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Two stone overweight! I thought I was a healthy weight (pics included)

175 replies

user1493797837 · 03/05/2017 08:57

I'm 5ft6 and should be 11 stone. 10 stone to be slim.

I've never weighed myself.

I stepped on the scales at the doctors today and it says I'm 12st 11lbs!!!!

That's almost two stone overweight.

I am very physically active and have a high protein diet.

I have a podgy tummy from loose skin and weak muscles but my arms and legs are fairly toned I thought.

I'm quite shocked and I've decided to diet to get within a normal healthy range.

I've included a picture. How overweight do you think I look? Do you think the scales could be wrong?

Clothes wise I'm a size 12 but on the odd occasion I'm a 14.

Never a 10 or 16 though.

OP posts:
Cringiest · 03/05/2017 16:24

Blimey, it's hard to imagine the doctors scales being that faulty - they will be used a lot.

pnutter · 03/05/2017 16:26

You look great to me Smile not stick thin and not fat.

Nospringflower · 03/05/2017 16:52

Should you really be 11 stone to be healthy? That still sounds like a lot to me and you do look larger around the stomach and legs although you dont look huge.

I do think everyones views have become skewed over time. I was shocked when I saw the picture of the fat kid in the oringinal Willie Wonka movie - he looked fairly normal!

Nospringflower · 03/05/2017 16:55

This!

Two stone overweight! I thought I was a healthy weight (pics included)
high5sportsnutrition · 03/05/2017 17:28

Oh I think original Willie Wonka child is still pretty chubby.

FagAshMIL · 03/05/2017 17:44

Can you repost pics OP?

StrangeLookingParasite · 03/05/2017 17:47

The average person does not fall into that group which is why we have BMI values.

Everyone has a different body composition. I don't actually understand why some people are so resistant to this idea.

Oh wait, yes I do; it lets them get all moralising about people who aren't perfect.

lazymum99 · 03/05/2017 18:05

Why does anyone post a picture of themselves on the internet and ask if they look fat.

Truthfully, both the pictures I can see in this thread of 2 different women look overweight. They have fat tummies, legs and arms.

They posted and they have asked.

The second picture (5'2 and 12 stone) does not look healthy to me. If that poster is doing cardio exercise 5 times a week and cutting down sugar and fat somethings not right. Unless she started off much heavier.

Im going to get flamed.

Does my bum look big in this?

Garnethair · 03/05/2017 18:12

Frouby! I did laugh at you using the comparison of a pony's fat pads! Did you just condition score the OP!!

Nospringflower · 03/05/2017 18:18

Yes he was chubbier than i remembered too! But still not as big as the more recent one. Whatever thread that was on they also said to look at top of the pops in the 70s and they were all thinner then too!

qumquat · 03/05/2017 18:25

I think you look slightly overweight but nothing major. Please don't go on a diet or in 5 years time your weight will have yo-yoed up and you will wish you still looked like this (voice of experience). Try and make small changes you can sustain such as eg. more veg less pasta. And contact the GP as the scales thing sounds odd!

Nessie71 · 03/05/2017 18:27

Cant see any pictures.

Faez · 03/05/2017 18:36

Can't see any pics in first post

high5sportsnutrition · 03/05/2017 18:43

springflower they were all on speed in the '70's! Grin

PollyPerky · 03/05/2017 18:55

Oh wait, yes I do; it lets them get all moralising about people who aren't perfect.

What an utterly ridiculous comment.

What has morality to do with being overweight?

What has 'being perfect' (no idea what that means) got to do with being a healthy weight?

Yeah that's right- let's all sleepwalk into diabetes, CVD and cancer, because we are all too scared of being called 'fattist' for speaking the truth when someone posts pics.

StrangeLookingParasite · 04/05/2017 15:01

No, it isn't a 'ridiculous comment'. A refusal to acknowledge that every single person has a different body coposition, therefore making BMI a blunt instrument at best, means those feeling very self-righteous about being in the 'correct' weight category sling of at people ho don't fit. It absolutely has a kind of moral overtone to it. An awful lot of research shows that children from a very early age learn to associate negative moral qualities for overweight people (lazy, greedy, selfish).

What is a healthy weight?
Are the disease consequences always the case (no).

But here you are, scolding people about not fitting a standard you feel is right. A limited understanding, really.

PollyPerky · 04/05/2017 15:11

You are being ridiculous.

Go and sling this nonsense at the NHS or any medic and you'd be laughed out of the room.

Everyone knows BMI is a guide. But ignoring it is stupid too. Unless someone is an athlete and muscle-bound, BMI has a value.

What is a healthy weight? Try BMI!
The range is huge to allow for body composition. My DD is an inch shorter than the OP- and weighs just over 8st. She is fit and muscly. BMI normal. The range goes up to around 11 st. This allows for a difference in build.

My own height / BMI had a 3-stone range.

I suggest you look at the stats for overweight = cancer, diabetes and CVD.

Do you also believe that smoking is not bad for us? You're coming over as belonging to that camp.

isupposeitsverynice · 04/05/2017 15:20

But I am overweight because I'm greedy and lazy... I eat too much and don't exercise enough... I'm not suggesting it makes me a bad person per se, but it's not ideal is it. I know some people have medical reasons that make maintaining a healthy weight difficult but that's not most people is it? It's certainly not me. I am definitely just a bit of a piglet

Aeroflotgirl · 04/05/2017 15:37

I agree strange, there are physically different body types: endomorth, ectomorph and mesomorph. Ectomorphs are tall and lean looking, whilst endomorphs are more rounded. I was reading an article about the different body types, and that the fat that a person has can be genetic as well, not indicative of how much they eat. I will have to dig that one up. Nobody is saying drinking and smoking is healthy, and eating to excess, just that body shape is also influenced by genetics. when I was 7:5 stone and 5ft2, my weight used to be carried on my bottom and my hips, like the other mediterranean ladies of my mums side of the family, it still is, and no amount of lunges, burpees, jumping jacks that I do, can shift that. I am not going to get obsessed by it. Since I stated doing regular exercise 3 years ago, I have toned down, but I still have wide hips and chunky thighs.

fakenamefornow · 04/05/2017 16:19

But I am overweight because I'm greedy and lazy

You're also a breath of fresh air. Almost every single overweight person on MN is overweight because of a medical condition.

I also need to lose weight but today I ate four orange club biscuits in my car because I knew if I bought them in the house I'd have to share with my family!

Aeroflotgirl · 04/05/2017 16:22

Nope I am 2 stone overweight because I eat too much too. But I am taking positive steps. What I am not going to do is get ill over it, and let it affect my mental health.

StrangeLookingParasite · 04/05/2017 16:41

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

fakenamefornow · 04/05/2017 18:19

I want to know what strange said!

Nancy91 · 04/05/2017 18:21

Aeroflotgirl somatotypes are silly and have been debunked, they were basically just scientific sounding ways of saying fat, skinny etc and people were just optimistically hoping that they were endomorphs so they'd have an excuse to be fat.

StrangeLookingParasite · 04/05/2017 19:10

Dear me. That might be my first one.