To think the NHS BMI is a load of s#!t

[babyarz]

I gave birth to my beautiful DS 4 months ago.

Although I am losing weight as ebf I thought it would be good - after Christmas - to cut down on the chocolates and eat healthier.

I am fitting into all my size 10 clothes pre pregnancy and thought I'd weigh myself today to see what I am. Once I did this I looked my bmi score at it states I'm overweight!!

I'm totally ready for being told I'm BU but at 5"3, 10st 5 and size 10 I honestly didn't think I'd be classified as overweight!

What's your thoughts?

I think you’re doing brilliantly to be close to a healthy weight so close to having a baby. I was huge at 4 months!It does come off and it’s probabyly not all fat although you may need to give it a nudge diet wise!

I'm 5foot tall exactly and weigh 10st 6 - and yes I wear a size 10 trousers and skirts - and no, I don't squeeze into them, in fact I have a couple of size 8s that I wear comfortably (for an idea...am a size 10P in Next and New Look and a 10XS in River Island).

My tops are usually either a 12 (for t-shirts or jumpers) or a 14 (if a button-down shirt), because i have big boobs compared to my frame (a 36DD).

I tell people I carry my weight in my teeth or something, because I honestly don't know how I'm nearly classed as 'obese' on the NHS BMI scale. In fact my ideal weight lowest range is just under 7st!

Maybe there are a few of us who have heavy ass bones! I've also been weighed at the GP recently and came up the same weight and when she calculated my BMI, she just said 'well that can't be right' and waved it off.

Interested to see the responses on this - good points about cup sizes!
People just carry their weight differently, perfect example is myself and the poster above ClothesHangingOnTheFloor wearing similar sizes top/bottom (myself wearing slightly bigger) but there being a 7 inch height difference!
For reference:
I am a size 12 on top (wide shoulders and E cup bra size) and 10 on the bottom (12 skirts/trousers are always too big for me)
I'm 5"7 and can weigh anywhere between 10 stone 3 and 11 stone and still fit into the same clothes okay.
I have been told multiple times I weigh heavier than i look (most recently by a nurse) and my mum (who is 5"4) is exactly the same.

I go to a combat fitness bootcamp, and the instructor said, don't weight, you measure your bicep, thigh, waist and bust, to find out your measurements, as people work out and build up muscle. I am 5ft 2 and weight 10:5 stone and I am a big 12-14. I do work out everyday and watch what I eat.

How do you check your body fat percentage?
I use the BodiTrax machine at my gym.
I've also had a RedX scan in the past at a hospital.
I know what my lean body mass is.

BodyFat tests described here (I think it's a safe link). The easy ones look unreliable & the reliable ones look difficult to get.

As I said up thread I’m 5ft 1 and weight 9st 8lbs. All of my tops are definitely size 8 with size 10 bottoms. I must weigh heavy? Or else my scales are wrong! I’m wearing size 10 Sainsbury’s skinny jeans right now. They fit perfectly on the legs and bum although the waist is massive so I keep having to pull them up.

lljkk
The BodiTrax gives my bone mass and lean body mass within 0.5kg of what the hospital scan said
so the 29.9% body fat is sadly real

I’m shocked at how many people thing OP must be a bigger size. Bodies are so different. I’m 5’2” and at 10 stone 2 wear 6/8 on top and 8/10 bottom. I’m now more overweight at 13 stone but still wear 12/14 bottom and 12 on top. 16s are always too big.
If you find a weight that you feel happy and healthy at OP then that’s the right weight for you!

Wow, I’m 5ft4, 8.5 stones and a 12 on bottom and can wear 10s on top if they’re loose fit.
I havfnt comfortably got into a 10 on the bottom since I was about 30! My weight hasn’t changed a lot but my shape has after 2 kids

OP said her waist is 31".
That makes her size 14 with M&S.
Size 14 with Next
10-12 with H&M
size 10 with New Look
Size 14 with Tesco

It's reasonable that posters wondered how consistently OP was truly a size 10.

Even the nurse doing my 40 year old check, said BMI is unreliable, as there are so many variables.

I am a 32 waist and am a size 14 in jeans/leggings. Size 16 would flood me as I am quite toned but can't get rid of my saggy tummy despite reducing sugar, fat and reducing portion size. And doing so many planks,crunches, Burpees, runners

I’ve always been told I weigh heavier than I look, well when I’m around this size. When I was 3 and a half stone heavier 5 months ago I obviously just looked fat!

I do have big boobs though, I’m a 36 ff now (getting smaller ) but even as a teen weighing 10 stone at 5”7 I had quite big hips, boobs and thighs

Lljkk I don't rate some of those size guides. I measured my waist a couple of days ago - just under 30 inches. According to M & S that allows me to just about fit into a size 12. I purchased a skirt and pair of jeans from them last week - size 10 and they fit comfortably but according to their guide that's a 27.5 inch waist - I can't hold my gut in that much. Either their quality control is rubbish or they do it to make us feel better!

5"3, 10st 5 and size 10

Really?

How does that weight/height make you a size 10 ?

Are you very muscular?

I always find it strange how different clothes sizes are.
I am admittedly overweight at 5 foot 4 and 12 1/2 stone and a clothes size 18 but I am also a big build my body is wide I measure 44cm across the shoulders and my hips are bigger.

All pp's demonstrate how it is never just one measure of weight/mass that is definitive. It can't possibly, as we are all different shapes, hold our fat in different places, are big or small build. Fat can also be hard fat or flabby fat, in that, like me, I measure a 32" waist but if I put on 32" jeans I can pull them out by 4" at the waist. Also they would be massive on my thighs which are only 38".

So my measurements are:
41" (32HH)
32"
38"
Weight: 10.10
Height: 5.5 (25 on BMI)

I wear a 10/12 bottom, and a 12/14 top, but it has to be stretchy to accommodate my boobs, but my back is really small, as my frame is small. I can't wear anything fixed like a cotton shirt as I would need a 16/18 but then look like I am wearing a bag, and it will be too long in the arm, the waist, and huge on the hips.

So I am on the upper end of BMI, and yes need to loose a few pounds, 10 stone would be lovely, but anything less and I would start to look too thin for me. Even as an 18 year old svelt lovely thing, I was never under 9.7 stone.

FUNNY ENOUGH, I just returned some size 10 shorts to Animal, due to huge gap at waist.

My waist is 28-29".
Their size guide says their size 10 is for waist = 28".

All zipped & buttoned up, I could easily pull the shorts down completely past my 37" hips (!).
Terrible cut. I'm not paying £22 for a pair of shorts that fit like that. Size 14 waist more like.

The DM commenters on this article seem to be in a tizzy over BMI:

www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-6564695/Pakistan-International-Airlines-tells-overweight-employees-need-shed-30lbs-July.html#comments-6564695

“Passages should pay if over the standard nine stones for a woman and twelve for a man anything over should be twenty pounds per stone as it costs more fuel to fly an overweight person.”

Another person commented that a BMI of 22 is acceptable but still chunky and that women need to aim for a BMI of 18.

polarbear for asian peoplea lower bmi range is 'normal' due to the different fat distribution.
'skinny-fat' is the term.

Of course people were thinner in the old days. They had less food, no transport and walked everywhere.

Doesnt mean to say "the old days" were optimal for weight though. I expect a lot of people were malnourished!

I'm 5 ft 2 and have to be 8.5 stone to get into a 10, 9.5st to get into a 12, and 10.5st to get into a 14.

But a new look 10 has a 27" waist so is more like a 12, or 14 if made out of stretchy material.

I’m always surprised by comments saying “Oh today’s size 10 is what a size 14 used to be, I used to be a REAL size 8.”

But most shops only stock sizes 8 plus. But there aren’t millions of women who are a size 4 are there?!

The population did used to be shorter and thinner. Some of that can be attributed to walking more and being more active. But a lot of people were just malnourished, hence being thin.

I don’t think many people were old-school size 8s: the shops rarely sold size 8s, and never size 6s. There are however a fair few people who used to be size 10 and are still size 10 thirty years and two stone heavier. I’m not sure you can put that down to olden days malnutrition though: we’re talking about the 1980s not the 1930s.