To think this would be too much weight to lose?

[Lemononachair]

I've lost 2 stone since last year but I know I'm still overweight. My BMI is around 27 so I wanted to lose around another stone to put me comfortably within the healthy range.

However, the calculator suggests that to be in the middle of the healthy range I'd need to lose 2 1/2 stone and that I could actually lose as much as 4 1/2 stone and still be a healthy BMI!

I'm short so I know I can't get away with weighing as much as someone taller but this really surprised me because I'm a reasonably well padded size 12/14 but I've noticed significant differences in my body since losing weight. My bum has shrunken to the extent where it hurts to sit on a hard surface because my bones dig in. I can see and feel my ribs, collarbones and hip bones pretty well - not to the extent where I look emaciated but there isn't much coverage there anymore and I'm sure if I lost another stone they would be quite prominent and another 2 1/2 stone off would make me quite gaunt. I'm already noticeably wrinklier in the face than I was too.

Maybe I've just been overweight so long I've lost sight of what a normal weight looks like!

I also think we have lost sight re what slim is. I’m short, at a size 12/14 I wouldn’t look slim whatsoever. BMI seems to work well as a blunt tool but the range seems too big. The lower end would be slim but the higher end wouldn’t suit me whatsoever and I can’t see how it would still be healthy.

At a bmi of 24 I look slim. At a bmi of 21 I look ill. Nothing to do with being blind to what healthy looks like, or blind to fat. I just look better at a higher bmi.

My weight , according to bmi scale, should be 7st 13lb - 10st 10lb. I look like death anything below 10 stone, I also have no tits, arse or hips i think i'll pass on being thinner.

The thinnest I've been is 8 1/2 stone and I had to have an eating disorder to be that thin.

Only on MN is a size 12/14 considered overweight...

Bit of a difference between a 5ft size 12 to 14 and someone who is 9 or 10 inches taller.

It's oranges and apples though.

You can't compare dress size with weight. Some people can fit a size 10 and be considered 'overweight', others can be in a size 14 and the right weight for their height.

Congratulations- I'm finding it hard to stick to anything atm

Maybe I've just been overweight so long I've lost sight of what a normal weight looks like!

This. What you describe as being thin, being able to see your ribs, hips and collarbones, is absolutely normal and not any sort of indicator of being particularly thin. Even at being a bit overweight those bones should be fairly visible. At a healthy weight they should be really fairly prominent. If you feel your bum hurts from being too boney then you need to build up your glutes.

I spent most of my adult life at around 9.5-10stone, which at a height of 5'1" gave me a BMI of 25-26. I used to think that was my norm as I had big breasts and was reasonably muscular. (As a tired mother I slowly but steadily put on weight for a few years and put on another couple of stone. But when I undertook to lose the excess weight, I thought that 9-9.5stone would be my optimum.) I figured that if I lost more weight than that I'd be "too thin." But I accidentally got super healthy and sporty, and I'm 40 now, 8st and much more toned and muscular than I've ever been. Tbh, even at this weight I can still see parts that parts of my body have excess subcutaneous fat, mainly on my lower tummy. Probably because they are the last few pockets of fat and stand out more now that I don't have an even layer all over. And the stretched tummy skin and section scar mean that the fat there is very uneven. And I don't look emaciated. Not even a little bit. I look better than I have done in my life. I don't have the same suppleness to my face that I did at 20, I have scarring and stretch marks on my tummy now and my breasts hang lower than they used to. But I look healthier and fitter than I ever did. And I can tell you that my face looks so, so, so much better now that my facial bone structure is properly visible again. Being overweight made me look middle aged. Being a healthy, fit weight makes me look much younger than I am. At least if you are standing a few feet away - up close the wrinkles are a bit of a giveaway. But I'll happily take a few extra eye crinkles in exchange for my cheekbones.

My BMI is still a little over 21, so I could conceivably lose over another stone and be in the healthy weight range. That would likely be too thin for me, as I do have a wide frame for a small person, with large shoulders and hips. And I'm building muscle still, so ideally I'll lose the last few bits of fat, while building muscle and maintain roughly the same weight.

Similar to me by the sounds of it. My weight has crept up this year and hit 12 stone. I would be happy with any weight with a 10 in it even though that's a bmi of 26/27 for me at the top end but as long as I am realistic I can maintain which is key for me.

I am a 12 with a 26/27 inch waist at that weight even though I am short. Thighs like a shot putter and a c section apron though.

Smallest I have been as an adult was a bmi of 23 which I managed for a month. I had a bmi of 37 throughout my 30s. Slightly overweight but sustainable and active suits me.

I was told that BMI doesn't really work for petite people. I am 5ft and a size 10. Very little fat and plenty of muscle but bmi puts me at the top end of healthy. I just ignore bmi now!

I also have no tits, arse or hips i think i'll pass on being thinner.

Your arse isn't made up of that much fat, it's your gluteal muscles that make a great butt. When I was overweight I had a big bum but the more I spread the lower it got and it was big but flat. When I lost weight, it was still sort of low and flat. But when I got fit and built up my glutes, my bum rounded out and crept back upwards. Now it's all high and round and as gravity defying as it was more than half my life ago. And it literally gets rounder and higher every month or so. I used to have a great butt as a young woman but my middle-aged butt may actually be even better.

It's not fat that makes our bodies look good. It's muscle.

Depends on the person. At a BMI of 21 several people, including the nurse who prescribed my pill and an A&E doctor, expressed concern about my weight.
From 23 up I look fine.

A healthy BMI was adjusted downwards because it was noted that people were still at increased risk of some conditions at a BMI of 25-27, not because it was 'easier to remember' or to 'appease the weight loss industry'. In fact for people of Asian ethnicity it has been further revised to 23.
OP you need to consider your waist measurement, if you are concerned about your health (rather thsn clothes size/appearance). www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/lifestyle/why-is-my-waist-size-important/

My bmi is 21, i feel like i look fairly average (Dh describes me as compact! which I'm not especially happy about) because i am really short.
My bum feels really uncomfortable sitting on hard surfaces, or even on long car journeys (but its pretty well padded!!)

@TheMustressMhor of course a 12-14 can be overweight. A size 14 on a 5 foot person is very different to a person who is 5 foot 8.

At my heaviest I fitted in some size 12 and some size 14. I was just creeping into a 16 in many things. This put me in the obese category. Having lost over 2 stone I am still in the overweight category with a BMI of 28.5. I have at least another stone to lose before I am at the top end of my healthy weight.

Only on MN is a size 12/14 considered overweight...

I'd imagine it would be more often than not, especially if you're not tall. Especially when you factor in the vanity sizing in clothes shops today - today's 14 is easily yesterday's 16 or more in some shops.

And while our breasts are made up of mostly fat rather than muscle. It is possible to improve them quite a bit by building up the pectoral muscles. Larger pecs will lift and fill your breasts quite a bit. You will never effect massive change but I had F cup breasts most of my life and recently completed 6 years of breastfeeding. So I experienced post-breastfeeding shrinkage at the same time as losing over 3 stone. I figured that at 40, that really was it for my breasts but I've been very pleasantly surprised with the difference I've been able to make with just a little work on my pecs. I fill out my bras better as the transition between my ribcage and breasts has been smoothed out. My breasts have been pulled up and the loose skin has filled back in. I'll never have upright pert breasts, though I they were only ever like that when I was a young teen and they were starting to grow. But they aren't bad at all for a woman my age and cup-size. And they are very slowly improving bit by bit.

Honestly, all the things we say about BMI being crap and how we'd look terrible if we lost weight, is just shite we say to ourselves to make us feel better about being overweight. I know, I did it for nearly 20 years. I was genuinely quite scared to lose weight because I thought it would make me look old and haggard and that I'd lose the parts of my body that I did like. And it was bullshit. In retrospect I'm more than a little angry and pissed off about all the years I spent convinced that I'd look worse if I was healthier. What sort of mind-fuck is that???

Yes, losing weight is hard. Yes, maintaining weightloss is even harder. Yes, unless you find your sporting passion, getting fit is hard. And even if you do find your passion, carving out the time for it is hard. It's easier to tell ourselves that we actually look better if we avoid all the hardness. And so that's how I lived for years, until I genuinely looked at myself and realised that I wasn't healthy and that the older I got, the harder it would be to reverse that. So I decided to not be so vain and to put my health above my looks. I lost weight, got healthy and it was all bullshit. I looked way, way, way worse in every single way when I was overweight. I didn't have to choose between my ass and my face. They both improved and I doubt I'm some sort of mystical unicorn who defies universal truths. People look better when they are fit and at a healthy than when they are over-weight.

(And it's an extremely, extremely rare woman who's muscle pushes her weight into an over-weight BMI range. My body fat/muscle ratio is in the athletic range and my muscle isn't raising my BMI by much at all.)

Argh I have been on a 2yr journey myself, I'm 5foot 2 started at 19stone and now down to 13 stone. My collarbone is now prominent and I am loving it to be fair. On the bmi chart I should be 9st to be considered healthy which kind of surprised me however my sister who is similiar height is 7st and she is a size 8 and she looks healthy so who am I to argue.

However my sister does alot of kettlebells and strength training, I've started it too and notice the difference now plus its great for toning up and changing your shape.

Keep going!

Use BMI as an indicator but not set in stone. I'm fat at the moment at around 28.5bmi. People tell me I look fine but it's because they're used to seeing fat people.

I'm aiming for the top lend of the range I used to sit just under that, in my late teens i got somewhere nearer the bottom end ofnthe range but could have lost another half a stone or so and been classed in the healthy range.
I'm not built 5ft8 and from a family of rugby player type physiques not ballet dancers.
I looked emaciated in the lower bmi. I look slim in the mid range and slim/curvy at the top end.
Agree a lot is to do with muscle tone too.

The comparison thing is very true though. I lived in a city in Australia where loads of people were overweight or obese. We all drove everywhere etc and I was the heaviest I’ve ever been at 70kg. But because I was still quite slim in comparison to most people I felt ok.

Moved to a new city, which is known for being body conscious and sporty (Sydney) and suddenly felt absolutely huge.

Agree about how hard it is to build muscle and have that skew the figures. I do HIIT classes, lift fairly heavy weights, do deadlifts etc and I’m still not bulked up at all, even though I would like to be a bit bigger!

Yes, this "BMI is useless because of muscle" thing gets bandied about far too much.

If you're an overweight BMI and convincing yourself that it's muscle, chances are you're probably wrong. This is especially true for females, who have less muscle mass than males.

Yes, The Rock has a BMI of 30, etc etc. But nobody here is The Rock. You'd have to be an extreme outlier for BMI not to apply to you.

Can't comment without seeing you, but I don't know one person who is supermarket clothes size 12-14 who is slim and almost all size 14 look overweight.

Only on MN is a size 12/14 considered overweight...
This

The numbers and guidelines seem a bit silly. How about going by how you feel, and liking what you see in the mirror?