Is my opinion on what is obese wrong?

[Thewheelweavesasthewheelwills]

This is me recently on a family day out at a big park which I was fit enough for.

I know I need to lose some weight and I have finally started to eat better. I got into a terrible habit of eating way too much chocolate when cluster feeding on the couch and didn't stop! I am now watching what I eat. I hate cal counting but I think I need to for a while to make myself accountable. I am aiming to lose about a stone.

Anyway, my app says I am obese. I would have said I was over weight yes but not obese. But I read on here a lot that we all have the wrong idea of what is overweight/ obese these days so maybe I was deluding myself?

YABU - you are obese, that is what it looks like
YANBU - you are not obese just a little fat

It’s not a moral judgement, it’s a medical description of a height weight thing. If a BMI calculator says you’re obese then you are. Doesn’t mean you’re not fit, healthy or attractive.

I don’t think you can tell from a photo. You don’t look that big but you’ve just had a baby so it’s pretty normal to be bigger than usual. Just give yourself some time.

BMI is becoming more and more outdated - fat obese are just words, if you feel good and are healthy then it’s all good.

You're overweight, yes. Eat sensibly, move and be patient with your body. It made a baby!

This.

It's just a label. I'm supposed to be obese at size 12/14 but I feel and look good. So I'm happy.

Most people think obese = morbidly obese. Our perception of healthy weight is very skewed.
Obese IS a little fat (as you phrase it).

Well obese is just a medical term - people sometimes think it means 26 stone and having to be craned out of the house - but it just means significantly overweight.

I’m guessing you aren’t far into that category, so don’t get hung up on terminology, just improve your lifestyle as you are doing, and the excess weight will come off.

You look about the same size I did when I started my journey and my BMI said I was obese too, it's actually the shock I needed to lose weight!

I think when we hear the word obese we all think of like... Tammy from My 600lb Life, when it's actually a much more familiar size. You've got a nice figure too so carry weight well (same as I do, I hope you don't take offense, this isn't intended as a dig at all!) so you can get heavier than, say, an apple shape could without it looking "obese".

It's a hard label to have slapped on you unexpectedly for sure.

I disagree that it's that simple. BMI calculations don't tell the whole story. The obvious one is that bodybuilders are more often than not in the obese category based on BMI.

But sorry op, you may well be just into the obese category. It covers a big range of weights.

obese is a medical definition based on BMI. If your BMI is 30 or higher you are obese ( or morbidly obese if higher still)

It isn't an opinion, it is a fact, so there is no discussion or argument or opinion involved. If your BMI is over 30, you are obese

Obese is not an opinion, it's worked out mathematically.

I was in the ‘obese’ BMI category when I looked roughly like you.

I agree with the PP: it isn’t a moral value, and also should never be used or thought of as an insult (not even to yourself about yourself), it is simply a medical category.

You are already looking to eat more healthily, don’t beat yourself up or dwell on this. It’s hard when your whole metabolic and hormonal system gets turned upside down and back again! Your body grew, and then fed, a new person. Now time to nurture your own body back to stability.

This.weve conditiones ourselves to do slim - good, fat - bad, obese - lazy greedy loser who can't control their pigging out and deluded themselves about how disgusting they are.

You may be officially obese but it's just a label stuck on a chart at a certain point.

You look like you have an apple body shape like me - toned arse and legs and then weight around the middle.

That's the most dangerous place to carry weight unfortunately so I'd focus on a healthy waist-height ratio rather than BMI.

You're not obese OP

True, I do remember a GP telling me it is a crude starting point that just points them in the right direction then they use their judgement or something like that.

I have just put in my weight when I finished A Levels. I was a size 8 and played 3 different sports so was exercising at least one a day. I was just into the over weight category then too.

I'm a size 14 now btw for those saying it's hard to tell in the pic, it is with the black leggings to be fair. Although when I say size 14 that is in tops/ leggings/ dresses size 14 jeans can be touch and go.

Ideally I would like to be able to walk into any shop pick up size 12 and know it will fit.

If your bmi is 30+ you are obese. It's just a category. Some people carry it well.

63% of the population is now obese or overweight so we don't have a sense of what is normal anymore.

BMI model does not work with all, for example, if you have larger boobs than normal it cannot give an accurate reading.

I'm currently losing weight. There are three classes of obese and you are probably in class 1. It's great when people go from class 1 to overweight, or even 3 to 1, (I'm on FB weight loss forums). It's all about body fat, which is normal after having a baby. The concentration should be on losing body fat and gaining strength.

It gets trotted out so much on MN that BMI must be nonsense because Arnie would be obese, when in truth it’s actually a very small % of people who would be affected by being so muscular that they’re so heavy that the BMI calc is wrong.

most people posting certainly aren’t muscular enough to be in that category. Muscle is very difficult to build, especially for women, and needs sustained effort and increased calories for a long time.

OP looks absolutely fine. I wouldn’t say you’re obese but you do look like you’ve had children and that’s taken over - I say that kindly because I ended up with a bit of a mum bum, slouchy posture from BF etc.

what I would say is that your figure looks like it would really respond well to weight training. You carry yourself evenly, you don’t have a big stomach or anything. You’d probably find that you’re way more mobile by adding exercise in rather than just focusing on diet

You look perhaps very marginally into obese category, but are you tall? What is your height weight? Perhaps it’s calculated wrong

i would say you still look attractive and energetic too though. I don’t think will be hard for you to lose it. It’s just an accumulation. Best of luck 👍

I've posted this before but a size 12 now, is an old size 16. Which had to be bought in outsize shops. I'm 55 and I remember the older women doing there best to stay a size 14 (now a size 10) so they could shop everywhere. This is one of my old sewing patterns.

People need to stop going with "but I am size x". I am 3 different sizes in a shop. And the fact that I can fot somewhat stretchy smaller doesn't mean I am that size actually and that it fits as should.

BMI in combination with waist measurment are good indicators.

And yy to pp who said most people imagine morbidly obese when talking about obese.

@ShirleyPhallus but a lot of women are very busty for example which can massively skew your BMI. My boobs are massive but the rest of me is not! They weigh loads. It's more than just "muscular" women this affects.