35

BMI 19 size 8-10 and really unhappy

In which direction? Feeling too thin or too fat?

Comedycook · 05/11/2024 21:45

NoAprilFool · 05/11/2024 21:21

Don’t drink green tea if you hate it - it’s not that good for you that it’s worth choking it down.

Agree totally. Why do people put themselves through things they dislike?

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