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

I am the same but carry the weight well for my height. But yes I am overweight.

If I got any bigger I'd start to look it.

I'm off for a walk...

Obese doesn’t mean that you’re not attractive, or a ‘normal’ weight, especially in some areas the majority of women are obese.
It almost certainly does mean that your health would benefit if you were to lose weight, but doesn’t necessarily mean you’re horribly unhealthy.
Waist measurement is a very good supplementary measure of health, if it’s less than half your height that’s encouraging.

It’s not worth getting caught up in semantics. You know you’re overweight.

You are obese, and need to lose a lot of weight. It’s easy to be in denial when in the UK you are surrounded by obese people and it seems normalised. BMI is an accurate guide to a healthy weight.

I agree with you.@RunLolaRun102

I’m obese and a size 14/16, I have way too much body fat. It’s a medical statement.

I was almost exactly this height and weight in 2019. I also didn’t think I was obese. I look back on photos of me from then now and can’t believe how big I look. I got down to 9st4 and am now about 9st11 but have been doing a lot of lifting in the gym so a certain amount of that is muscle gain.

I’m sorry OP but you are in the denial phase.

I'm in a similar boat to you but a bit heavier. When I tell people the doctor told me to lose weight they tell me I don't need to. Medically I know I'm classed as obese but society doesn't. I also find I hold my weight on my stomach not all the way around so looking at me straight on I dont look as big as I am.

But its up to you if you want to lose weight. I also get stuck around the 12 1/2 stone mark, even when I was at the gym.

It’s funny that this thread came up today as yesterday I was helping a friend clear her mums house out. She had loads of beautiful vintage clothes, I tried several things on as they were my size (10) but they were far, far too small. It really woke me up to what the clothing industry has done to us. I think it’s easy to not realise what you’re doing to your body when everyone else looks like you.

You are in denial OP. With those measurements you are on the boundary of overweight and obese, so it depends on your exact weight (is that 12 stone 5lbs or twelve and a half stone?)

If your BMI puts you in the obese category, you are obese. It doesn't matter if you don't 'feel' it, you just are. And there isn't a great deal of difference between 29.9 (overweight) and 30 (obese) apart from the label. You won't magically be much healthier just because you are 0.1 under the threshold

I'm the same height as you, I think you would be categorised as obese. As others have said, people have become fatter which is probably why you don't feel obese. Regardless of overweight or obese, you should be focusing on loosing weight to become healthier.

Yes, your BMI is obese but a waist measurement is a better indication of health. You should aim for 40-45% of your height. I’d agree with PP that what we socially perceive as obese is very different to the medical definition. I’m the opposite of you though OP. I have a healthy BMI but I look awful and fat and blubby- some people do carry it better than others but that’s not necessarily an indication of being healthier.

Start of 22 I was 12 stone 10 and I'm 5ft3 and I probably felt the same as you. Big yes but obese? Anyway, the point is that I was far too heavy for my height and got down to 11 stone and even now I am overweight.

Start with trying to lose 5% and go from there

The numbers don't lie OP. It's 3 and a half stone more then I weigh at the same height when not spherically pregnant and I'm not overly skinny.

How do you feel? Do you want to lose weight?

This. It doesn't matter what label you put on it, you need to lose weight.

You don’t look like the people featured in those nasty tabloid TV shows. But you are still obese.

Try and lose some weight for you and your loved ones.

But this is only one part of you remember and your weight does not define you.

I don’t know what you want to hear, the figures are what they are. Do you want the bmi chart rewriting because you don’t agree with it?

BMI isn't a 'look' or something other people make a 'call' on. It's a classification of health/body fat based on weight and height. Measure your height and weight accurately, then input them into an online BMI calculator. Here's the CDC one.

If you are 5ft 4" and 12.5 stone (or more?) then you are in the Obese BMI category, which has implications for your health. You or us deciding you 'only' look Overweight isn't going to help!

There are reservations about the accuracy of BMI in certain circumstances. However 99% of the casual online quibbling about BMI is from people who are in denial about their excess weight and how unhealthy it is.

I agree and being obese isnt just about "looking obese"- its a clinical measurement that indicates you might be carrying fat around your internal organs which isnt healthy. You can deny it all you want but its still not healthy.

Why does it matter to you whether you're obese or not? It's not a moral judgement. You're on the border between overweight and obese. I'm sure if you put your mind to it you can get your weight down a bit and be healthier (if you want to)

It's not a question of whether you call it obese or overweight - obese has a very precise definition, based on a ratio between height and weight, and if the charts say you are obese then you are obese. I have been obese (slightly taller then heavier than you but the same sort of ratio) and I wouldn't say I looked really remarkably big at the time, but I wouldn't have denied being obese if the question came up. However you don't need to get hung up on the word, it doesn't define you. If you want to lose weight anyway, just quietly get on with it and soon you won't be in that category.

Doesn’t sound a healthy ratio to me. I’m about 2 stone lighter and 2 or 3 inches taller and I’m far from skinny. I need to lose half a stone.

Maybe when you have type2 diabetes you might consider it.

You're obese or at best just a few pounds short of clinically obese. Sorry, you sound in denial. You might be lucky in the sense that the weight might be distributed quite proportionally, but there is no way you don't look big at 80 kg and your height.

Can you check your waist to hip ratio?

I'm with @PinkDaffodil2 . It's good that you value your appearance and know that you can still look good being obese. I feel that we are getting better at not tying our self-esteem to our weight. This is a good thing.

However, for the sake of your health, you still need to lose weight.

You should look up the long-term health implications of obesity: dementia, cancer, joint problems, type 2 diabetes, heart disease. The NHS is on its knees. I don't think we can rely on it any more to fix these problems, so that might scare you into weight loss!