NHS Bmi calculator says I'm overweight

[carrottbaton]

After 10 years of not weighing myself Ive this evening weighted myself and I'm 11 stone. Checked on the NHS and I'm officially overweight.

Im a size ten and I genuinely eat healthily. I actually struggle sometimes to eat three meals a day because I'm not hungry/too busy, whatever. I exercise most days - mix of cardio and weight lifting both freestyle and classes. I love exercising.

I feel really demoralised and upset. I don't exercise to lose weight but I'm upset that I'm classed as overweight.

Doctors tend to use BMI more than waist to hip ratio because it’s a lot easier to measure correctly. Waist to hip means you have to measure in exactly the right place each time. Do you breathe in? Do you push your stomach out? Etc Height is a lot easier to measure as is weight.

BMI is a blunt tool so doctors should use other diagnostics if BMI indicates that someone might weigh too much or too little.

@Changemusthappen

Why does everyone still go on about being size x, y, z. The size you buy in clothes is 100% irrelevant. I am overweight but have a size 8 pair of trousers that I can get into. Do I think I am a size 8 and slim, no I am not deluded.

The NHS calculator is a tool. Measure you weight, height and waist. Look at your shape, muscle mass etc. Make an educated judgement call. DO NOT USE dress sizes, although actually if you want to buy something from the 19060/70s in a size 10 and see if it fits.

Completely agree with this. All of my trousers and jeans are a size 10 yet I have a not overly healthy 32.5 inch waist. I also have 37 inch hips and stupidly skinny legs and size 12 trousers/jeans look ridiculously baggy on them, so I have to get clothes from shops where vanity sizing has resulted in clothes having large waist/not too large hips and legs. My BMI is 20.9. To get to a healthy waist measurement I need to have a BMI of under 20 (apple shape). I once got to 19.5 and I think my waist fell into the healthy category once I got close to that.

Back in the 80s as a teenager who weighed under 8 stone I wore a size 10 dress to a wedding. I would definitely not fit into it today, I doubt I'd be able to get it up any further than my calves.

Well I just wanted to back you up OP - I’m 5ft 7 and 11 stone and a size 10-12. Most of my wardrobe is a 10, my knickers are a 12 tho as I like them roomy and have a big bum.

10 stone I was a size 8-10 and at my best I’d say but when I was 9 stone I was a 6-8 and looked too thin. I think cause my frame isn’t petite enough.

Everyone is different. My friend who is nine and a half stone and a couple of inches shorter than me just lent me a load of holiday clothes, they fit fine.

I've just done the waist - height calculator and come out at 0.49, which is reassuring.

At 5 FT 7 I am am a size 10 at 10 stone 4
In 1990 I weighed 7 stone and was a size 10

What do you weigh?

Should never weigh in the evening, first thing in the morning after a wee 😂. Did you have clothes on? I'd disregard tonight's weigh and start again in the morning

A30 inch waist is a size 14?

I’m with you there @Stevie6, first thing in the morning, a shit and a wee first, buck ass naked. Nothing else counts 😂

Muscle weighs more than fat.

@MauveMagnolia

At 5 FT 7 I am am a size 10 at 10 stone 4 In 1990 I weighed 7 stone and was a size 10

What do you weigh?

Not sure if you're asking me, but I was 9st 4 when I weighed myself this morning. I'm 5ft 6.

@3WildOnes

29.5inch waist is a size 12. 27.5 is a size 10.

Depends on the shop. Sizes are not standardised. I have a 32 inch waist, but can somehow just about fit into size 10s. I do struggle with high waists!

I’m 5’6 and look huge when I’m 11 stone. We’re all different though.

“You have a large waist, so wonder if that accounts for the extra weight.”

I don’t think anything under 30 inches really counts as a “large waist”.

@thecapitalsunited

I’m with you there *@Stevie6*, first thing in the morning, a shit and a wee first, buck ass naked. Nothing else counts 😂

Exactly! Nobody needs to be including tonight's tea and their jeans to their weight!

@MauveMagnolia

A30 inch waist is a size 14?

Vanity sizing or wearing clothes that are not tight around the waist eg if you wear dresses, waist size isn't really relevant.

11 stone at 5 ft 5 sounds overweight to me I'm afraid OP and I work in health. Do you do much exercise? Perhaps look at eating more consistently and upping the exercise? You are only slightly overweight though and unless you're a body builder BMI is pretty accurate.

How could anyone who is 11 stone and 5'5" be a size 10???!!

I am the same weight and 5'7" and wear 14-16.

Makes no sense at all.

BMI is a ludicrous tool to measure weight! Totally meaningless. Listen to an episode of podcast called 'maintenance phase' on BMI.

BMI has only a tangential relation to health. It's a system dreamed up by an insurance adjustor and not a doctor, as a convenient way of classifying humans into risk categories. It has some value, but needs to be taken with a pinch of realism.

Look in the mirror rather than at the scales. Everyone has different body shapes. I’ve always been a heavy bastard, I was tiny at 9.5 stone, size 6 tiny, washboard stomach. Even now at 13 stones I’ll easily fit into a 14.

@YawningAngel

BMI has only a tangential relation to health. It's a system dreamed up by an insurance adjustor and not a doctor, as a convenient way of classifying humans into risk categories. It has some value, but needs to be taken with a pinch of realism.

Well the value of it is as a way for doctors to speak to their patients isn't it? When I was at school we didn't talk of BMI, but we had the exact same thing - a graph with height and weight. Apparently doctors aren't allowed to just say "you look fat, look at your big belly" so they have to have tools like BMI.

Also, the boundaries of the BMI system got redefined. I can't recall when exactly. But I seem to recall every boundary being shifted down by a couple of numbers.
My weight doesn't change dramatically, but I've moved from borderline overweight to morbidly obese just because of boundary shifts.

@DrDetriment

11 stone at 5 ft 5 sounds overweight to me I'm afraid OP and I work in health. Do you do much exercise? Perhaps look at eating more consistently and upping the exercise? You are only slightly overweight though and unless you're a body builder BMI is pretty accurate.

From the OP's first post:

I exercise most days - mix of cardio and weight lifting both freestyle and classes. I love exercising

So possible that frame and muscle account for a few pounds on the BMI calculator. I'm astonished at your description of BMI as pretty accurate - every doctor I know calls it a useful guide but no more as so many other factors are relevant.

Doctors can say whatever they like to this size 10 person.

Vanity sizing has gone fucking nuts. I'm 5ft 6 and 20 years ago I was 11 stone and a size 16. I now weigh 17 stone and am size 18/20. There's something very wrong when I've put on 6 stone but only gone up one or two dress sizes.