Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that the "Lowest Healthy Weight" is rediculous

44 replies

IHateDailyFAIL · 04/08/2016 10:11

She is 15, 5'9 and about 130 pounds. The childs BMI calculator which goes up to 18 says the lowest healthy weight for her is 104 poundsShock and she is over 50th percentile. I'd just like someone to reassure me that she is a perfectly healthy weight. If she was 104 pounds she would be a skeleton!!

OP posts:
ParanoidGynodroid · 04/08/2016 10:15

That does seem ridiculously light for 5'9.

FeckinCrutches · 04/08/2016 10:21

So she's just over 9stone? Perfectly normal for her height. However some teens are very very slim, just the way they are built!
Why are you worried?

PeaceOfWildThings · 04/08/2016 10:23

Sorry, what are the weights in either stones and pounds, or in kg, I can't tally that with reet and inches.
Whose 'Lowest Healthy Weight' calculator are you using? Link please, if online.
A healthy BMI for a 15 year old would be roughly between 18/19 and 22/23. A skeletal BMI would be under 15 or so, and would need medical attention, and would likely lead to the diagnosis of an eating disorder.

My children both have eating disorders and I would like to know where this calculator is, and get it shut down.

If your daughter is over the 50th percentile for height, then a similar percentile for weight would be normal, yes.

Some of these charts and calculators do vary country to country, as the averages or BMI of the healthy population differ. They have also changed over time.

Sirzy · 04/08/2016 10:23

The bmi charts, especially the children's ones, tend to cover a wide range of "normal"

If she is around the 50th centile then then is nothing to worry about st all.

FeckinCrutches · 04/08/2016 10:24

I think her daughter is 9st2 and 104 pounds is 7st5 roughly?

manicinsomniac · 04/08/2016 10:25

No, YABU.

The reason for the huge range of healthy weights is because different people have different bone structures. A weight that looks right on someone with a small bone structure would look emaciated on someone with a larger bone structure and the naturally small boned person would look overweight at a weight that isn't technically overweight at all.

With children the range has to be even bigger because some have completely gone through puberty by 15 and have adult figures whereas others are still naturally very willowy and straight up and down - if they haven't developed hips or large breasts that's an awful lot of weight they can't have on them without being overweight.

If you're daughter looks healthy and the correct weight for her height then I'm sure she is just that. It's just that she's the correct weight for her age, height, build and stage of development not just age and height.

bitemyshinymetalass · 04/08/2016 10:26

You fail to mention what the highest healthy weight is. I'm guessing is a lot more, the range or normal is very wide.
You might want to remember that it covers ALL children and not just yours.

ATrumpIsAFartCalledDonald · 04/08/2016 10:26

130lbs is about 58kg. At 5'9, that would make her very slim. At 104lbs which is 47kg she'd look so unhealthy as to be on the brink of collapse.

travellinghopefully12 · 04/08/2016 10:30

use the adult BMI scale - she's really healthy.

BaronessEllaSaturday · 04/08/2016 10:31

What BMI calculator are you using because the one I checked on 104lbs very much puts a 15 year old as severely underweight

Seryph · 04/08/2016 10:33

I think you are misunderstanding what Lowest Healthy Weight means, it means that some people her height and age are that weight, it also means that any less than that would be UNHEALTHY.
Your daughter could be in the 99th percentile and still be A PERFECTLY HEALTHY person.

These charts don't mean thin is at the bottom and fat is at the top, they give a wide range of healthy weights for the height of the child.

Hoppinggreen · 04/08/2016 10:44

It's like when I was PG and they wanted to induce me a couple of days early ( I think because they didn't want me there on xmas day) and I was told that my " baby's head size was at the lower end of average" I was panicking until DH who is a scientist said " so it's average then?"
Lower end of healthy is HEALTHY - only thing is to make sure it doesn't drop below that.

BertieBotts · 04/08/2016 10:46

That sounds fine. I am about one inch shorter and weighed less than 104lbs (7-7.5 stone) at 15. I was skinny, but I wasn't underweight and I wasn't a skeleton. I weigh about 116lbs (53kg) now and I have a bit of extra weight around my tummy. My doctor never comments on my weight and always pronounces me as healthy.

Confused

I have been underweight due to stress - I weighed about 6 stone (84lbs) at my lowest and that was awful, I did look skeletal then.

LaConnerie · 04/08/2016 10:47

I think the BMI scale in general is really unhelpful - it doesn't take into account lots of factors which affect differences in weight.

Example - according to the BMI scale my rugby playing 6ft 4 husband is obese. But he is actually very fit, much fitter than I am (despite me being in the low end of the healthy bmi scale) and has lots of muscle weight. He would apparently need to lose nearly 3 stones to be 'healthy', which would require him to be a totally different build, which he will probably never be.

I would ignore BMI and encourage your DD to do the same.

VioletBam · 04/08/2016 10:50

YABU. I am 5.7 and weighed 6 stones at one point as a teen. I was very slim but also very fit and ate enough.

bitemyshinymetalass · 04/08/2016 10:54

Example - according to the BMI scale my rugby playing 6ft 4 husband is obese. But he is actually very fit

You can be obese and still healthy. Obese is not a synonym for unhealthy, necessarily.
BMI is still accurate.

BertieBotts · 04/08/2016 10:55

Ignore the horrible photo, it's the only one I have to hand... but I was probably about 104lbs here. Not in any way "skeletal".

To think that the "Lowest Healthy Weight" is rediculous
CoolToned · 04/08/2016 10:55

OP - you might want to check the BMI chart you're using. I think you're either using a wrong one, or perhaps you understood it incorrectly?

HunterHearstHelmsley · 04/08/2016 10:56

104lbs is crazy! I'm slightly shorter and the lightest I've ever been is 126lbs and I looked too thin.

PeaceOfWildThings · 04/08/2016 11:09

BertieBotts and Manic talk a lot of sense...

"If you're daughter looks healthy and the correct weight for her height then I'm sure she is just that. It's just that she's the correct weight for her age, height, build and stage of development not just age and height."

I forgot to say also that eating disorders are not just about weight, there's a whole range of other symptoms besides.

Your DD deems within all the normal ranges, OP (though of course, as others have said, talking to her, looking at her, not the chart, will give you a better idea of her overall state of health.)

Anyone concerned about their child's self esteem, looking extremely underweight, their eating (or lack of) and other behaviours should help them to see their GP, or refer for an assessment.

Sirzy · 04/08/2016 11:12

But everyone is different hunter. I am right st the top of the healthy bmi for my height yet wear size 6-8 clothes (I am only short) for someone else the same size and weight they may physically be bigger due to build,

That's why bmi is a range

MillicentKing · 04/08/2016 11:14

104lb is 7st 6lb

OP I think you are doing something wrong.

To think that the "Lowest Healthy Weight" is rediculous
MillicentKing · 04/08/2016 11:16

8 stone would be better. On the low side, but that sounds spot on for a slim 15 year old. I imagine I was about that weight at that age.

PeaceOfWildThings · 04/08/2016 11:20

IHateDailyFail can you share the link to the BMI calculator you used, or show us a screenshot/photo, if a chart format, please?

ClaireBlunderwood · 04/08/2016 11:21

I don't know, teens can be very skinny in quite a healthy way. Depends on whereabouts she is on the puberty scale.

My 9 year old daughter is just under 5ft and weighs 28kg (about 4 stone 5 pounds) - it doesn't seem inconceivably that she'd grow 9 inches and put on 70% of her body weight (ie 3 stone) and still look healthy. Kind of depends on how she develops.

Swipe left for the next trending thread