To think I shouldn't be THIS heavy??

[Lotsofsausage]

So to start, I know I am no supermodel. Fairly tall at 5'8, size 14, smaller waist, medium bust. Fairly curvy arse/ thighs but toned. I am fit and strong and exercise 4-5x per week, including strength training.

Now I know measurements and photos are a better gauge than the scales, and muscle is meant to weigh more than fat (but I thought that was bullshit).....I am 14.5 stone! I have a friend with the same body measurements as me and same height and she is TWO STONE lighter.
Can some people just be 'heavy'???

Before I had this baby, I was at the top end of a healthy weight for my height (10stone at 5'3), a size 10 and running 50 miles a week, with a 23 minute 5k.

I sort of figure that the BMI range is a range for a reason, some people are supposed to be at the top end!

"The time period pre-dates the concept of rich and poor."

There were rich and poor people 500 years ago.

BMI is not accurate for people with lots of muscle, they put them overweight or obese even if they have very little body fat. They should use the waist circumference method instead.

My GP put it well...

If weight told a complete story, I'd have skipped medical school and bought a set of scales.

While weight isn’t the whole story I do think we can fool ourselves about being naturally broad etc.
I was 12.8at at 5’9, so just overweight, and everyone said I didn’t have weight to lose. I was firm and powerful, however my middle was soft and I had too much fat packed there for health. I’ve been 8.5 stone at this height too, very slim but not bony or sickly. I was Young and super fit. Now I’ve got back to 10.5 I look and feel far better. I don’t have any overhang, don’t have to worry so much about clothing choice, I’m fitter. None would say I’m too skinny, I don’t look ill etc. I have leaner muscle and actually although I was fit I have far more energy now. And better skin. I monitor my blood sugar too (had gestational diabetes so I keep an eye) and it’s dropped to mid normal range, from borderline to the top end.

it is highly unlikely for anyone bar elite athletes that the body fat at a high bmi is low.

it's also not healthy to be a lean high bmi, the effects on the cardiovascular systems are still worse than at a lower weight.

@Kennehora have you considered not to troll people before posting?

Most of my job is resistance tbh! I am a good weight lifter, always been a poor runner. I'm endurance rather than sprint, like a cart horse (which i am built like).

Yes!!! My life (and body) changed when I finally ditched useless cardio like Zumba and the like and started doing weights instead. Works a treat for me and my build.

for your body shape I would do cardio and pilates. Stay away from cycling and high resistance workouts, that would make your legs bulky.

What you don’t seem to get, Deisel is this is how Alienator’s legs are, she can be more toned, yes, can’t we all, but she will never be thin. She will have strong, toned, muscly legs. Twiggy ideal is unachievable for her, unless she wants to die trying.

Kennehora, please don’t put words in my mouth. I have never said bigger is better and Rivers should fatten herself up. Rivers looks good, same as G5000 or Alienator look good. But the latter two are told they are fat because of the weight figure and nothing else. I am glad they have got sense and don’t live their lives in misery chasing a pipe dream of size 8 or 10st. Good on them!

@ParadiseInDisguise like she said, she saw some progress when she was running...
Just because it doesn't work for you, doesn't mean it won't work for her.

you are my people! Some nasty comments on here and people wonder why there is such bias on weight and being skinny. I'm 5ft8 and 13 stone 7 - I'm very broadbacked too which doesn't help! Sick of seeing people saying fat - I train 6 days a week and still my weight doesn't change much, my shape does but not my weight. Do I care now? Not a fucking jot. I'm the fittest I have ever been - I can't run 5k in 21 mins though winkcurrently that's 30 mins.

Precisely my experience, I lost weight to a point and since that point, I am only getting leaner and fitter, but not any lighter. I wear 31’ jeans, so not obese by any measure.

Marvellous, your body type is possibly an explanation why you are better at weights than running. This may also be why the blokes upthread are playing rugby while Mo Farah is sprinting on the track. Different physiques!

How many people on secret eaters kept food diaries that claimed they eat very little but in fact were eating a LOT. They couldn't understand it either.

When cardio stopped working for me (when I got to my lowest weight of 80kg and wouldn’t budge), I have enlisted the services of a personal trainer. That was the first thing she got me doing, take a pic of anything I eat or drink. Have a glass of water, send me a pic.

So that there was no delusion or lying going on. If somebody wants to safeguard against bias, I wouldn’t recommend this approach. Just take a pic of everything and look back on it at the end of the day or after a few days or a week. You can also see overtime how your diet improves. Great tool.

Kenny, Alienator said upthread she descended into an eating disorder trying to achieve a ‘healthy bmi’, at one point consuming 400cal/day. If that is not trying, I don’t know what is. I am glad she is out the other side and looks great. Well done to her again.

And please don’t tell me we are all built the same, have the same skeletons and muscle mass. If it were the case, I could turn myself into Twiggi and Twiggi could turn herself into the Olympic champion weightlifter upthread with a bit of work.

Kennehora I dont think you read all my posts. I will summarise:

At 17, i was at the top of my bmi (11st6). People complimented my figure allll the time and hair, those were the days lol but my doctor wasnt happy, he asked me to eat less. I guess because im autistic and take things literally and was young and impressionable, i did just that. My weight started yo-yoing (but never went below 11st6). I started bingeing, i guess because my body was determined not to let me starve altogether. As i aged, things got worse. My weight had yo-yo'd up past 14st and i was losing hair, my periods, fingernails breaking off, skin flaking. I went to the doctors numerous times for advice and was told to eat less. Finallly when i used an app to log cals, fully expecting it to show too much, i was eating 400cals a day (plus periodic binges). Now thing are much better, i havent lost weight yet but i have stopped the gain. Im not free of the impulse to starve myself, but i havent for months now. All my health stuff has cleared up.

My point on this thread though, is that i am, according to BMI, extremely overweight. I admit i am a little, but i dont feel or think i look that grossly overweight. I dont think i'd be picked out on the street as a fatty, so something is up with bmi as a measure and it really upsets me that doctors (and others) just plough in with it and wreck the bodies of young people.

Women can be heavy. I will never ever healthily be within BMI figures.

'@ParadiseInDisguiselike she said, she saw some progress when she was running...
Just because it doesn't work for you, doesn't mean it won't work for her.'

Oh me? Sorry i meant progress with distance and time, didnt lose any weight in 2.5mo! But, we'll see in future. I'll never be mo farah tho!

Watching a very informative talk on YouTube now:

Gary Taubes discusses low carb diets and the dangers of sugar.

He describes very eloquently what is wrong with the calorie theory and why people actually put on weight. It is not to do with energy surplus.

@Kennyhora
The only thing I am encouraging is for people to do a bit of independent thinking and research, rather than attempting for the millionth time the approach that is doomed to fail.

Please give people some credit and let them decide what works for them and what doesn’t.
I heard about low carb on Mumsnet for the first time and promptly dismissed it as nonsense. But it sparked my curiosity and I went researching, because cutting calories does f**k all for me. Insulin link to weight gain was a revelation. If you don’t like Gary Taubes, how about Dr Jason Fung who actually cures his diabetic type 2 patients by low carb in conjunction with fasting? How about Dr Robert Lustig who is an endocrinologist and has extensive clinical experiences treating obese youngsters?

They don’t fit in your nice neat box though.