How big to be considered fat?

[Iamhappytobehappy]

On the tails of the many threads on fatness / obesity and how bad it’s perceived I have started to wonder how people see me.

I consider myself big-boned (yes I know but I swear I am!) 5.7 tall and a size 14/16.

I don’t think I look fat. I am not slim or skinny but not fat.

I have been a size 12 and people seemed more attracted to me but I was also 20 years younger so not sure being bigger is the only factor to take into account.

AIBU to feel those threads are not for me or Am I self deluded and everybody pities me and finds me ugly, hopeless and fat because I am over what is a healthy weight for my height?
I am very active and so quite muscly. Eat healthyly but would need to starve to be the same weight of 20 years ago!

Tell me when do you start considering someone fat?

I go by bmi.

I weigh a lot if people and calculate bmi all the time, it's a good gage IME.

I am fat at the moment and i weigh 9 st 9lb. I know i am fat as it is obvious, I have rolls of fat on my back, sides and middle, and can feel a foot never mind pinch an inch. I wear a size 12 in the places I shop, so White Stuff, Phase eight, Boden.

Sizzledrizz
No diabetis... just very low blood pressure. Been tested for all ...

I think the best indicator of size is your measurement around your natural waist, in comparison with the width across your shoulders. It's only a rough and ready guide, not scientific or anything.

As a dressmaker, I'm not interested in whether you're a size 10, 12, 14 or 30 because those numbers mean nothing.

I've got 'vintage' patterns from the 1970s that show
size 10: 32 inch bust, 24 inch waist, 34 inch hip
size 16: 38 inch bust, 30 inch waist, 40 inch hip
They don't make women like that anymore!

As an experiment, (but don't take this as accurate):

1. Measure across your shoulders to find whether you are small framed, medium or large framed (13.5 - 15 inches is 'small')

Double the measurement (27 - 30 inches for small frames)

1. Measure your natural waist (dip to the side and find the crease then measure around your body)

Is it the same size as your shoulder width x 2? (ie proportionate) Or is it 2,4,6,8,10 inches wider?

My shoulders are 14" (small frame)
My waist is 33 (5 inches 'spare' - the difference between waist and 2x shoulder width)
Though tall, I look as though I am carrying spare weight in relation to my slim frame. (That's because I am!)
I take a size 12 on the bottom - but that's 'vanity' sizing that enables me to deny that I am getting fat. Which I am.

Need a picture to tell

I’m about 9lbs above the top of my healthy BMI at the moment (but working on getting it back down again). I’m a size 12 in most places I shop with the occasional pair of trousers or jeans in a 14. My wrist is 6” and I’m a very definite pear shape so carry my weight on my bottom half and have massive calves, but have quite slim shoulders and arms and a defined waist and obvious shoulder blades. No rolls anywhere. I also do a lot of exercise and am quite muscular. I’m happiest around a BMI of 23 which puts me very comfortably in a size 10, but now at about BMI 26.5 I don’t think many people would actually call me fat.

I'm 5"8, and at my heaviest I was fluctuating between 12 and 13 stone. I was size 14 and size 16 for trousers. Yet I never considered myself to be 'fat' even though I was out of my BMI range. It's only now, after having two DC and the weight dropping off (thanks to breastfeeding, not drinking and never stopping) that I'm in my healthy range. People have expressed concern and asked if I'm ok because they say I look too thin. Yet I'm still just a couple of points below the top weight for my height! I suspect if I lost anymore weight I would look gaunt, even though my weight range for my height goes right down to 8 stone. Which I find really hard to believe.

I think because I exercise a lot and have an hourglass shape, even at my biggest I wouldn't have been judged by the ordinary man/woman in the street as fat. In somewhere LA? Yeah probably I'd be a hippo! But unless I was at my heaviest, I always felt fit and healthy. Like many PPs have said, it's how you feel that counts.

That said, I know my own limits and if I get up to 13 stone again I will have to do something about it as it wouldn't feel right for me. It's why I'm surprised when obese people claim they feel healthy and fit because, sorry, I just can't see how you would when you're carrying so much excess weight?

@ElectricMonkey I am BMI 23, I don't have any rolls of fat, I am muscular (well in parts ) and yet I take a size 14 on my bottom half. So by your standards I am fat! Good to know...

Wow ... thank you for all the replies.
It sounds though like we all have an internal barometer when it comes to judging our fatness and most of the times it comes from what’s surrounding us.
I have many friends who , although very slim when we were teenagers, have all put o a lot of weight due to the menopause so being slimmer than them I feel I look quite good for my age. Shape and all.

If I was in LA or marrying into the royal family I would very probably feel enormous.

Do I need new skinny friends to change my perspective?

Disagree with whoever it was upthread who commented that as long as you’ve no day to day health issues, you’re fine. Obesity- or diet-related cancers sneak up on you, as do many other conditions like diabetes, which has already been mentioned. By the time they appear it’s too late. (That doesn’t a ser your question directly OP, but I just wanted to add my two pence )

BMI is total rubbish - the England rugby team would all be deemed as fat if it weren't.

Btw I'm quite happy to get flamed for that if needed. BMI really is bollocks.

I'm 5'6" and 14 stone. So 'seriously/morbidly obese' but I do marathons, 'don't look that weight' and am fit and healthy. In my view BMI is a random statistic used to beat people over the head with. It's meaningless in the grand scheme.

I know folk who weigh 25+ stone who are completing marathons/ultra marathon events yet their BMI is telling them they should be dead and totally incapable of achieving such things.

Naive, the majority of the population aren't on the England rugby team though it's not perfect but it is a good indication of your health for the vast majority of the population.

And I call bullshit on you knowing people who weigh 25st+ running marathons but even if it is true, it doesn't make their weight healthy.

Wow @Howhot that's a definite statement. Actually they run 100 mile plus ultra marathons but you stay there in your nice judgey box hm?

BMI really is bollocks
No it really isn't. It usually correlates with body fat % and waist height ratio, especially with women.
Rugby players are still at risk of obesity related conditions if their BMI is in that range.

I consider my self out, fat, although I'm building up. A six pack. I can certainly pinch more than an inch though.. I think I'm skinny fat, and I look horrendous. I'm. 8.7 stones and five foot 5. I wear six 8 or6 on occasion.

It's interesting isn't it. I'm 5'7" and 12.9 presently. My heaviest. I'm a generous 16. I am broad shouldered, broad hipped and not skinny legged. However, I have a small face and hold myself fairly well so most people think I am 5.9 or taller. I feel fat, I am fat, I am just over a stone over my BMI but somehow I carry it off.

I desperately need to lost 20lb.

Although we are all supposed to be getting fatter I remember quite chunky women from my childhood (I'm 58). My grandma was a size 18, as was my stepfather's mother. They wore girdles and dresses and had huge bosoms. Women of my age, nowadays seem much slimmer than they were.

I think re carrying weight - posture plays a massive part. I have really good posture (I think due to activities I did when I was very young), so I’m very “upright” at all times. Slouching can make even the slimmest of people look less good.

Also - where your weight distributes itself plays a part in your clothes size. I’m a hips and boobs person re weight. I hate the latter, which is why I think I look better lighter. At the weight I am now, my boobs give me backache, even with posture being spot on.

I'm judgy to say 25st is unhealthy? Cool. I stand by it.

I consider myself fat if I cannot see my ribs.

Yup judgey. When did you last run a 100 mile plus ultra?

Gosh, you're all so tall! I'm 5'3", about 7.5 stone and a size 6-8.
I have teeny tiny little wrists. I have to get most of the links taken out of every watch I ever buy. As a child, I couldn't wear a watch because they literally wouldn't fit me. So I do believe there is such a thing as a big or small frame.

Mrs strowman, I think that is quite low weight for your height. Be careful.