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!

@pocketvenuss yes the next tallest one does have a very slim waist. It's her hips that make her look bigger. I feel her pain 😂

It is quite interesting as I showed the picture to DH and asked him a) identify the overweight ladies and b) tell which one looks more like me.
he said all are overweight apart from the last one, and I look like the second from the right and I Am 5’10” size 12 (he doesn’t know my height or dress size)

I would say all are overweight in different ways. Tallest one has slim legs, but an apple middle.
5'll is most similar to me, but I don't have such big thighs and hips.

Incidentally, asda size 10s are enormous. But short. But that's a different issue.

I'd say they were all overweight, but to varying degrees. The last one I'd expect to he hovering around normal to overweight bmi. I have no idea how apples address her waist issue. She may well exercise, and be very fit. I'd love her legs, mine at 27inch are stumpy in comparison.

A size 12 today is what a size 16 and old money. I do think we’re quite delusional when it comes to these things, all of us, including me

I’m an inch shorter than you and 13 stone (which makes me a bit overweight). I wear a 14-16 depending on the shop. Normally 14 is good and 16 is a loose fit but there are a few shops where 14 is too snug for me. I haven’t even looked at a 12 since I was a teenager.

I’ve generally always thought I was a little heavier and more muscular than average but for you to be over a stone heavier than me and fit into a size 12 seems very surprising.

There isn't much point in debating whether some one can possibly be this size or that based on BMI, when all anyone needs to do is measure their bust, waist and hips, Google the measurements for the different sizes, and compare the two. If the OP wants to 'prove' herself to the naysayers her measurements are what matters not her weight/height.
What surprises me the most is that people can be so catagoric and consistent about their size. I've a 24" waist and 37" bust and hips. So I'm both a 6 and a 10 at the same time, and choose the least worst size snd fit based on the cut of the garment.

What surprises me the most is that people can be so catagoric and consistent about their size.

Most of my clothes are size six so that is the size I will give if asked. However, I have clothes in my wardrobe with size labels that range from a US size zero to a UK size 12. They all fit.

Is that because you ARE a 6 and it's the variation in clothes sizes that accounts for the range of sizes? My issue is that only one part of me is a 6. If asked I tend to go in between and 'identify' as an 8. But that doesn't fit me properly anywhere.

I have a leather skirt of my mums from the 1970s - it’s a size 12 and it’s very tight on me. I’m 8.5 stone and all my recently bought skirts are 8 or 10s maximum. I was shocked when I put it on at how crazy our vanity sizing is these days!

It always makes me laugh on these threads when people trot out the ‘in the 80s sizes were smaller’ line. And? OP didn’t say she’s a size 12 in 1980s sizing, she said she’s a size 12 now. We know what she means.

Yes, she means that she things that 12 is a size that represents normal, average, healthy size.

Which is what it meant in the 80s

But is not what it is now

Even by today’s sizing though, people classed as ‘obese’ by BMI don’t typically fit a size 12.

To really see vanity sizing compare the measurements on a vintage dressmaking pattern to modern shop bought clothes.

Even modern dressmaking patterns tend to be much closer to traditional sizes and give people a shock if they don't check the measurements

Sizing numbers are not based around particular measurements. They are based on an old system of scaling so that pattern cutters knew how to adapt the middle size of the size run to the larger and smaller ones. Sizing varies not only from manufacturer to manufacturer but even within brands. Some companies have several different core customers, changing possibly with location or season, and they can profile for all of them.

So your size 12, which until relatively recently was the standard middle size of a size run (before they routinely went wider than 8-16), is frequently just the median or average size in that run. As customers get bigger, so do the sizes. But once again, it's not because of vanity. It's so that manufacturers can keep up with their changing customers without complicating the logistics and mechanics of sizing even further (it's an unbelievable headache at the best of times).

To be honest, one of the biggest issues with sizing isn't sizing inflation. It's more that so many people expect to be able to walk into a mainstream, high street store, pick a medium off the rack and expect it to fit brilliantly...

This is really interesting!

@ReneBumsWombats that is interesting! So I guess that means that (generalising massively) shops that typically cater to older woman might come up larger but shops that tend to target teenagers and young women might come up small?

I find M&S, Boden and Monsoon very generously sized while shops like Mango and Zara are much smaller on me, for example.

you'll probably find the one next to the tallest one is actually the one with the healthiest waist to hip ratio

it's a category thing, though, they only need to be in a target category to be low, moderate or high risk. Maybe the middle one squeezes into the low target category, too.

How many PP who have said they are "high BMI but not at all fat" are in the low risk category. Lots, I suppose?

Yes, exactly. Teenage girls tend to be slimmer than middle aged women and the sizing reflects that. They're not trying to flatter or shame anyone, they're just trying to produce what their core customers will buy.

Sizing variation between places is a pain in the arse for everyone (do you know anyone, however slim or pretty, who finds it easy to get well fitting stuff off the rack?). But it's really the best way to improve your chances of finding things that fit you. If every shop had totally uniform sizing for everything, there'd be no point looking elsewhere when you go into one shop and find it doesn't accommodate your big boobs or long legs or round tummy or broad hips or....

Just managed to fit in a size 12, I am 155 pounds and 5ft 4, am aiming for 120 and size 10, people are already asking if I am unwell, was a size 24 and 201 pounds in July, diabetes diagnosis made me overhaul my life, I am not dieting,but eat similar each day, porridge and berries for breakfast. chicken and veg at lunch and soup for dinner, 1200 cal a day and 130g carbs or less, weight is falling of me, and for the first time I no longer feel hungry, I am going to continue with this eating regime for ever I guess,