To think I’m not obese at these measurements?

[Lis1992]

I think according to BMI I could possibly be in obese category. I know BMI isn’t always a perfect measure though. I’m 5’4 and around 12.5 stone. Would you call this obese or overweight? I know I need to lose weight but it is a struggle

There is no irony.

You could lie down in the road for weeks and not get run over by a bus, but the probability of it happening one day is huge.

Then you'll look back and kick yourself for doing it, even though at the time you saw no problem with it.

I understand that. I'm objecting to the way measuring the waist at the narrowest point is so often presented as a simple guide to healthy weight. It's really not. (Measuring the belly, maybe.) I can be 'just' slightly over recommended healthy waist, yet several stone above a healthy weight. Add in quite extreme levels of denial in society, which I'm not magically immune from, and I worry that waist measurement is no longer a helpful indicator.

For me, BMI is a far more useful klaxon, and even then, only because I understand that my personal healthy weight is right in the middle of the Healthy range: in the top third of Healthy I'm already overweight; in the bottom third I'm already underweight. So if I've reached Overweight or Obese, I really need to act! (And I am :)

Most junk food causes your blood sugar and dopamine levels to rapidly spike then crash. It messes with your normal hunger cues and your pleasure receptors. After you eat some, you quite quite quickly want more due to both the physical and neurological effect. And your taste buds adapt to both the sweetness and the reward your brain feels.

I never found apples particularly pleasurable when I was eating too much processed sugar. Nor did I so much when I was eating healthily but not exercising. Ever since I got really fit however, which means at times I just get ravenously hungry, fresh food like apples or good tomatoes just hits different. Like honestly, the nicest food I've ever had is a good apple when I'm hungry from activity. Or brown soda bread with real butter and a good cheddar. Frozen cherries to cool down after intense cardio in the heat. The complexity of the flavours just blows my mind as I would never have considered those foods even remotely special a few years ago. But now they are insanely good and junk food is mostly disappointing. Unless I slip back into eating it regularly at which point I start craving it again.

In the 80s my mum taught me that women weighed no more than 9 stone and that if you weighed more than 9 stone you must be fat and therefore need to diet.

I think your mum had issues! In the 80s, I weighed 9.5 stone and was considered slim and certainly didn’t need to diet. I had plenty of friends and colleagues who weighed more than me. Probably shouldn’t have allowed myself to get as large as I am now - very similar to OP which is on the cusp of overweight and obese. The idea that everyone was slim in the 80s is totally false. There were plenty of women in the 11 to 14 stone range. However one thing you you rarely saw was very overweight young women , late teens to early 30s weighing 16 to 20 stone which is quite common today.

@Wanderingowl You've described that really well! I totally agree. Raw red peppers become a deliciously sweet and juicy snack food, nestled in the fruit bowl alongside tomatoes of every hue. 🌶️🍅🍏🍒🫐

I'm six feet and currently 13 stone...at least half a stone overweight for me.

Oh god. Absolutely she had issues! Ivthought that was really obvious from my post. I was taught a completely disordered way of thinking and eating.

Thanks for the feedback all. I definitely know I’m overweight and I’m not disputing that. I guess the language shocked me - the word obese. But it’s a necessary wake up call. I got to 11
stone many years ago and I slimmed
down to under 9 stone. Through healthy diet and exercise.
I’m well able to do it and I shall do it again!

To put it into perspective, maybe have a look at these pictures of women of roughly your height and weight before and after weightless.

myprogresspics.com/what-does-a-175-lbs-5-foot-4-female-look-like

I think we tend to confuse obese with morbidly obese and envision someone like Rebel Wilson or Melissa McCarthy.

I would consider Mindy Kaling to be obese (not morbidly) before she lost weight. Now she looks to be in a healthy weight range.

Also I suppose the medical term obese catches a lot of people off guard much like 'geriatric pregnancy' which is the medical term for a woman aged 35 and over.

Oh god. Absolutely she had issues! Ivthought that was really obvious from my post. I was taught a completely disordered way of thinking and eating.

Sorry, I completely misunderstood; I thought you were taking her word as gospel!

I had plantar fasciitis. Sympathy - it is so painful. But the best thing I did for it was to lose weight. Just losing a stone made a difference. Load bearing all that excess weight on an inflamed tendon makes it so hard to cure.

I took up weight training for quick calorie burning without having to move much and aggravate the plantar. I really recommend it if you are finding it hard to walk or run due to the pain.

I'm 5.1 and 12 stone I'm obese, 6 months ago I weighed 15stone! Have shifted from morbid obese to obese. But I feel so much better. I did intermittent fasting, low carb. Gym and swim but weight lifting classes are fun. Go on YouTube and type dance fit videos lots of free stuff. When I was a youngster I was a size 6. Used to wear Laura Ashely dresses and haute couture so I know what it means for my body. But lifestyle, grief and Cornish pain means that it's harder now. But you can do it. It's willpower and less upf. The podcast by the BBC was great and really helped shift my mindset!

Could I get details of the BBC podcast?
Thank you.

Lol just realised I out Cornish pain 🤣. Chronic!

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0c98qw1?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

I saw that and was beginning wondering if people from Cornwall were predisposed to some kind of pain the rest of us weren't 😂

Ha ha I'm deffo not from Cornwall 🤣. But Cornish pasties have always intrigued me.

You can be fat and fit. Just saying.

Yes, but you can’t stop the fat strangling your organs and filling your arteries. Just saying.

@Sunsetintheeast

My point to the OP was just because she thinks she is fit doesn't mean she's not fat. She is and is in denial. Obese = fat. Overweight = fat.

12.5st at 5ft4 is very overweight. A lot of people aren't aware of how overweight they really are.

ah apologies. Seems we were both making the same point then. Fit in terms of VO2max etc is just one element of health.

It's still not healthy be obese.

Your measurements are your measurements. What difference does it make to you whether you are labelled overweight or obese? Presumably you will feel better if you describe yourself as overweight rather than obese but you’re still the same size regardless of the word you use.