To think someone that’s 7 stone and 5’4 is tiny

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And to be worried d

7st with a healthy body composition it 7st and anorexic is two very different situations so it is inpossible to know what situation you are dealing with.

I am 5’3 and 7st 5lbs, I still have a good layer of body fat as I am small framed. Not everyone in the 7s is ill.

How do you all kbiw how much your friends weight anyway? Is that creepy or am I just being gen X again?

I suspect they don’t know and that explains all the “7 stone and perfectly healthy”
posts. Either their friends told them (in which case they could be lying) or they had a codependent eating disorder and spent lots of time talking about it.

Yes - it was my anorexic weight when I had stopped eating beyond a few sticks of carrots etc to stay alive. I of course said it was my 'natural weight' too

I am 5'2" and I am just over 7 stones, a size zero in jeans, but I am perfectly healthy. It is better to be "tiny" than the norm in this century, which is fat.

I know my adult sons weight as he periodically weighs himself in front of me when we have the "have you got a eating disorder" convo. I know mil as she was weighed by the hospital after a A&E visit ( hospital and fil very alarmed as Fil didn't know her weight before she was just super slim). My friend brought up her weight constantly and that she wore age 10 clothes. Maybe to justify her never eating in front of me as she said she was mysteriously unable to gain weight. She however could have been telling porkies. She was however very very slim.

I have been musing on this today and everyone who has ever met mil says how slim she is and wonders how she stays like that so it's very much praised. If you had to describe her in 3 words "slim" would be right up there.

I wouldn't worry too much. I am 4 ft 11 inches and have been 6 stone 10 LB for years. I am very fit and healthy and have been for years at 55 years of age. The doctors think the same too. If the weight has been lost dramatically then that's when I would be seeing if they are feeling okay.

You are considerably shorter!!

Exactly. Anorexia is not diagnosed on BMI. It’s diagnosed on:

• Weight loss
• Self-induced food restriction (ie not result of physical illness)
• Distorted body image - ie see themselves as fat
• Fear of gaining weight or refusal to gain weight
• Compulsive exercise

Those in combination with a low BMI would be considered for an ED.

A low but consistent BMI with no weight loss, normal food intake etc is not an ED.

It doesn't seem to be within the healthy range. Old time often called historical benchmarks "Met Life" charts give a range of weights based upon wrist measurement, ie small, med, large. Even those don't go that low. These are US based so its pounds - 114 -123 for a small frame (medium 131-141 & large 138-150).

That sounds seriouslyunderweight. I am only 5'2 and 7 stone would be a bit underweight for me. The optimum weight for my height is approx.8.5 stone so for someone taller would be more.

I am 4'11 and 6.5 stone my weight will not go any higher,it's my natural weight, never dieted,Dr says I'm fine

I have been on the depo injection for about a little over 15 years i have stopped it as I would like to start a family, I've had no periods yet and not ovulating, I think I will need clomid i have pcos aswell so im ready for the challenge of trying to conceive but just wondering if anyone has any advice at all please.

Where's the OP gone?

That's not 'slim' - it's a BMI of less than 15. How do you know she is 7 stone?
It's nearly 2 stone under the lower end of the healthy range and I do not believe that is her healthy weight.

She’s not 7 stone. She’s lying to you.

I have a naturally slim friend who is 5’8” and 7 stone. She has tiny bones, runs, doesn’t do weights and this is her healthy weight. We need more information

Statistically your friend would need a BMI of 40 (extreme obesity) before she was as at great a risk of reduced mortality as she is at a BMI of 15. BMI tracked against mortality is a hockey stick shape. So no it's not a healthy weight. If she looks ok to you then she's probably lying about her weight for some weird reason.

Also I'm interested in the idea that a weight that is no effort to maintain must be a healthy and natural weight. This is actually what the extreme end of body positivity/ intuitive eating advocates think (and apply to people who are morbidly obese) - I don't agree with them either.

What do you class as “the proper way”

I’ve recently lost 80lb and still losing weight and got more to lose, and the amount of people who I work with all say ‘ oh you using the injections’
No I’m not ffs, calorie deficit and exercise!!!

I'm 5'3" and look horrible if I go under 8 stone. I look healthier at 9-10. I'd be concerned if they went under seven. People are heavier than they were a generation before because we're less malnourished.

I’m a bit shorter than that and weigh about that - but I have a healthy BMI and my muscle mass is 80%+. So I’m definitely not unhealthy or wasting away, if anything I have bulky quads and back/shoulders from training. I don’t think someone would look at me and think gaunt, I look normal to fit.

Beyond that, I definitely still carry excess fat in areas as you can’t really target that. So I’m not skinny everywhere nor “gaunt”.

I do sometimes think people have an unrealistic idea of what healthy actually looks like - and just the sheer mention of “7 stone” will get people’s backs up because they’re so used to size 16 figures being the norm. In reality most shorter women don’t need to eat as much as average sized women, and it’s totally fine for them to exist at lower body weights if not healthier. I don’t think shorter women carry weight as well, as it is more noticeable on a compressed figure. It’s not that, shorter women will look skeletal which I think is the assumption people are making

Well 7 1/2 stone is the lower end of the healthy BMI range at 5’3” so I’d say you’re maybe about 1/2 stone underweight.

Oh FFS. Those of us within the broad category of healthy weight but petite are not underweight whatever you would say.

It sometimes feels like the only acceptable shape for small statured women on MN is beach ball. PP is correct, when you are barely 5', every pound shows.

OK - no need to be so rude.
I stand by believing the broad BMI range allows for petite women to use it.
I also stand by believing a 5'3" woman weighing less than 7 stone is likely to be underweight. Maybe@hardhatson is using a different BMI range to the widely accepted one, but by most people's understanding lower than 18.5 is underweight. She may well feel entirely healthy and that's a different issue.

I have at no point ever on MN suggested that short women should be round.

The lower end of the healthy range means it’s healthy.