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'm the same weight as you but 5ft 8, and consider myself a bit tubby these days, and on a healthy eating/sport drive because I've got an obvious tummy. I fit into some size 10, sure, but I've got some 15 year old size 10 clothes and frankly an old size 10 vest top wouldn't even encase one breast these days.

You've recently had a baby though, so give yourself time, and just make sure you're healthy and have plenty of energy.

That does sound overweight to me - forget clothes sizes, that’s a nonsense. BMI isn’t an exact science but it’s a good indication - particularly for anyone who might be in denial or who has a skewed view of what weight should be.

I literally know no people who go by or care for it

It is very much used when you are pregnant. A BMI of 30+ means women are offered a diabetes test and some places won’t let women over that give birth on a birthing pool or midwife unit. It’s used by slimming clubs (E.g. slimming world) to check people don’t put too low targets. It’s used by statisticians to look st population trends. It is still used.

I’m a 14 and maybe need a 16 at 10 stone 10 and 5’2”
I remember wearing my mum’s size 14 skirts back in the 90s which would definitely be more like a 10 today. I Believe you about boobs and feeds though!

@trancepants Half a stone though? That's over 3 litres/100oz of milk? In one feed?

OP - I would wonder about vanity sizing too. I'm 5'6", 9 stone 9 (well I was before Christmas!) and a size 10/12.

If there wasn't a BMI as a general guide many people wouldn't have the faintest clue what constituted generally a healthy weight, overweight, obese etc. It helps to have a standard of classification for the general population but there's always exceptions of course.

You've just had a baby so your body is still getting back into place, so you are still very much in the postpartum zone which does make a difference. Water retention etc.

Overall though I don't think the BMI calculators are far wrong, if at all, except for those few which have a lot of muscle. I have been up to a BMI of 29.6 and down to 20.2 which is my current BMI. I hovered around the 26 mark for a long time, so just into the overweight category, and at 5'7" I was a size 12 roughly (in vanity sizing - really it was a size 14-16 in most brands and I fooled myself as a size 12 with those shops who do vanity sizing). It's not that overweight but now looking back I was maybe chunkier than I thought myself to be at the time. I used to think myself a size 10 but when I saw myself in the mirror or in a shop window unexpectedly, I was surprised at how much bigger I looked than I thought I did. That's just me reflecting on my own personal experience though. If you are happy and healthy at the weight you are then what does it really matter? It's just a guide/figure.

And just to add to the everyone is different I'm the same height as polkapjs and about the same weight as the op and wear a size 12 in everything.
I am however a bit podgy.

When I was at uni I put weight on very quickly after freshers week and went from 8 stone 3 to the same weight you are, I'm also 5ft 3. I was told by my gp who weighed me for the pill that I was overweight and to lay off the chips (I was drinking like a fish and having 3am burgers actually). I was a size 10 top and 12 bottom, I did look fat in the face and I was carrying excessive weight even though I fitted into a 10/12. My weight eventually went back to my normal pre uni weight and its stayed there ever since, even after 2 children.

It is overweight for that height, I was in no doubts. Unless you are an athlete carrying a lot of muscle bmi is a easy to use tool to assess your weight. If you've not long had a baby though I wouldn't fixate on the scales too much, just try to eat healthily and go for walks to get some gentle exercise.

10st 5lbs sounds very heavy for a 5' 3" woman to me - sorry, OP, but unless you are a serious body builder, I think a fair amount of that weight must be fat, or if your weight fluctuates a lot, then fluid retention! BMI has nothing to do with clothes sizes. Even excellent bone density wouldn't explain all that weight away. That's not to say BMI is the be all and end all of good health, though.

It's balls, i'd be ill if i even got down to their normal range. Apparently im obese but nobody would say so to look at me, im a bit podgy, thats it.

And yet I could gain almost 2 stone and still be just at the end of 'not overweight'.

I can guarantee you I'd look very very much overweight.

It's a crude measure but it gives you a general gist. Sounds like you are a bit of an outlier and you're only just over the overweight mark. Body shape can make a difference to clothes sizing too, I think. I am often described as "skinny" but while I have thin arms and legs and narrow hips, I have a thick waist. Size 10s tend to be baggy on my legs but I can't get into anything smaller because it doesn't do up round my middle and I have a fairly big bust. Similarly, I have a friend with a much tinier waist thn me but curvier bottom and thighs. She wears size 12 trousers but with a belt as they are big around the waist but a smaller size won't fit her legs and hips.

a size 10 these days is very different from a size 10 twenty years ago

I get the concept of vanity sizing but I think sizing isn't quite as different as people might think. Maybe from 40 years ago but not from 20. I have a high street suit and a pair of smart trousers that I bought when I graduated 20 years ago in a size 10. They were a good fit then and while they are very slightly snugger round the waist than the size 10s I buy now, I can still easily wear them. I'm a similar weight to the weight I was then, about 2-3lb heavier. Slightly different shape after 2 children.

Op when I was your weight and height I was also size 10 and this was 20 years ago well before vanity sizing. Bmi is a load of shit the only time ive ever been ok is when I’d suffered from anorexia for ayear my kidneys were packing up, I was wearing kids clothes (my mum had to take in a size 6) and looked very ill. But there told me my weight was fine

Yes you are overweight, but don’t worry so are most brits.

I'm 4'11" and 9 stone. my BMI is 25.4 and overweight. I wear a size 10. Sometimes a 12 or an 8 even depends on the brand.
I don't look overweight, I'm very active with work and excersize. I do believe BMI is a total pile of rubbish.

Hi OP I just wanted to chime in and agree with all the people telling you to give yourself a break. I am 5’4” and had my daughter in 2017. I was still around 11stone and in my maternity jeans at 4 months!! It sounds like you’re doing really well and that weight will carry on falling off over the months to come.

I lost nearly a stone without trying at all after I stopped breastfeeding (when my daughter was 13 months) I was shocked by how quickly that happened. Breastfeeding just made me really hungry (and maybe I’m a bit of a piggy).

Like others have said BMI is a crude tool that doesn’t take into account circumstances (like having recently had a baby). Your body isn’t itself right now it’s still in what I call “baby mode”. I think in 6 months time your BMI will read very differently (breastfeeding or not I’m defo not trying to put you off).

According to the NHS BMI calculator I am verging on dangerously underweight. That's bollocks. I'm just little. I'm 5ft 3, 7 and a half stone and wear a size 8. I've definitely got wobble around my belly, bum and thighs. I'm perfectly healthy, strong, active and I like a good fry up. My whole family are little, both grandmas and my mum are (were) like little sparrows.

There's a lot of denial going on on this thread

BMI is a fairly crude measurement - but for the average man/woman on the street it's a pretty good guide.

But vanity sizing has influenced how we feel about our weight. And if we can squeeze into a size 10 then we think it's all OK, even if it isn't.

When I was at university, aged 18-20, I weighed around 7.5 stones. I was a size 11 (M&S used to do in-between sizes) or 12. Now, aged almost 60, I weigh at the top end of 10 stones, and wear a size 12. I can't possibly still be a size 12 compared with what I was wearing then.

Yes you are overweight, but don’t worry so are most brits.

Why is that not a reason to worry?

Too true @WorraLiberty.

So much denial going on here

Marilyn, sorry but it’s no where near that simple it is a mental health condition which results in markedly low calorie intake! I was eating less than 3-400 calories a day. Obviously a low body weight is often a result of the anorexia.

You seem to have a very strange and dogmatic view on body weight, why is that? 5 ft 8 and just over 10 stone wouldn’t be fat.

Sorry sarcasm gets lost in text. It is a reason to worry and for some ridiculous reason we seem to be normalising being fat in western countries

Except the French.... bastards.

Oh gotcha JustABetterPlayer

It doesn't take account of enormous boobs so I am very obese apparently even though I go to the gym 5 times a week and do triathlons.