Are some people really heavy or am I kidding myself?

[Ellessdee]

I know I'm a bit overweight. I'm a solid size 12. I weighed myself and did my BMI out of curiosity and it's telling me I'm obese. Is BMI wildly inaccurate or am I in denial re my weight? I used to weight train and do have quite a bit of muscle but also a layer of fat on top! Anyway, trying to pose weight, just wondering if I should be worried!

I still wouldn't want to go back to the 90s. Heroin chic, waif look, Minimiser bras because God forbid you have boobs, eating disorders everywhere...and at the end of the day, it didn't cause us all to get slimmer as time went on, did it?

I remember looking at the bras in a Singapore department store and they were miniature.

Where do you buy your clothes that you wear a size 8 at just over 10 stone? I think this is why quoting clothes sizes is so unhelpful. A size 8 would technically ‘fit’ a range of bodies, but it won’t be the right fit for every body.

I don’t agree that all clothes are ‘massive’ but then at just over 10 stone I wouldn’t be in a size 8, so maybe it’s wherever you are shopping.

I was a small size 8, 25 years ago. My teen daughter is a size 8 now. She fits my old clothes. On that basis, the clothes sizes haven't changed

pocketvenuss
Whereas I was a 6-8 pre children and wear an 8 now. I'm between one and a half and two stone heavier and my body measurements are 2inches bigger on my hips and waist.
My BMI always used to be the higher end of underweight to low end of healthy. Now it's the middle of healthy. Honestly I'm carrying more round my middle than I should for my height and could do with being more intentional with my exercise.

I'd say clothing sizes vary a lot more now and shops craft their sizing charts and their garments to fit their target audience so some shops run small and others are very generous.

Standing naked in front of a full length mirror will tell you enough.
As said further up, your waist should measure half your height.

For most people BMI is fairly accurate.

But you always get people kidding themselves they've got the muscle mass of an Olympic bodybuilder, so it can't possibly be correct.

There are special BMI charts proposed for BIPOC. They don't say that BMI >= 30 is fine, though.

This is me, i'm a 10/12 and i'm obese since my BMI is 32. I also have a HH bust 😂. There's just no way BMI makes sense if you have reasonable muscle mass or are a bit shorter or bustier than the average woman.

You can plug your numbers in here to get an idea of body fat percentage which I found quite helpful. Interestingly it's your neck measurement as well as your weight which makes the difference, and no one can cheat or argue with that really

www.calculator.net/body-fat-calculator.html?ctype=standard

On what planet are you a size 10 to 12?

Pascor
If someone uses the Boob or Bust approach rather than the high street M&S approach, the likelihood is they'll have a better fitting bra with a smaller band size and a bigger cup size. A lot of women are wearing a much too big back size and M&S/high street shops are terrible for fitting women in poorly fitting sister sizes.

Someone who is a size 10 could be a 30HH, but boobs in that size would only be around 4-5lbs (approximately 2lbs I breast I believe) so whilst it might tip the BMI into the obese category, they aren't big enough to argue against BMI as a perfectly reasonable measure for most typical people as even with 4-5lbs taken off a BMI of 32 wouldn't go down substantially enough to be in the healthy range.

I wasn't commenting on ther bra size specifically, but on the size 10 and BMI of 32.....and if she's got that BMI, I'm pretty sure the numbers before the HH are not 30!

This is the problem, so many people are deluded about size. They think BMI is inaccurate because they don't see themselves as overweight or obese, but they are whether they see it or not. They ramble about dress sizes, lie about sizing.....it's all delusion.

They could well be though
I've had a BMI of 35 before, at a 34 back size and size 16 bottom/18 top. At 16 stone I'm a size 16, basically my weight matches my size - so 14 stone I am a 14 and so on

I've just read a fascinating book by a forensic pathologist, Richard Shepherd:
drrichardshepherd.com/portfolio-item/unnatural-causes

He mentions that over a working lifetime of doing post mortems it is very noticeable how much bigger the average person is now. There is a thicker layer of fat on most people that just wasn't there 40 odd years ago - not muscle or denser bones, just more fat.

If she's a size 10 to 12 with HH boobs, her back is probably not very wide, even with a high BMI. Most women wear bras that are too big in the back.

She isn's a size 10 to 12, is the point.

Why not? Size inflation is a thing (albeit not because of "vanity" and a conspiracy to hide fatness) and obesity isn't defined by dress sizes.

I’m shocked you’re 5 ft 9 and obese as a size 12. A size 12 is the max size I can be before I’m tipped over into the overweight category, I’m 2 inches shorter than you. If I’m 14-16 then I’m overweight but to be obese I have to be a size 18+ and I’m shorter than you! Very weird.

It's neither weird nor shocking when you realise that she is not a size 12.

My SIL is a size 10 if you ask her. Although she does buy size 14s, she cuts the labels out and claims that they are either mis sized or she likes them looser. Reader, they are not loose. She's a 14.

There is always a large portion of people on MN for which BMI does not work.

There is always a large portion of people on MN for which BMI does not work

Possibly due to large portions.

@Pascor I posted a photo earlier. 5'6". 76kg. That's BMI 27 which is solidly 'overweight' according to BMI. Small size 8 top. Average size 8 below.

There is always a large portion of people on MN for which BMI does not work.
They're like the opposite camp from the people make a Mumsnet chicken last a family of 4 3 days and the posters who couldn't eat more than a grape for dinner because they had a sandwich at lunch.

Lol. Where are you buying your clothes? Because I am 1.7m 74kg, (so taller and lighter than you) and a size 12 in a kind shop, 14 in others

If British sizes are putting you in an EIGHT, the place is even madder than I thought. I take it back, OP is a 12...in the magical Uk shops that mean a 12 is a 16 or more.