How much does your size/weight bother you?

[AllAboutJazz]

I'd say I'm healthy, fairly fit and active.

I make a lot of effort to cook healthy meals, drink green tea (blugh), avoid processed food etc. I'm not thin, but not exactly fat either, just...plump? BMI 22.5 but I'm short, so I could stand to lose a stone.

I own my house and have a business, really love my job, have a few friends who are lovely, a great partner and freedom to more or less do as I please - a very lucky life.

Why then am I so unhappy not being thin? It's like I can't let myself be happy, because I should be smaller.

How often do you think about your size/weight? How much does it affect your happiness?

@Devilsmommy thank you! It took a lot of work, but it's definitely a good feeling 💙

I'm an 18-20 my size doesn't bother me in the slightest from an aesthetic point of view. I understand why I've put on weight, was a size 10 and 148 lbs when I turned 30 - 8 years on my heaviest was 235lb I'm a single parent with an autistic child, did an OU degree so became very sedentary and now WFH so do less than 1000 step a day naturally, without being mindful about getting out and about

However, there were a couple of instances in the summer where I got out of breath easier when walking, my feet noticeably swelled in the heat. Sandals were uncomfortable etc so I've started to mindfully get active everyday, going out for an hour's walk at lunch etc. I actually love exercise when I'm in the habit and used to run 10ks so its just about improving my routine.

But no, looking in the mirror I'm not unhappy or happy with what I see, your body is a vehicle to do what you want in life - mine needs some maintenance right now but it doesn't define me.

I am a size 12 but a flabby 12. I lost 4 stone about 6 years ago. Got gallstones, had my gallbladder removed, inherited two autoimmune conditions and an overactive thyroid. I think possibly from loosing too much too quickly. I think about my weight every day. It’s constant. I’d just gorge myself otherwise. I’d like to loose another half stone but it won’t come off no matter how hard I try.

This is how I feel I’m 8-10 but I’m not toned I’m saggy I hate it . I tried to eat loads more and go to the gym and I just lost more weight so I looked unwell. I just feel unattractive

I read Patsy Palmer's biography and thought, she's slim, how can she have any problems! And then spent some time thinking about how moronic I am.

Size 20, it doesnt bother me, but each year by Christmas I am size 10 due to the Orthodox fast

Agree totally. Why do people put themselves through things they dislike?

In which direction? Feeling too thin or too fat?

I'm a size 18 and not very happy. My DH is naturally slim and I'm beginning to feel paranoid about it. I just don't feel very healthy and it scares me. I really need to get started on shifting the extra pounds. So to answer your question I think about it a lot.

I’m the biggest I’ve ever been, and also the least bothered.

I’ve always been bigger than average, I’d say, and for a long time that really bothered me.

But genuinely - I don’t care what people outside of my immediate circle think. I went on holiday in July- wore swimwear and shorts. I wear clothes that I like, without really being bothered if anyone else thinks they make me look big etc. I kinda feel like most people aren’t looking, and if they are looking and judging - that says more about them, I’m just out here existing.

It has taken a long time to reach this point, I had an eating disorder until my early adulthood. But now if I’m hungry, I eat, and I eat whatever I want without judging myself, and I’m all good with just living in the body I have.

Too saggy and untoned and if I try to exercise to tone up I lose weight. I feel unfeminine and as if I’ve been deflated if that makes sense ?

I'm a size 14-16. I'm always trying to lose weight...but only because of clothes!

I don't hate myself though..I quite like myself actually. Even when I'm overweight I think I'm attractive and my body is in proportion.

Society tells women they must hate themselves. Don't fall for it.

Similar to a PP it makes me not just sad but furious that women are beating themselves up about their weight. Really angry that people are worrying about this to this extent.

I just don’t think about it to be honest. I am determined not to succumb to this sort of self hatred. The idea of a BMI of 22 or thereabouts being unhealthy is deeply disturbing. If your body mass is high enough to jeopardise your health then worry about it and do something. Otherwise just don’t let yourself be derailed by it.

I am probably a size 10-12. I don’t think about it much. I have never weighed myself. I eat reasonably healthily but I eat when I want and I refuse to deny myself food because of a marginal potential impact on my BMI. I exercise and I rarely drink alcohol. Like a PP I have a good life and I am just not going to derail my happiness and self esteem worrying about this.

Not really. I've been tracking my BMI a bit since having a baby - highest was 26.5, now down to 24.5. Pre baby I reckon it was maybe 22.5 ish? Dunno, I hadn't weighed myself for about 5 years. I'm 5'7" and I think I look normal sized, and a bit chubby when I was at my biggest but was more of a concern that none of my trousers fit.

I strongly suspect I'm on the spectrum, for many reasons, and one being because I don't really think much about what I look like. Because I can't see myself most of the time, just bits of myself? So why would I think about it. Sometimes I see myself in shop windows and I'm a bit like "jeez, you look a bit ropey". But most of the time it doesn't really cross my mind. So no, weight has never worried me that much, I don't think.

I've been actively changing my lifestyle and losing weight this year after a significant period of stress that I coped with by eating. My weight was creeping up in previous years anyway, but the past 18 months were very hard on me. Thankfully that specific stress has gone now.

I am much more comfortable with myself since losing some weight, but I wouldn't say I obsess over it or let it rule my moods. I don't weigh myself very often but I am still in the obese BMI range (just). If I want to be in the normal range I have about 20kg to lose. Feels like a lot, and I'm not convinced I'd be any better off than now. I'm strong, fit, and well, and a size 12/14. I feel pretty average at this size and like how I look in candid photos. That alone is worth a lot, not to mention the health benefits of working out etc.

I'm aiming to get down to the bottom end of overweight BMI and reassess how I feel about things then, but I don't equate my worth as a human being with my weight or clothing size. Being overweight isn't a moral failing.

Now you asked and made me reflect, I realise I must think about it multiple times a day. From getting up and deciding if I'm having a 'fat day', to catching sight of my relection and always ALWAYS noticing how my body looks first, well before hair or face. To thinking about the calories I'm consuming/burning. To checking how bloated I look after dinner and hoping it's gone down by morning and if not, what will I wear. I have a BMI of 21 and I'm 55 for goodness sake. And I do this. And you have made me really think about it OP.

I've recently lost a stone went away this weekend and was determined not to eat crap but I did. More than having extra weight, I get annoyed with myself that I don't eat well consistently.

I've still got a stone to lose & now probably another couple of pounds from being silly last week. It's constant and tedious and more annoying that I was really in the zone & feeling better about myself & it's hard to get my focus back.

My BMI is currently 23.2

I was reasonably happy until the NHS decided to update their bmi calculator to put this in the overweight category! 🤦‍♀️.

Now I think I could do with losing a stone...

I honestly never think about my weight.
If I’m being critical it would be that I lose tone in my belly incredibly easily and still having a young baby it’s softer than I would like.
I don’t have scales and haven’t weighed myself since I was a teen, but I obviously have a fairly accurate sense of size based on clothing fits.

I've never been slim, I'm an emotional binge eater and have been since my teens. Never been happy about it but unable to make a positive change. DH is naturally slim and takes no pleasure from food. I've been a size 20, 15st at my highest. I'm now 2st lighter and just started mounjaro to lose the last 3st. I'm so excited at the thought of being a normal size at last.

i used to feel like this, until I took up a sport I really enjoyed and started eating to fuel my body instead of feeling like I was at war with myself all the time. it’s been years and I don’t have time to do the sport much anymore because I have a baby and a toddler (although I try and be as active as I can) but I have managed to hang onto the mindset.

I hope you manage to find some peace of mind.

My bmi is the same as yours @AllAboutJazz and I too feel miserable about my size and the overall 'look' of my body. I never feel nice in clothes, I never think I look nice or slim, it makes me genuinely unhappy. I have constant 'food noise' and think about food all the time, and I feel like I have no power to override it. I run a lot and work out and it's probably the only way I maintain my (just) normal bmi. It's really exhausting and sometimes I just get really pissed off snd stampy about it, because I can't actually eat small enough amounts to lose any weight. So I just bumble along losing a few, gaining a few, and just being miserable about it.

It bothers me every minute of every day and has done for over 35 years. I’m not overweight but I certainly feel it and despise the way I look to the point where I can’t have mirrors in my house

Not hugely anymore, I’m a size 12/14 with small boobs, decent legs but a huge belly proportionately (had scopes etc to figure it out), that I’ve gotten down in the past by cutting out food I loved (basically if I stop eating bread cereal and pasta) and being tired and always cranky. I’ve known two people with very large food issues in the last few years and currently my 2 teen sons aren’t eating enough so it’s shown me obsession over weight is one of the world’s most useless fights

I’m happy with my weight at the moment, I never really struggled with my weight until after pregnancy.

I was a skinny teenager, I modelled in my late teens and early 20s which definitely didn’t help my body image. I remember my agent saying I could do with losing a few pounds, at the time I was 5ft 9 and 8 stone 7, my pelvis was protruding! I got to a size 12 post pregnancy which felt huge to me (objectively I know it’s not) but I really hardcore dieted for 6-9 months to lose the weight. I am finding it harder to keep off now though, I always feel a bit hungry and can generally hear brownies screaming for me at every coffee shop I walk past. If there’s treats in the house they’re eaten immediately, so I just don’t buy them. Anyway, I hate that I’m always wondering how tight or loose my trousers feel and I hate that I just can’t eat what I want when I want. But it’s sort of my way of life now 🤷‍♀️