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?

I weigh 8st 12 pounds and 5'4 I have a BMI of 21, I think about my body and weight all the time, it's always there in my head, I have an eating disorder which I've had for 13 years, and starting to have oesophagus problems,

It's a lonely miserable place to be but it all stems from the fact food and weight is the only thing in my life I can control plus the need for looking slim as I was once a size 18 -20 and worried of being back there as I had severe health problems when I was that size, I also think I have body dysmorphia as I think I look like an average size 12-14 but I'm a 8-10 so to me other woman who wear my size look a lot slimmer than I do??

Yes. I'm 5'10 and a size 20. I was away on a trip this weekend that involved a lot of walking. My hips ached and I saw myself on some photos. I'm barrel-shaped. It was actually a shock to see myself as others must see me. (I'd always told myself I was "curvy" but I'm not. I'm fat.)

I'm US and tonight I shall be drinking a lot as I wait up to watch the Presidential election results. But tomorrow things have to change.

Bothers me enormously

I'm around a size ten

It's a constant preoccupation

I look 5/7 years younger at a size ten

I've been 14 stone and the world was honestly a different place

I refuse to drink green tea and crappy faux healthy food

I eat smaller portions and try and move a lot

Constantly. Every single day!

I was a bit bigger than the size I am now around 9 years ago, I then accidentally lost 6+ stone in 8 months and kept it off for a while (through pregnancy and baby days - I expanded a couple of years later!) During that period....acknowledged I was smaller but was still miserable with my body. Still saw only bad things and that was that. Nothing changed. I wasn't happier.

I'm now bigger again, I still hate my appearance with a passion.

I have come to the conclusion that perhaps I'm just a bit odd, I just accept that I hate what I look like. I avoid the mirror like the plague for the shoulders below as it sends me into a tail spin and focus on wearing clothes I like (wacky taste....long term) that I feel comfortable in.

I will not ever like my body, I'll never be happy with it. Big, small, wide, slight....even my feet are bizarre coming in at a men's size 11, I have learned it's better to just try and find ways to deal with it and sort of accept it

I'm overweight. I was slim until I was 28 then piled it on for some reason, my eating habits haven't changed so I guess it's just getting older.

It bothers me sometimes but not enough to seriously attempt weight loss I guess as I've been this way for 6 years now. I seem to have stagnated at my current weight. I'm a size 14/16 and 5'4. I don't feel physically unfit, I don't have a car so I do loads of walking. I know being overweight is not great for your health and I do worry about diabetes sometimes. I'm not sure at what point I'll decide enough is enough to be honest.

I really appreciate everyone's thoughts.

I'm in awe at those of you happy in your body no matter your shape, whether you're aiming to be healthier or already at a good point, it not affecting your self worth is such a goal!

And really sympathising with those saying how much it preoccupies your minds and affects your self esteem.

Again, logically I know no one gives a crap what I look like and it's no reflection of happiness, but it's almost like an in-built noise like you mention @thenewaveragebear1983 - every meal, every outfit, every choice, every event, every day - "life would be better thinner".

Knowing that isn't true and feeling it are worlds apart.

BMI 22.3, 9 stone, size 10.

Happy with my weight overall, but I now have a very flabby menopausal stomach.

55 with an under active thyroid, so for the first time in my life I'm having to keep an eye on my weight, because I'm eating the same things/taking same amount of exercise but the weight is creeping on pound by pound.

I’m short, size 6, was as low as a 4 and my BMI has never been lower than the lower end of overweight.

I am clearly dense! (I build muscle very quickly, if I so much as look at a barbell I tone up, whereas if my husband runs 100m he loses 5 stone. We joke that we would both be happier if we could swap body compositions - he would like to build muscle more easily, as he’s very lean, and I would like to be waif-like!).

I do think a lot about my weight but this is because I put 3 stone on and have really battled to get into the right headspace to lose it - dating right back to Covid times. I’m nearly there, and doing it the healthy way and feeling really good. But I think about my weight way too much. I wish I could be chunky and confident. Before I lost weight I would see so many women much bigger than me, and think they looked amazing - but I just have an internal self loathe switch that doesn’t seem to turn off.

I am now ‘princessing’ - spending time and money pampering myself in the hope it will help me be kinder to myself, and like myself more. It’s gradually working…

I'm 5 foot 3 and told I'm tiny all the time! You'd still get comments!

I think about my size constantly. It's debilitating really because I just don't feel worthy of anything. Why should I have my hair done or nails or eyebrows when I look this big? I'm a 16 (just lost a stone as I was a 16/18). Whilst I wouldn't think twice about seeing another lady size 16/18+, I wouldn't even think about her size or think any less of her, I just don't feel like 'me' at all and ordering myself makes me feel disgusting. I was always a very slim 8/10 before children and I just can't believe I'm now double my weight. I think I'm finally going to take the leap with mounjaro this month, mainly for my mental health.

I’ve felt a lot better about my weight (size 16, could do with losing a stone and a half) since I lost a lot of weight a few years back after having kids and getting married. I was a size 10 for the first time ever - and my life still wasn’t perfect! Made me realise how much I’d idealised that in my head, and although I’d like to lose weight for health reasons I feel that my happiness is less dependent on being thin!

I'm happy with how i look and feel. Try to eat reasonably healthily but definitely have chocolate and crisps most days. Exercise frequently but don't stress if i can't.

You've got a perfect BMI, you don't need to loose any weight. Being that thin is not attractive especially not to men who are looking for a fertile woman

I'm 5'3 and pretty slim, about a Size 8. People like to say I'm tiny but I am bang right in the middle of what is healthy for me. My size or weight doesn't bother me whatsoever - I've had children so I think I've done well to stay as fit as I can. I do try to be healthy but I slack off a bit and I don't really care. If I eat a bit of junk, it isn't the end of the world and I think obsessively trying to be healthy is bad. It's all about balance. I need to work out more - that's one thing I know! Hitting the gym does make me feel better but I get quite lazy. I love walking though and I think that is the best form of exercise to keep me healthy for me

Seriously? It's not about being attractive for a man, that is such an odd thing to say.

I was at the doctors recently about a problem was flagged when I had surgery. The GP took the opportunity to bombard questions at me regarding my weight.

I’m naturally a size 6.. I always have been, even when I gave birth. He was utterly convinced I have an eating disorder. This was the first time I have really thought about my weight and it did play on my mind but I know I eat well. It’s just the body I have. I get told I look amazing - I’m just very petite.

You can’t be either ends of the scale without comments.

I'm a size 8 and I think about my weight a lot. I look in the mirror everyday and critique myself.

This was me up until a couple of months ago. It resonates so much!

BMI 18.3

Small but still flabby as fuck

I hate myself

I’m huge! Been battling with my mental health for years which has now vastly improved. I am now ready to tackle my weight problem.

Part of me being happy now is because I struggled a lot with my body when I was in late teens and I thought I was huge when I was very thin and developed an ED. I thankfully recovered and I now have teen daughters who are getting close to that age myself and I never want them to feel like that, ever.

All the bloody time. I can't think of a Day in my life since I was about 11 that I've not thought about my weight. I'm 5'6 and 10st 4 today. When I'm 'good' I'm 9st 12. Really good 9st 9.

Because I'm currently not at a 'good' weight i think about it all the time. It's the first thing I think of when I open my eyes. Sometimes I wake in the night and think oh God, I'm fat at the moment.

I feel a bit obsessed at the moment with wanting to be thinner but I can't seem to stop eating. Then I feel shit about myself.

I've never had a full blown eating disorder (I always eat and dont make myself sick).

When I'm at a 'good' weight i feel good about myself but I'm still obessed with my weight and what I am eating. Or not eating. I weigh myself every day.

I wish I didn't feel like this. It's boring and shallow. I have a wonderful husband, family, job, friends, money, parents still here... but yet my weight dictates how I feel every bloody day of my life.

I feel miserable a lot over my size. I am an average height size 14. I hate myself sometimes. I think everything would be better if I lost 2 stone. I do have a good life, lovely children, partner and work is going well. It's horrible that an extra bit of fat ruins a little piece of every day for me.