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

[CoolToned]

Is it?

No, I don't think you are "fat."

There are people on this thread who would probably class Marilyn Momroe as "fat." Obviously, it's a matter of taste and subjective.

I'm 5ft 7" and a size 12/14 depending on the shop. I know I would look and feel better if I lost 14lbs.

So, yes, I think if you're a size 14/16 then you will look chubby and overweight.

You are overweight but I wouldn't call you fat, if that makes sense. You could do with losing a stone or so.

I'm really not sure that anyone would call measurements of 37-23-35 at her supposed "biggest" and a "top" BMI of 23 fat, EllyMay. Comments like that just perpetuate the Marilyn Monroe myth.

I don't think you can go on dress size really. I am the 5ft 8 and my BMI is about 20 so quite low but I usually need size 12 bottoms due to my hips and bum. If I was a size 14 in trousers, I wouldn't be overweight.

5ft 8 - when my is BMI 23.5 - size 16 - I'm annoyed at all those people who weight more and fitting smaller clothes! But this size/bmi thing is always weird on these threads - can't be all body shape/vanity sizing.....surely some people must be heavy boned - but it certainly isn't me!

Thefitfatty There's no way your overweight?! You look fit and healthy?

calm I am. I'm a stone overweight. I work out 5 hours a week, I lift heavy weights, but I'm not a body builder or an elite athlete. I'm like a lot of people who work out regularly but don,'t regulate everything they eat.

There are people on this thread who would probably class Marilyn Momroe as "fat." Obviously, it's a matter of taste and subjective.

Marilyn Monroe was a modern size 6/8. 10/12 in her time. They didn't make clothes bigger than a size 12. So yes when she was alive she was deemed to be curvy. She isn't by today's standards though. And this is exactly why I mentioned vanity sizing!

Marilyn Monroe was also a drug addict who was obsessed with her looks. Let's not idolize her

Keepingupwiththejonesys Im near enough the same as you Small back where weight comes off easily but i have to lose as much as 4 stone before anything comes off my boobs. Am a 32HH hourglass with a small waist and wider hips. Have to have a size 14 dress to accomodate my boobs. A blouse has to be an 18 if i want it to do up without gapping or straining at the buttons. But then the arms and around the back are huge and baggy. Because my arms are spindly and my back is small. Its a pain in the arse and i need to stay the weight i am which isnt happening. Im trying to maintain but still losing. Its going to be a pain to buy bras at this rate. And im not doing it via the internet Its too time consuming to keep going back and forth to the post office. Id rather be measured in a shop properly.

I'd say this is a genuine 'curvy' category fit. You're not fat IMO, but you're not particularly slim either. I am 5'8 (and a half!) and 11st 6lbs. I am a big size 12 at the moment and think I am quite chunky looking. People tell me I'm not, but I am the absolute biggest I allow myself to get.

Rookiemere, your post about sugar is really interesting. I have realised for some time that sugar is a real problem for me and have thought many times about cutting it out, but I have such a sweet tooth I really struggle to control it. I am sitting here right now thinking about the tub of chocolate ice cream in the freezer. I have even wondered whether hypnosis would help to reduce my sugar cravings. In some ways if I lived alone it would be easier to eat healthily and clear the cupboards of junk so I couldn't be tempted, but when I do the food shopping I have to cater for everyone, and there is something really crap about watching somebody else eat a bar of chocolate and not be able to have one too.

So at the moment I am 5 ft 6 and am a size 14. I would be much happier as a size 12, I know I would feel more attractive, but my own lack of will power is the problem (and I'm not at all sporty, and never will be). I don't smoke, I drink very little alcohol - it's sugar that is my enemy, I want to cut it out but find it so difficult. And while I would say I feel tubby rather than fat, I definitely feel less attractive than I used to.

"Fat" is quite a negative term. I feel "fat" as a size 10 at 5'8" because I've gained weight and have wobbly bits, but I'm far from overweight or fat. Just out of proportion in some areas.

If you're overweight then it becomes a medical problem rather than an aesthetic one, but you know that.

Having just returned from the USA, however, I can confirm that a 14-16 is positively skinny....

My grandmother, who died in the late 50s, was definitely bigger than a 12. She was built like a ball. Someone somewhere must have made clothes bigger than a 12, because she wasn't naked in the photos I've seen of her.

Helena, once you know your size and which styles work, you can look for them online and then not have to worry about returning them if they're wrong. Much easier when even John Lewis stores seem to regard anything bigger than an F as exceptional.

Lord, this thread is depressing. I'm 5' 10" currently a 16, have dieted down from a 22 this year. 14 is my goal and I was feeling great about my new figure, but apparently the weight I'm aiming for will still have me pegged as fat. Fucking depressing..

Lots of good advice on the thread.
Always go by what the mirror shows you and your waist size and then weight. Ignore clothes sizes as they lead you up the garden path.

Callar you're very tall. A fourteen at your height is like a ten or an eight for someone who's an average height 5"4.

At 40 I was slap bang in the middle of healthy bmi, 5 ft 5 and a size 14. I am naturally built like a brick shithouse, mind.

Callar ive come down from a 28 to a 14. Well bloody done to you. Try not to get these threads get to you.

It's not fat.

Oh PickaChew thats really disappointing as there is finally going to be a John Lewis opening near me very soon.

BMI is a useful guide (invented in the mid 19th century to evaluate populations and not individuals) but now acknowledged as flawed. As others have said, visceral fat is more important and your waist size a more helpful guide.

Being regularly physically active and eating healthily is more likely to safeguard you against an early death and other diseases than having a 'healthy' bmi.

Clothes sizes are not medically-approved measures. And who bloody cares if the dimensions for a size 10,12,14 were smaller 40/50/60 years ago - it's an artificial measure and humans were on average smaller and most women wore restrictive underwear.

And someone not looking good in clothes over a size 14 or whatever else has been stated, is a personal opinion.

gosh, it completely depends on your body shape. I'm that height and I'm feeling a bit chubby at a big 12 but then I guess I have slimish limbs (apart from the thunder thighs), smallish boobs and narrow shoulders. My friend is the same height and once slimmed to a 12 but said she felt weird, not like herself. I suppose she is more of an apple shape. Don't worry about it!