To just not FEEL that overweight??

[TheHouseOnBellSt]

I'm one stone overweight. That's quite a lot...but I look in the mirror and think "I don't look fat!"

But I must be!

I'm a size 14 on the bottom and a 12 on top..5.7 and 13 stones.

(btw, Felix, Gap resolution skinnies are amazing for the, er, curvier of hip and thigh, at any size)

leedy thanks for the tip. I really struggle to find decent jeans and I need some more as my Topshop pair have started going baggy at the knees

Those Gap ones are amazing, and also do not bag at the knees! They're as good as J Brand at a fraction of the price.

(I swear I am not in the pay of Gap :) )

duplodon
What would happen if you aimed for something that did not involve the scales at all - eg getting your waist down by 2 inches - so lots of toning, nothing bloaty food, but never actually weighing yourself ?

Another Gap resolution denim fan here - I love love love their high-waisted skinny jeans.

Lot of its in the attitude....a decade ago....I was 17st (size 22) and went down to ten (size 10)..... No. I didn't feel lighter, unbelievably.....I just developed a love of shopping! That was the biggest difference tbh....

Plus very well defined legs from carrying all that weight for years.

I'm 5'6" and 11st. I have loads of pictures/video taken of me for work, and although I look much, much better and feel better at my fighting weight of 9st 4, I don't look terrible like this.

It helps that I have a lot of muscle, a strong core and a really great arse! I'm in the process of losing the extra weight, half a stone gone already, as I do definitely like myself more when my weight has a 9 in it. I don't hate my body now though, it does all the things I need it to.

The obsession transfers to the diet, measuring, food etc. It isn't the weighing scales that is the problem, it is where the act of trying to lose weight takes me. I just can't measure things numerically without becoming obsessive and that makes it quite hard to consistently lose weight.

to get a true appreciation o flow you look do t rely on mirrors or photos. the f. stop and focal length can totally skew. use a video camera

duplodon
But you are not trying to lose weight, you are trying to increase fitness and stamina and reduce your chance of long term chronic disease
I do 5:2 - week in week out, easting very little two days a week
but my weight has not changed for a couple of years.
Weight loss is temporary.
Health is for ever.

I've read an interesting article in the Guardian this morning which reports research that most overweight teens regard their size as normal. Very few who were of normal weight identified as too large - only 11% of teenage girls wrongly thought they are too heavy.
Here's my selfie - I'm 52, 5ft 4 and weigh around 8.5 stone.

Thanks for that cactus - I don't particularly do abs work, but lift a lot of weights which seems to do good things in that area .

That is the article I read and agree with what you say about polarisation, but that's news shorthand innit? It's difficult to make a properly nuanced story work on a mass media platform.

For me the interesting debate is around a strategic approach to the perceived problem. We have reached saturation point with messages about obesity, exercise and healthy eating, but people aren't listening. Doesn't there come a point where we have to accept that this is the direction of travel and adapt accordingly, instead of trying to hold it back?

Yes that has huge implications, not least for the health service, but that's part of the conversation IMO. You've only got to spend a bit of time on MN to realise that there is a huge resistance to this information and many many people aren't unhappy with the way their bodies are, overweight or not.

"The posters on these threads who say "I'd look gaunt/skeletal/skinny if I went under 11.5 stone" - in pretty much all cases this is not true. You're just not used to seeing yourself at a normal weight."

I'd look absolutely fine (and be at a healthy weight for my height) at 11 or 11.5 stone and have been that for large chunks of my life, I would definitely look gaunt at under 10 stone, which would still be a normal BMI. I was last that weight as a teenager and I was the kid that everyone asked if I was eating enough - I had no hips, no boobs, lots of visible boniness, and didn't get my period til I was 15 (I actually did eat enough, was just one of those teens who grew up before they grew out and I hated being so "undeveloped"/beanpolish). That isn't just "I have no idea what normal weight looks like!", I was really very, very thin, much thinner than many of my peers while still being a "normal" weight.

Obviously it's a good idea to be in the healthy weight range for your height (with caveats re fat, muscle mass) but there's no requirement to be at the bottom end of it, or any indication that that's "even healthier", and for certain frames (mine, for instance) the lower end does look bad. My sister is a 6 foot tall size 10, super fit, looks amazing, she's still hovering around the middle/top of her healthy BMI range. We weigh heavy, our family.

You're just not used to seeing yourself at a normal weight

11.5 stone is a normal weight for someone of 5'8". It's at the upper end of the healthy weight range for that height but certainly not overweight.

Please stop trying to make people feel ashamed of their bodies because you're 9 stone something and feel everyone else should be too.

Not helpful.

"Please stop trying to make people feel ashamed of their bodies because you're 9 stone something and feel everyone else should be too."

Quite. There's a reasonable large range of sizes and shapes that are still "healthy", you are not automatically part of the obesity crisis/"in denial" once you're bigger than size 10.

Interestingly I think your perception also depends on where you live. In one major city, I generally felt I was at the average being a size 10, outside of certain cities I quite often feel thin. My weight is broadly consistent.

I'm 166cm (a little over 5'5) weigh 8st and apparently my body fat is 14% although I'm not sure how accurate that is. I also have an eating disorder so certainly not healthy. I've managed to gain about 4lbs so I'm technically not underweight anymore.

The BMI is a guide in my opinion. It doesn't account for a lot of exercise and muscle mass. It tells me I'm healthy...

Equally dress sizes aren't worth using as a guide either. I'm a variety of sizes between shops, between type of clothing and sometimes between two of the same item! I have a range of clothing from super cheap high street to designer. I just go by what fits and feels comfortable.

Good luck to anyone trying to achieve a better lifestyle and be healthy.

it also depends on your age imo. a rounder face looks more youthful as you age, again imo

sanfairy so true. I have high cheekbones, high nosebridge, etc. If I go under 12.5 stone I start looking lime Skeletor. But I'm not actually skinny at that weight, it's just right.

One of the real problems with BMI is that the sensible range is given the same for all heights, when that cannot be the case.

Women who are 5'10" can be lean and mean with a BMI of 24 because their proportions will be bigger than somebody of 5'1"

If you measure from shoulder point to shoulder point, it varies by several inches between women of different heights and that thus affects how your muscles will "hang" on your frame.

LIttledeco
Interestingly one of my gym friends has the same stats as you but she's uber fit - and 51
Weight is just one of the numbers.
Skinny and toned can look fantastic. Skinny and untoned usually looks ill.

"If you measure from shoulder point to shoulder point, it varies by several inches between women of different heights and that thus affects how your muscles will "hang" on your frame."

Hmm, interesting. I am genuinely very broad-shouldered, to the extent that shoulder pads were the bane of my existence in the 80s ("I didn't know those tops came with shoulder pads!" "No, those are my actual shoulders") and often have to size up in jackets to fit in my shoulders/giant ribcage.