AIBU to ask if anyone else is classed as obese?

[TheOpalFox]

Im
16 stone and classed as obese :( anyone else?

I was 14 months ago - was 13 stone 12 at 5ft 4 with a bmi of 33. Today I'm 8 stone 12. Thanks to WLI. I looked dreadful and my confidence was low. I feel and look like a different person now.

I have been thinking about WLI. Has anyone had gastritis from them? Apparently it's a known side effect. I'm prone to getting gastritis so it's a concern.

👏👏👏 That’s great going.

Just standing naked in front of a full length mirror tells you all you need to know.
Morbidly obese, obese, overweight, looking good, bit thin, too thin.
BMI is a good indicator for for most people over the age of about 35

My obesity wake up call was funny... Did the chart... 168cm, 100kg/220lb. Obese.

20 min later we were watching the Simpsons. Guess what Homer weighed!😲😲😲

I am gradually losing weight. A bit shamed by it to be honest.

I am OP. Morbidly so. I hardly ever talk about my weight on here because MN isn’t a supportive place to be if you’re overweight, especially if you aren’t making considerable efforts to change things.

People look at me and make a lot of assumptions about me based solely on my weight: my diet must be disgusting, I’m lazy, I don’t care about my health or my appearance, I’m setting a horrible example to my kids… I could go on.

Truth is, I find those assumptions devastating. I make 90% of our household’s meals from scratch, using fresh and often low fat ingredients. Example - last night we had air fried salt and pepper chicken with rice and pak choi. Once a week or so I might make a meal that is more fatty- a pasta bake with cheese for example. I have a massive water bottle that I chug throughout the day to stay hydrated. I am always on the move - I care full time for my disabled child and I don’t sit still for more than 5 mins at a time. If we have a treat night, for example pizzas, I can only manage 2-3 slices max. We have a nice pudding maybe once a fortnight, that I usually make.

My kids are both slim, active and healthy.

My point is, I’m not out here ordering myself KFCs and Domino’s and binging the whole thing. The idea of doing so makes me feel sick. I’m not swigging bucketloads of Coca Cola all day long. But people automatically assume gluttony of that scale based on the fact that I’m a size 22-24.

Yes I know I need to move more, and be more disciplined about calorie intake. That is the only way I will shift weight, incredibly slowly.

It’s just upsetting that I’m doing good things every day, feeding my family the same as I eat, and I am obese whereas they are not. It IS much harder to shift weight if you have given birth to kids. It is even harder if you have polycystic ovaries and insulin resistance - which is worse in your forties due to perimenopause. It is also much harder to lose weight when your oestrogen levels are dropping and your metabolism slows as a result.

These aren’t excuses, as I said I need to be more disciplined about calorie intake if I want to lose weight, but they are real mitigating factors that affect me as a mid forties woman and I don’t think MN or society as a whole give us grace for the fact that our bodies make being slim a lot harder.

I promise you will not look emaciated. You’ve just got used to yourself being overweight.

I'm 5ft 8 and 15st-ish so obese. I've lived with eating disorders since I was 14 (in my 50s now). At some points I've been 6st, at others 25st plus. I'm a size 18 which isn't great I know but I've stayed stable at this weight/size for about five years, which is a massive achievement for me. If I go on a diet to lose more I quickly end up in my starve/binge cycle and the mental torture that goes with it. I'd rather be a couple of stone overweight than go through that again and possibly forever. Being the size I am now consistently is better for my physical and mental health than continuing to yo-yo between eating 200cal a day and bingeing to a size 30 and back again ad infinitum.

Are you looking for support/ suggestions, OP? Or just people to chat with in a similar situation?

I found MyFitnessPal forums were great for meeting other people in similar size/ situation to chat with.

BMI combined with waist to height ratio is a good combo for most women. Your waist ratio should be 0.4-0.49.

My BMI was hovering around 30 for a couple of years until very recently and I was totally in denial about it. I'm 5'8 and was wearing a size 14 mostly and convinced myself I was just muscly/curvy etc because I was running, weightlifting, doing CrossFit etc. I had just got used to being bigger and the weight crept on gradually and I just didn't see myself as that bad, and would then get a bit sad seeing photos.

My DH started losing weight about 6 months ago and lost 2 and a half stone quite quickly through diet changes and exercises so I decided to join him and watch my portions and cut out the evening snacking. My weight loss has been more gradual but I'm down to BMI of just under 28 now and am just trying to adopt healthier habits that I can sustain.

I've always done a lot of exercise so I don't feel any different really but in my holiday photos I can see a difference in my waist and I'm back in some size 12s now which has motivated me to keep going! It's hard though, especially when you're a bit older and busy with work/kids.

Yes me. 5ft tall and 80kg.

At your height and weight the BMI calculation means you are classed as Obese Class II (severely obese).

Obviously, BMI is a blunt tool, you might be all muscle, but if not you should consider your health at this stage.

I say this as someone who was obese class III (morbidly obese), as you get older this will begin to affect your health more and more. I am now a normal BMI (thanks to weight loss medication). The sooner you tackle this the better.

I know it is easier said than done, obesity is a chronic recurring disease and once obese it isn’t easy.

Yes, and both stress and sleep disturbance can cause weight gain via hormonal effects, so if you're also dealing with these it makes it even more difficult.

I kinda will ... but I'm not gonna post a pic.

No you won’t, no one looks emaciated when they reach a healthy weight.

I think we have body dysmorphia as humans, it’s very common, see how many people don’t think they look obese. Or people thinking they will look too thin at a healthy bmi, what we often see is not reality.

for me, I reached an 18, I could not understand why I looked so much bigger in the ring camera than I did in the mirror. Or in candid photos. No one else seemed to,

the reality is I was just not seeing it,

I think it's the 'super hard' that's making you try to convince yourself you'll look emaciated.

You won't of course, as no-one within a healthy BMI does.

I was 3-4 years ago - nearly 17 stone, BMI of 37.

I did the unpopular thing of using GLP1 jabs and haven’t looked back. I am on a maintenance dose and will be using the daily tablets eventually for maintenance. I lost 6.5st, and have a BMI of exactly 24.9. I can’t ever go back.

My back ached, knees ached, my feet used to hurt in heels/standing for long periods. My sleep was interrupted, often waking with neck and shoulder spasms and morning headaches. I was irritable, tired, lacking in energy, struggling with the peri/meno pause. I was addicted to carb rich foods so in a constant sugar roller coaster so my mood matched. My skin was awful and I was really depressed. But mostly, my self esteem was through the floor, I felt self-conscious, rarely left the house and my marriage was severely impacted.

Now I have blood screen and health indices of someone younger than I am, according to the GP algorithms. I am low risk for heart disease, my thyroid meds are reduced, I rarely get a migraine/cluster headaches (they were 1-2 days long, 2-3 times a week for years, now I get a migraine a couple of times a year), cholesterol etc is healthy and, because I am eating well, I haven’t been anaemic for 3 years or vit D deficient (as I go outside more and garden etc). For the last two years I have not spent Jan to Jun on a diet, dreading the annual holiday because I didn’t lose the weight I have hoped and have nothing decent to wear - and I have not felt guilty on holiday ‘relaxing’ my diet as my weight corrects itself within a few weeks of being home again now I have a healthier relationship with food and my body. My marriage has never been better - we date, see people and I am not intimacy avoidant.

I am so glad all that is behind me now. Whatever method a person takes - whether they combine diet, exercise with medicated routes or not - I really can recommend giving it a go. I’d also recommend counselling/therapy as I did a bit along the way and am having some now, as there is usually ‘stuff’ underlying our relationships with our bodies and/or food. My only regret is that I wish I did it in my 20/30s, and hadn’t waited until I was mid fifties! All those wasted years of self hatred and diet tyranny. :(

Same height as you, at my heaviest I was around 126 kg so morbidly obese and struggling with everything. Now I'm around 75 kg and daily living is so much easier.

As an aside I am not overweight or obese. I’m 163cm and 61kg. I’m totally ripped and look very muscle mass. I mean maybe could have a BMI of 26/27 as as muscular woman and not be overweight.

5ft8 and 90kg so yes

It seems a bit of a strange question @TheOpalFox as the category’s of healthy weight, overweight and obese are very easy to understand. They are not really an opinion more of a factual scale based on BMI . So at 5’6 and 16 stone you are just over half way up the obesity scale. With Obesity 1. which runs from BMI 30-40. (White ethnicity)and BMI 27.5 - 40 for (BAME ethnicities) You are BMI 36.2 assuming you are not an elite athlete such as an active member of a rugby team - this will impact on your health eventually -
if it hasn’t already.

what was your reason for starting this thread. Has it come as a surprise ? Did you want advice ?

Right but for the vast majority of people who don’t have a high muscle mass BMI is a pretty decent measure of overweight or not. People like you or habitual gym goers, not so much

According to NHS England, 30% of the population is obese and a further 36% overweight, so a fair number of mumsnetters in England would probably fit the profile.

Both - my child is profoundly disabled and needs 24/7 care (we receive max disability benefits for them, have a Motability car etc)