Is a size 14 fat?

[bubblebutt88]

I know it's dependent on the individual and a lot of variables - height etc but generally speaking would you say it's 'fat?' I am a size 14, I don't think I'm huge but I have a big roll of fat around my belly (thanks c-section and pizza) and I do feel like my face looks a bit bloated at times.

I'm certainly not thin or toned but I wouldn't say I'm obese either. I know id look and feel better if I dropped a dress size but at this time in my life with young kids, a demanding job and lots going on I just can't find the energy to focus on weight loss.

What are your thoughts?

Do you genuinely think they were including women who are 6 foot tall in that?

When they give a blanket statement of "size 14 is fat" with no qualifiers? Yes, of course. Why would they state it as a universal truth if they don't think it is?

They'll backpedal once someone states the obvious, but that's not the same thing at all. Anyway, some people do think a size 14 6" woman is fat because some people are disordered on the matter.

What I suspect often happens is people just give a knee jerk reaction because we've been so heavily conditioned to think 12 is the largest "acceptable" size. But if you think about it and realise a 6" woman will carry it differently to a 5" woman, you might also realise a busty woman will carry it differently to a small chested one and so on. Hopefully, you'll eventually realise that it's a silly question with no real answer other than "it depends", especially since not everyone even agrees what "fat" is anyway. And the question "am I overweight" isn't governed by dress size. It's a BMI matter.

Clothing and dress sizes do this to people. They're emotive. Although possibly less so for the younger generation who have been raised to see a greater range of bodies among clothing models and to expect a wider range of sizes to be easily available.

I agree with this. It is why threads like this are so pointless and ridiculous. It always annoys me as well that short to average women seem unable to understand how different things are for anyone above about five six. I am an example of that: I am five eight and I would not be 'fat' at a size 14. Larger than I would like, possibly, but still not fat. Women do not have to be six foot to be tall.

When they give a blanket statement of "size 14 is fat" with no qualifiers?

But did many people say that? Skimming back through the thread for a while I can't see any. I think they all refer to height or say that dress size isn't indicative of fatness.

@LovelyTheresa I mean, if it's so pointless and ridiculous why waste time reading it all and contributing? Nobody forced you. I literally said 560 posts back that I realise there are tons of variables.

Yes. I had a skim through and there are loads of posts along the lines of "yes I think it's fat", "I'm fat at a size 14 so yes" and so on.

Such a tiny percentage of UK women are 6 feet tall though, I can't think how you thought they'd be referring to or including them?

You're being obtuse...obviously the few people that haven't mentioned height are talking about the average, and 6ft is far above the average height for a woman.

You look great! But you're much taller than the average woman so you're not really making a point - of course you'll wear a larger size.

I'm not being obtuse at all. I'm noting that when the discussion turns to fatness and dress sizes, many women lose reason and have to be reminded of some obvious things. We even had people writing out dress sizes and substituting then with largely subjective definitions. Tall women, busty women and so on are not so vanishingly rare that people should forget they exist.

It's the headspace that grips so many women as soon as the talk turns to bodies and sizing. And of course everyone's denying that as well. As a PP said, if you're concerned about weight, why aren't you looking at BMI? Or fatness, some sort of body fat measurement? Those would tell you. But it's all about dress sizes, which get more meaningless every day anyway.

DC1 had a birthday party recently and I looked round at all the mums there and I’d say they were all between a size 10 to a size 16. I could not in all honesty say any of them looked “fat”. I think this size range is the average size for women in this country. Some will be smaller than this, some will be bigger, but these are the average sizes most people will come across. The question of whether any one size is fat is completely subjective and to be honest, labelling one size as a cut off for “fat” is really insulting.

Because a lot of women are less concerned with the health implications than they are about how big they look. While size 14s vary an inch or so dependent on shop, they are all roughly the same size, so every woman who fits into one will be roughly the same size as each other in the waist, hip and/or bust. She won't be amongst the smallest women around, but nor will she be amongst the largest (who are thought of as 'fat'). In a room full of other women in the UK she will be around the same size as most, smaller than several, and therefore not stand out as 'fat'.

Because a lot of women are less concerned with the health implications than they are about how big they look.

Yes, I know.

I don’t think the message of the health implications for cancer, heart disease, diabetes etc of having an overweight/obese bmi and too big waist are particularly well known yet, it’s only the last year or so that I’ve particularly become aware (and as I’ve hit north of 40) it was always about looking fat for many years.

Most people haven’t seen the research on the estimated cost to the nhs of people not being a healthy weight.

I’m very tall, I often wear size 14 tops, blazers, jackets because I have long arms.

I was a size 14 when pregnant. Before that a 10, now a 12. I don’t think I’d be officially overweight if I was a 14 bottom half.

I don’t think the message of the health implications for cancer, heart disease, diabetes etc of having an overweight/obese bmi and too big waist are particularly well known yet

Really?

Im 5"8 and a size 12-14! I am about a stone heavier than my bmi says i should be but i don't think im fat at all! I think i would look ill and underweight if i lost weight

No and I'm size 10

I also wonder if the word 'fat' has become more specific over the years. Thinking back to my childhood, I can think of 3 women on my street who would have been classed as fat in the 80s, but now we'd just say had middle aged spread. I can think of a couple of girls per year group in school who would have been classed as fat.

At 15, I was 5'9 in a sea of normal sized girls. I felt fat and ungainly, because i was just bigger than they were, but photos of me just show a girl who wasn't Kate moss and was just beginning to grow bra sized boobs.

"Thinking back to my childhood, I can think of 3 women on my street who would have been classed as fat in the 80s, but now we'd just say had middle aged spread. "

Well, yes, that's obviously just the average person getting larger.

"and therefore not stand out as 'fat'."

Not 'standing out' as fat is not the same as not being fat. The UK population is fat on average so of course fat people don't stand out.