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!

To be in the obese category you just need to be about 20% more than you’re meant to be. People think obese means my 500lb life but it is just a marker of weight/ disease risk. Muscle and build can make it less accurate.

Can only speak for myself, but until a couple of years ago I was a size 10 and 5' 4" and at 10 stone 10ish, shocked to find I was OW, as I was considered 'slim'. Like you I said it was ridiculous. However after losing 2 stone as a side effect of going vegan and exercising, now I get it. Its quite apparant that the body size and shape I have now at mid healthy BMI is optimum for me both in how I look and how I feel, so for me, BMI is spot on. I get we're all different though.

Ignore dress sizes.

I am decades older than you @Ellessdee and when I was your age a size 10 was a 24 inch waist. Now it's sometimes as much as 30 inches.

size 10 was 34- 24-34.

I am still a size 10, in clothes and even an 8 in some brands, (after 4 DCs), but my waist is 27-28.

Also very few people are actually athletes. Being sporty and fit is a long way off being an international athlete. Jessica Ennis-Hill only weighed 9st when she was at the top of her game.

I'm a size 14 (probably a 13 if that existed!) and weigh 12 stone exactly and I'm not in the obese category. Are you sure you are?

I have the opposite problem now, my BMI is healthy but I am fat, and struggle to do up size 12s, :)

It's a mathematical formula thought up in 1830.

I weigh 10 stone and am 5ft 4 I was 14 stone 4 in July so lost loads of weight but still am not slim

I think most people know if they're overweight without BMI, dress size (there is no definition for a size 12 and it varies massively from shop to shop) or a set of scales. Through illness I'm severely underweight. I don't have an ED but look like I do with a BMI under 15. I don't need anybody to tell me, I have eyes, although people often feel the need to mention it.
What does seem mad is people dismiss BMI then tell you their clothes size. Would they do it the other way around if their BMI said 24.5 but they wore a size 16/18?

It all depends on where the weight is stored.

Some women have very big thighs and bums which is not considered a health risk. Ditto big boobs.

Other women have stick legs and flat bums/ chest and all their weight is on their bellies = health risk.

The best thing is to have a body composition assessment which shows the amount of fat/ lean muscle/bones.

Usually women should have less than 30% fat. 20-25% is good.
Athletes can have as little as 9% fat.

Following with interest!

At your height you would have to be more than 18 stone to be obese. Thats a big size 12

What weight are you, OP?

I'm very slightly shorter, different ethnicity, don't think I have a lot of muscle.... I know how much I weigh but am too scared to work out BMI.

I used to be a 10. Then a 12. Two kids later I think I'm nudging a 16 and in denial.

We are all different. I am a size 12 with a BMI of 21. I have little muscle bulk, long legs and carry my weight round the middle. My waist measurement is more than half my height.

"Obese" isn't as big as a lot of people think it is. It's not the same as morbid obesity.

I'm not saying it isn't a health issue, but it's not as enormous as people think it is.

And argh, it's not vanity sizing, it's sizing inflation. As people get bigger, so does everything that is made to accommodate people. Beds, cars, seats, doors...but we don't say those are vanity sized. It's only for women's clothing that we have to add a negative spin. Yes, we're getting fatter but size inflation isn't a conspiracy to prevent fat women from realising it.

But I remember how angry some users got last time I tried explaining it.

I totally agree with this. I was trying to buy a vintage dressmaking pattern, there was a picture of the reverse of the pattern. According to the measurements todays size 12 is yesterdays size 16!
Im not saying people shouldn’t be positive about their body but, people thinking (thinking about my DM!) that they are smaller than they really are, is ultimately increasing their health risks.
BMI is after all a Health Risk Indicator, not just a vague indication of how you will look in a bikini.

I don’t think that’s right. What are you using to work that out?

Customers are profiled for clothing sizes. Clothes aimed at middle aged women, for example, tend to come up larger than clothes for teenage girls, since teenagers tend to be slimmer. Dance wear tends to come up small since dancers tend to be slim.

You're 5'9" and a size 12? Are you quite sure you input your height and weight into the calculator correctly? I don't know how you could be obese.

I only just creep into the obese category and I'm just under 5'8 and a size 18.

If your BMI is 30 or over then yes, you are. That's what it means.

But it isn't as big as people think. And it doesn't mean you aren't attractive.

I think most people know if they're overweight

Many don't.

Yes sorry I have got it wrong. I have looked again with my reading glasses on and it is 14.6 stone.

I wear mostly a size 10, sometimes a 12 in tops because of my boobs. Many friends would call me "slim" but I am edging towards overweight and I know it. My belly is soft as a result of eating a lot of the wrong stuff. Being a size 10/12 is not proof of a healthy weight.

I think it's baseline drift to an extent. Everyone is bigger these days so those who are healthy weight are considered "unusually slim" by some as being overweight feels very average or normal.

I read a book about someone who has carried out post mortems for their whole career, and there was discussion there a hot how even slimmer patients now have more fat around their bellies than anyone did back when they started in that job in the 70s or 80s. Highly processed diets, too many calories, sedentary lifestyles etc have all combined to really shift what the general population weighs and on average, we are now far too big.

Interesting. I never considered this, but I buy my daughter’s dance clothing from a specific little dance shop near us, and I’ve noticed her sets and leos are much smaller than if we buy her something like a pineapple set from sports direct. I didn’t think about this but I suppose that must be how they do it.

I think it's true and I used to have a bmi of 41 !! Unless you are a heavy weight lifter it tends to be accurate you can do a body composition scan at boots or a gym. My BMI is now 22 and I feel so much lighter and well within myself even compared to 30. My dress size varies from shop to shop I wouldn't say it's accurate.

This is obese me.