To think I am not overweight?

[orangegerbil]

According to BMI, I am overweight with a reading over 27. I am 5'3 and weigh almost 11 stone. I haven't weighed myself in years so I am a little shocked.

I could do with losing a bit around my tummy, but I am a size 10 so I can't be that bad surely? I do have quite a big chest but that can't be the only reason for my weight.

The NHS uses BMI calculators so I am slightly concerned about it as it must be a trusted way of measuring things. Is it possible to have a high BMI but not be overweight?

I've always found the 'What size am I' website pretty accurate for clothes sizing. sizes.darkgreener.com/

Overweight is a relative term. If you eat well, exercise regularly and are an unusual shape (ie. very top heavy). Then there is a chance you're not an unhealthy weight at all.

What are you full measurements? Bust, waist, hips? I know you mentioned your waist as 27" and bust 30GG but not sure what that is in inches?

*higher end of what is normally considered healthy that is!! Sorry that was worded very badly.

You look fit but no way a size 8! Not with those boobs

@JinglingHellsBells.

This is a really rude comment...

Personally I think it's really quite inaccurate...

How can BMI be inaccurate, it's simply a ratio of height to weight?

I assume what you really mean is the cut offs which call someone overweight, obese etc. are too low? But the evidence for those cut offs is not from 1830, it's from dozens and dozens of studies showing that the risk of death ("all cause mortality"), or the risk of various illnesses correspond well to those numbers.

As others have said, if you really think your individual risk would be different due to being particularly muscular then there are other things you should check - such as your fat measurement with the calipers as suggested above.

11stone at 5ft3 is overweight, it's overweight at my height 5ft5. I was nearly 11st 2 years ago and lost 20lb, I looked hugely different although I don't think anyone would have called me "fat" at 11stone and I could still buy sone things in a 10, especially Next (not tops as I'm also big cheated). But doesn't stop it being overweight either way.

Have you measured your waist, it should be less than 90cm

I can’t work out how you weigh so much if your measurements are all as you’ve said. I’m four inches taller with similar proportions and weight two stone less. Something is off somewhere.

What is your hip circumf?
I'm guessing 36-27-37 for your bust-waist-hips in total.
Most people would be happy with that.
I'm just astonished it's only 11 stone.
I'm 38-29-39, and I'm still only 10 stone.
Even if you're a bundle of muscle, wouldn't expect you to carry a stone more than me when 5" shorter and still have numbers like that.

@formerbabe

So many bitchy comments...

Even if you are slightly overweight op...it's not against the law, the sky won't cave in

It’s not bitchy, it’s honesty.

We need to get over feeling upset at being told we are ‘overweight’. If you’re happy looking the way you look at a certain weight, great, own it. OP can own it too.

My comments come as someone who was overweight and in denial. Everyone would tell me I was ‘fine as I was’, late get people would tell. E I was slim and didn’t need to lose weight. I believed it for so long.

Having motivated myself to get fitter and healthier and realising how amazing I now feel, and how being full of energy and bouncing around has positively affected every aspect of my life; I actually think it’s kinder to have honest conversations.

It’s over weight however what is considered overweight has changed radically over the last couple of decades. Many will disagree that you are over weight.

Forget dress sizing, dress sizes have changed radically as well a size ten when I was young was much smaller. I know my waist was 24 inches thirty year ago and I was a size 10, it’s now almost 28 inches post menopause and I’m still a size ten, measure your waist that’s where fat lying is a health issue.

www.diabetes.org.uk/preventing-type-2-diabetes/waist-measurement

The emotional and societal perceptions of women’s weight cause massive angst and many will have a different opinion. Look to medical advice.

*Everyone would tell me I was fine as I was, larger people would tell me I was slim.

Stupid autocorrect.

[quote JinglingHellsBells]**@Fressia123 You look fit but no way a size 8! Not with those boobs! I'm struggling to get into a size 8 and my bust measurement is 30D.[/quote]
That's a really bitchy comment from someone who is clearly envious.

Look at @Fressia123 ... she clearly would fit a size 8 irrespective of chest. YABU to be so rude and assume you know about someone else just because of your own struggles.

I think it goes to show what a difference frame and body shape and fat allocation can make. I'm 5ft 4, around 11st 1 (currently dieting) and am a size 14-16 on top, 12/14 on the bottom. My waist is 38 inches. So I am and look overweight. Couldn't squeeze into even the most generously sized 10 if I tried. Some people carry it really well.

I'm 5 ft 3, 8 stone, have some fat around my belly. At 11 stone I would be enormous. My sister is the same height as me, weighs 9 stone 13, size 12-14.

I don't count M&S, Next etc as real sizes any more. They're all super-sized.

I live abroad. When I shop in the UK I need to suddenly buy clothes 2 sizes down from what I'm used to. The vanity sizing in your country is ridiculous, as is claiming to be slim or normal because you fit a certain size. It's just a scribbled number on a piece of cloth and has nothing to do with your weight.

@Goatinthegarden

You have no idea what comments I was even referring to.

If you’re happy looking the way you look at a certain weight, great, own it

This is bitchy

I'm 5ft 3 and a size 10 and I weigh just over 8st so I'm really shocked you're the same dress size at 11st.
Next is one of the worst for vanity sizing though.
New Look is a 'young' shop so I'm quite surprised.

I think there are a lot of willing self delusions on this thread about

• "frame"
• "carrying weight well"
• BMI doesn't matter clothes sizes do

At the end of the day if you are 2 stone or so overweight, the problem most likely lies there rather than any of these factors above, which are useful distractions but not solutions.

I'd find it hard to believe that a woman who is 5ft 3 and in a vanity sized 10 (NEXT sizes especially are huge) would not be overweight to be honest. A 10 is not small at that height.

@JinglingHellsBells I dont take offense. That's definitely a push up sports bra. My chest is 33in including boobs! That's a slightly more accurate view of them :)

How about the comment

Are you a weightlifter?

You don't think that's rude?

I'm a little taller than you - however, at 11 stone, I'd have levels of bodyfat that would make me severely metabolically obese.

I know this because at a BMI of 22 at one point (weight was approx 8 stone10), I was more than 40% bodyfat by DXA scanning and that was morbidly obese category 1 (except that was counted as normal weight, metabolically obese).

A cross-sectional study of adults with BMI, DXA, fasting leptin and insulin results were measured from 1998-2009. Of the participants, 63% were females, 37% were males, 75% white, with a mean age = 51.4 (SD = 14.2). Mean BMI was 27.3 (SD = 5.9) and mean percent body fat was 31.3% (SD = 9.3). BMI characterized 26% of the subjects as obese, while DXA indicated that 64% of them were obese. 39% of the subjects were classified as non-obese by BMI, but were found to be obese by DXA. BMI misclassified 25% men and 48% women.

Our results demonstrate the prevalence of false-negative BMIs, increased misclassifications in women of advancing age, and the reliability of gender-specific revised BMI cutoffs. BMI underestimates obesity prevalence,

journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0033308

I'm a 12 usually but can fit a 10 at Next and M&S. I think they tend to be a bigger 10 than in other shops.

I’m 5”3 1/2 and I am comfortable between 8 1/2 and 9 1/2 stone. At 8.5 I’m an 8 at 9.5 I’m a 10 (and it’s snug)

I’ve been 11 stone before, post pregnancy and I was squeezing into twelves from next.

So you are probably overweight. Sorry.

I'm 5ft 7in and slightly over 11st. I'm a big blobby mess and struggling to fit into my size 14 clothes. It's like wrestling a blancmange getting my elasticated jeggings up. I am most certainly overweight. Not a lot in the way of muscle tone though!