What BMI do you consider to be fat, slim or skinny?

So the comments about men preferring slim women what about women who prefer slim men? Because that’s me I have never fancied a bloke that’s overweight. Is that classed as wrong?

15-20 underweight. BMI 20-25 normal 25-30 overweight although muscular people especially men may be fine with this BMI. 30-40 obese, over 40 morbidly obese. These are all for adults. Children should be skinnier so there are BMI centile charts for under 18s

Completely agree.

Perceptions are so skewed now by what we most commonly see: overweight/obese people.

Most think overweight isn’t that overweight because so many are overweight.

My perception is that many people are overweight.

I’m 5ft 5 and around 9.5 stone post menopause, I’m a 10/12.

I saw an MRI recently of a slim and overweight person side by side when I was watching a clip about oils and fats in cooking. The amount of internal fat was clear to see.

I know fat shaming is unkind but the body positive message is also destructive. When I was young being fat was the exception. People lie about people looking great, they don’t.

When people roll out that unbearable clichéd tired old phrase 'we've lost sight of what a healthy weight looks like' I wonder at what point we actually, as a society, had a good handle on what a healthy weight looked like. I'm not sure we ever did - I don't think women's health has ever been at the centre of beauty standards.

Spot on @ToastInTheTown I agree with all of that.

When I was a teen fat was probably actually obese

Not sure I agree with this @waschunky - I'm thinking of the 90s/early 00s eras of heroin chic and superwaifs, when Kate Winslet was considered fat and shows like America's Next Top Model famously humiliated girls with healthy, slim bodies and called them plus size. Whatever anyone thinks of Kate Winslet's body in Titanic, she didn't have an obese BMI! So being called fat in those days did not equate to obesity; it was actually the other way around - people (well actually let's just say women) were called fat when they were nowhere near it because Size Zero was the beauty ideal at the time.

When people roll out that unbearable clichéd tired old phrase 'we've lost sight of what a healthy weight looks like' I wonder at what point we actually, as a society, had a good handle on what a healthy weight looked like. I'm not sure we ever did - I don't think women's health has ever been at the centre of beauty standards.

Oh! Maybe there's inflation going on here then, like with the clothes sizes! And in 10 years we'll all be told a BMI of 27 is healthy, then 29...!

Theres a Black American fitness influencer I used to follow on IG. She’s my height - 5ft 3 but weighs around 12 stone.

She is way slimmer than me but weighs almost 2 Stone more and has a tiny waist, slim thighs, very big butt and strong muscular looking arms. According to BMI she’s significantly overweight.

Her body fat is also very low so she rightly pays BMI no attention at all!

1850 more like!

I lived in France for five years and my BMI dropped to 21 while I lived there (very sporty and great diet), and I was still the fattest in my social group. Maybe if I took up smoking to go with my coffee habit I'd have reached French woman slim ness.

Weight came back with a vengeance when I moved back to northern britain. The size of the people around you definitely had an impact, but so did climate and the bombardment of unhealthy food choices.

BMI is a good starting point, but it’s not the be all and end all of a healthy body. I have stayed the same weight for approx 8 years. My shape has changed massively during this time. Pre- menopause, I had a curvy, but healthy hourglass figure. Now all of my weight is around my torso. Any extra fat I’m carrying is around my internal organs. This is really dangerous. So whilst my bmi isn’t too bad ( slightly overweight), my health could be a lot better.

who cares about what men prefer lol

Under 13? I would need to be 5 stone to have a BMI of 13.2....

Skinny is 13 or below, there's no doubt about that. But people can look slim and have overweight BMI. They can also look quite big with a 'healthy' one. My bones are practically hollow so I think that's why mine is so low. Even though I'm slim but not skinny. My mate is really healthy, not fat, but she's tall and about size 16, so it might make her appear overweight on that scale.

My poor DH is 6ft tall with a BMI of 18 because of his cancer. The Drs are really concerned. It’s so hard getting weight onto a naturally thin person.

I'm officially overweight at a size UK12-14 and 5'4" and even when I was more like a 10-12 I was still slightly overweight, but I was happy with my size then.
Right now I wouldn't describe myself as fat either, maybe a bit plump! I look slimmer than a lot of women my age (43).
I think BMI is just a guideline really because it doesn't take into account age, ethnicity, muscle mass etc

I disagree with this. People from different parts of the world have different body shapes to consider. For example, I’m from a Caribbean background and a lot of African and Afro-Caribbean women carry weight on our bums and thighs. Weight here isn’t linked to health concerns and we can still be fit and healthy with our naturally larger bottom halves. Hip to waist ratio is a far more accurate measure of health concerns linked to weight for us.

As everyone else has said, so much depends on build. I’ve got friends who are naturally built very lean, they look great but I have a wider skeleton and I’d look terrible at their BMI. Likewise, I have friends who used to be professional athletes who look “big” — not fat, just stocky with quite clearly a lot of muscle built up over the years and I’m sure they’re extremely healthy but their bodies are larger.

I think different people look skinny/slim/fat at different BMIs. I'd also add a category of "normal" between slim and fat which I think a lot of people fall into.

I don't tend to go around judging other women's bodies though - I just don't really think about it at all (despite being fairly judgemental of my own!). I may like their hair or hat or lipstick or outfit, possibly admire an aspect of their body but I don't really think about the size/shape of their body in general.

I do agree that perception is off. When most people are overweight the parameters shift as we naturally compare ourselves to those around.
I feel slim in the UK but an absolute heifer in Asia or LA for instance...

This is me as well. My BMI is 19 and I’m a size 8-10 but weight goes straight to my stomach so I can go up a size and have a flabby stomach even though I am “thin”.

I don't think BMI really directly relates to whether someone is slim/skinny/fat/obese. My BMI has never been below 25 as an adult. When I was 11 stone, I was a loose size 12 and often a 10. In photos I'm clearly slim but not skinny. I wore tight or short clothes and there's no rolls or excess weight on display. But medically my BMI was overweight.

I don't care about BMI, this stuff was unknown when I was a teenager/young woman.
I care about being slim and reasonably healthy at 45 yo.

My BMI flitters between 25-26. I’m short and very curvy, particularly on my lower half. I usually wear a size 10 in tops and 12-14 in bottoms. Some people look at me and see “fat”, some “slim” and some “normal”. Whatever it is, I love the body I’m in, jiggles, cellulite and all!