BMI approaching obese

[GalGadont]

So spurred by another thread on here I’ve used the NHS BMI calculator, I knew I was overweight but horrified to realise I’m now approaching obese (height about 5.5 & 1/2 and weight 12st 11). AIBU to be a bit surprised that’s categorised as nearly obese? I’m a size 14, still fit into some of the clothes I wore when I was a healthy weight, don’t have any difficulty fitting into plane seats etc. I definitely know I need to lose weight, but I’ve always thought of ‘obese’ as meaning really huge. Feeling very chastened right now!

But did size 6 even exist in those days? It sounds like shops didn't stock anything below a size 10 back then.

It’s an unhealthy weight and you have too much fat. I say this as someone who had the same wake up call at 37 I was 5’4” and 12st 3. You prob need to lose 2 stone and I recommend intermittent fasting (there are FB groups) and strength training. I’m headed for 50 now and have kept the weight off with these methods although in peri menopause it’s not easy. I don’t know how old you are but trust me it gets harder over 45😖

The poster I replied to say they fall into the overweight category.

Its not really for you to say whether their being overweight will or wont cause them weight related health issues.

I was a 16 at 5ft 9 when my BMI was obese briefly.... It is hard to quantify sometimes. I'm now just 6lbs over healthy BMI but I don't think I look overweight or maybe I'm just deluded.

It is hard to tell! And obese is such a loaded term

It's a medical term. That's all.

I think it's a shame obese as a term goes from BMI to infinity. The other categories have limits.

I worked in retail in the sixties, I was a size 10 then, still a size 10 despite being two stone heavier. Sizing is definitely much bigger. If I make a pair of trousers I have to cut a 14, dress patterns reflect ones actual measurements.

I've spent the last few years teetering just under the overweight threshold. While some of that is made of muscle and therefore more helpful to health than not, the bit extra is on my waist, and not beneficial. It makes my body heavier and slower. Not a health disaster in itself, but weight has a habit of creeping up and I'm getting to the age zone where that gains momentum so it's not a trend I want to continue. Meanwhile I haven't changed clothes size. Some more structured clothes from 15+ years ago are looking snug. More stretchy ones are fine with a lot more inches to go. I'm currently in loose, stretchy size 8 trousers that could see me through to being noticably rotund in the middle (exagerated by being short). Based on comfort of my everyday clothes, I could easily be significantly overweight and still in size 8-10/ S of selected garments.Meanwhile my vintage size 10s with a 26" waist are long gone.

If I said to most people I knew that I was within a couple of lb of being overweight, they'd either roll around laughing or take it personally.

But it's not a value judgement, it's just a fact that I'm around the point of having more abdominal fat than I require for good health, and I prefer to stay in that optimal zone and maintain it than to continue gaining over time.

It is very easy to have more surplus fat than you need and overlook it for a good while. Nationally 63.8% of adults now are overweight or obese. It is "normal". BMI of 20-24.9 is less common than 25+ and more so as adults get older, or by neighbourhood. It's not an easy topic to discuss in RL, it gets very emotive, and it is a sensitive topic to face up to and easy to ignore until it is a bigger issue to manage.

I personally wouldn't put too much faith in BMI as it doesn't take account a lot of factors or that people have different body shape.

And that’s why there’s a range within the “healthy” category: to be a healthy BMI at my height I can be anywhere between 8st 6lbs - 11st 7lbs - a whole three stone which accounts for different body shapes and big boobs and lots of muscle and solid bones and all the other things which women say means that BMI “doesn’t work” for them.

I'm slightly shorter than you and was 12st12lbs a month ago. I wear a size 12 and didn't feel "obese" but the scales don't lie. I'm now losing weight as I do not want to be obese and it's not good for your health.

Theres a massive range within a healthy BMI, how do you not know this?

Ut doesn't. It goes up to morbidly obese

There was another thread like this recently.

Obese isn't as enormous as people seem to think it is. We've become desensitised due to so many people being overweight.

At my height the difference between being normal weight and obese is about 2 stone. Obese no longer just means a Hattie Jaques sort of size, the definition has changed.

Do people say this to derail from the truth?

Or because they also want to fill the bingo card up too.

Obese is a horrible sounding word, probably to push people into doing something about their weight. I wasn't too bothered when I was a bit overweight but when I started creeping towards being obese then that's when I decided to do something about it.

The former.

There's a lot of metaphorical "la la la...nothing to see here!!" and head-in-the-sand type responses in these threads.

The definition of obesity hasn't changed. People's perception of what overweight means has changed. Along with portion sizes - it seems like every time I go out to dinner at the moment, they've just got bigger.

I have a background in nutrition and unless you're actually an athlete or rugby player, BMI is a really good indicator.

I saw an old clip with Hattie Jacques the other day and mentioned to adult DD that in her day she was probably one of the largest women on TV. DD was shocked and said 'She's not that big, most people her sort of age are that size...?'
She was right too. HJ size actually isn't that big through the modern lens.

I dont think its changed, when did it change.

I do find it odd that people complain that 'obese people know that they're obese', but at the same time you get so many posts like this where the OP and many posters are shocked when their BMI results show the truth.

BMI is a good indicator for weight. I'm half expecting some more PR friendly terms to be used going forward. Perhaps we should be using cuddly instead of obese? People can then sleep walk into early graves without any fear...

I'm the same height as you and 15 years ago weighed exactly that (12 stone 10). I was bloody huge!! My back hurt too. I lost 3 stone over 6 months. Then several years to lose another stone. I've maintained my weight since. I look back at the photos from that time and I look FAT, because I was fat. I knew I was fat at the time too. I hated it. I kept a pair of jeans I used to wear - I now fit in one leg. It's scary how people are in such denial about being overweight/ obese... and how it's so normalised. Carry on like that and you'll be looking forward to all sorts of weight related chronic health issues.

I would think at 5'5 and nearly 13 stone someone would be obese, yes.