to ask if size 14-16 at almost 5'8 is "fat"?

[CoolToned]

Is it?

I'm 5ft 8in and a size 12. I'm on the limit of what I feel happy with....from a vanity clothes wearing perspective. But I exercise 5 days a week - running boot camps and pilates...I want to just accept my body and be happy with it rather than being on a constant weight loss plan.

I am the same as you, same height and size. I am an hourglass with a big frame, big feet and I carry my excess weight on my thighs. I never wear trousers. I lost lots of weight many years ago and this is the size I plateaued at. It seems to be 'my size'. I think it's much more helpful to accept this, dress appropriately (fitted dresses) and not label myself as 'fat' or anything else. And not constantly wish I were elfin like. Clearly I never will be.

Are you me OP?! I lost lots of weight and went down to a weight that was in the middle of the healthy zone on the BMI chart.

I was mainly size 12, occasionally a size 10 tops and skirts but always needed a size 14 in trousers because of my hips. I'm 5'10"

After some health problems I've gone back up to size 16 and I feel awful. I feel fat, frumpy, unattractive and very fat. This is despite the fact that when I first started losing weight, I thought I would be happy if I got to where I am now!

Having been a healthy weight, I now feel terrible. And although I am genuinely trying to loose the weight, the health issues are making it very hard.

In general terms I would consider anyone who is a size 14-16 to be overweight but it very much depends on your body shape and bone structure.

I don't know why you are asking others to judge you and shame you.

If you are happy with your body there is no need to stick a label on it then put yourself up for public judgement, really.

Just be happy and live your life, don't fall into the trap.

Some people are broad and large but firm and fit and have a healthy toned look to them even if they are heavy and have quite measurements.

Others are flabby, untoned and don't look any good in certain styles of clothing or they just look too big for their height even if they weigh less and measure less than the person above. It's not an exact science.

I think you look nice in the photos, an attractive shape. Not fat and flabby but curvy.
I'm a 16 at 5.9 and feel I need to loose a stone as I'm very uncomfortable and don't like the rolls of fat and my big squidgy belly.

Sounds like me. I've just list a stone and would like to lose another. I'm 13 1\2 stone and would rather be 12. I don't think I look fat but am heavy set / solid all over.

koala fully agree with you there!

I'm 6ft tall and a 14/16 and I'm def overweight!

I'm 5'11' and size 12-14 and definitely feel I'm carrying extra weight. At my fittest I am a size 10.

It does depend on your build though.

Ive got a friend at 6 ft who is a 14 and also very thin. To the pp who says anything over a 12 is fat that's a really fucked up way of seeing things.

Twill is most definitely not fat

Clothes sizes don't mean much either. I'm a size 18/20 but buy things in varying sizes (I've got a size 26 coat) because some things look nice and more stylish in a baggy style....

listen to statelychangers and pisaleaner

I'm not as tall as you but always felt fat when I was 14-16. Now I'm a 12-14 and still a bit chubby. it's all relative though. compared to a size 22, you're not so fat.

It's interesting to see the different height/weight/size ratios on here- one pp mentioned being 5'7" and a size 10 at a little over 9 stone (I think)...others saying they are a size 14-16 on op because they have larger boobs at 32GG, or whatever.

I am 5'8 and (pre pregnancy) weight about 10 stone 4 and have huge boobs, and am a size 10. The 5'7" PP would have to gain a stone to be the same weight and that would almost certainly equate to at least 1 if not 2 extra dress sizes.

So I think, OP, the conclusion has to be that everyone is different! No-one on here can tell you whether you are fat or not - and more to the point no-one should. If you feel good and healthy, fine. If you want to lose weight, do so slowly and sensibly and there will be plenty of support on here, I'm sure!

Good luck either way :)

cool - yeah - I make distinction between overweight and fat too. It's probably a bit delusional but I find it easier to think of it as fixable! (For myself)

I've just lost 7lbs in 10 days of Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred and cutting out all snacks and booze. 10 more lbs will have me in healthy weight range.

I'm just under 5'8 and size 14 is my average size. I'm pear shaped so I have some tops that are 12, but some trousers that are 16. I wouldn't say it was fat.

Wasn't Sophie Dahl a size 14-16 when she was a top model?

I'm 5"7 and a size 14-16.

I am fat :( my arse is huge and so are my thighs and despite spending weeks practically starving myself in order to try and lose weight all that's happened is that my tops hang off me and my arse is dat there laughing at me refusing to budge. I look awful awful due to said arse I can't wear smaller trousers so the waist hangs off me and I look dreadful

I'm 5'7" and a size 16 and consider myself overweight. I'm comfortable at a size 14 but when I went to a size 12 I lost my boobs!

I'm 5'9 and a size 12. BMI 23ish. Size 14-16 woud definitely be fat for me.

I know that sizing has changed over the years but in my traditional mind a size 16 isn't particularly fat. I'm a 5'1" size 18-20 and I'm definitely overweight.

When I was young sizes 10-16 were considered reasonably normal, 18 and above were 'outsize' but small sizes like 6-8 simply didn't exist. Something's going on and it's not just that many of us need to lose some weight.

I'm 5'9, size 14-16 and I think very definitely fat.
at my fighting weight I'm 10-12 on top, 12-14 bottom

I'm 5'2''and a size 14 coming in at 68 kg. I do wonder if I'm part Neanderthal since I'm built like one. Techincally I'm overweight BMI 27.8 but here I am:

Size was deregulated in the 1980s (in US, and the whole world followed suit with vanity sizing).

So although there are some vestiges of 'what a size means', based on the old regulated sizes, it really doesn't mean that - if you compare sizes from then to now, you can usually add at least 2 if not more.

So OP is asking (in 'oldspeak') if sizes 18-20 are fat, and I think the answer to that is 'yes'