Do you think you're fat?

[ThingsThatGoHumpInTheNight]

I do. And I'm wrong. I know rationally I am not fat. I am 5'5 weigh 9st7ish, dress size 8-10, body fat 18-22%, you can see my ribs from behind and my abs in front....so why oh why do I constantly feel crap about myself?

I do eat more crap than I probably should do (chocolate 5 times a week ) and I do carry weight up top (32FF boobs)...but I am not fat. So why do I feel like I am? Constantly worry that I am. People I don't know well (new work colleagues, random people at parties) make offhand comments 'healthy breakfast again eh?' this morning as I ate a croissant and fruit at my desk and it makes me feel awful.

Are other people like this? Why????

Sorry to anyone this offends...I feel for people with weight issues, I really do, but been thinking about this today (sparked by comment this morning) and wondering if I am the only one?

I'm 5ft 5in and 12 + a half st dress size 16 so yes I'm overweight but I'm not particularly bothered. I like filling out dresses and eating whatever I fancy. I also like having the smooth, soft skin that being chubby gives me. I look at women like Jo Frost (suppernanny) and think would she be more attractive at a size 10 or less? For me the answer is less so she is my role model.

*supernanny not suppernanny!

Yes.

5'6 about 9st 7lbs. 8-10.

Would prefer to be around a stone later but due to prior issues with food I fear slipping back into it so faff around not doing anything,getting less happy. Which makes slipping back into it more likely. Vicious circle.

madmomma
Jo Frost is one of those people whose build is such that she would look absolutely rubbish if she got to a low BMI.
BUT she, like everybody, needs to take steps to control her visceral fat levels.
That is the bit that affects your long term health.

talkin how do you know what Jo Frost needs to do about her weight? Her bmi might be fine

????
Jo Frost's waist is more than half her height.
She is therefore carrying more fat around her middle than is healthy.
Perfectly obvious from watching film of her.
Her weight is not relevant.

Why is Jo Frost being picked on for her weight?

Erm, well I think that's an exaggeration, and an insulting one.

I'm a 5:2 advocate. At my slimmest and healthiest of my life since going onto it last September, but still unhappy so I think it's all to do with self perception and not what we actually look like

I don't think this thread is supposed to be about whether people are fat or not, or wheatear there are worst things to happen to us than being fat, but the fact that despite what size we all are, there are a lot of us who still feel fat

I feel fat. I am 5'11" and 10st6lb. I do a lot of exercise so I am quite fit and toned. But I have wide hips that I hate :( If I could just lose three inches off my hips (and an inch and a half off the top of each thigh) I'd be so much happier.

I just can't seem to shift it, despite doing a mixture of running, walking, swimming and cycling - I exercise at least five days a week. I wish I could afford liposuction, to be honest.

Totally get this, I am 5'10 and 9 stone, bmi 18 and a size 8. Dr said I am underweight but i still think I have chunky thighs. Am small framed with small boobs. Weigh myself daily and worry about getting fat

Talkin - you look fab in your photo btw!

It is a fact that people carrying additional weight on their tummy/chest are at a higher risk of the problems mentioned above. Without knowing anything about Jo Frost and her weight/eating habits it is clear her waist is above 31" abd probably above the 'at serious risk' measurement of 35". I can't see that anyone us picking on her, just stating the obvious.

Mrsfarenheight at your BMI, your answer lies in Yoga .... it will start to make your limbs leaner and denser without losing any more weight

This could have been written by me! I have been constantly thinking about what is the right weight for me for the last year. I have just decided that I need to lose a stone. I'm 5' 3" and weigh about 9st 7lbs. I really need to be 8st 7lbs. My chest is 32DD so we're quite a similar size. I currently wear size 8-10 and feel a bit chubby. I recently complimented a friend on her figure as she looks great after her second baby and I said to her that I thought I might look a bit too thin if I lost a stone and her "look" said everything I needed to know!! I know I've been kidding myself. I'm small frame and would really look lots better and clothes fit better 14lbs lighter.

I link to this a lot
www.cockeyed.com/photos/bodies/heightweight.html
but its really REALLY useful for helping people to see themselves as others see them ....

I look at the pictures for my size and apart from my being 15 years older they are about right

That's a really interesting site, Talkinpeace. Looks about right for my height/weight, too.

thanks for the link, physique wise I am very similar to the people in my height/weight slot!

I think theropod my height and weight look a lot thinner than me :(

Ugh the people

I think it can get confusing because there are so many measures of what is or isn't overweight.

I don't much like BMI and from what I have read, that is increasingly true of the medical profession too. One person's 9.5st, even for the same height, will look completely different to another's because of bone structure/skeleton size, muscles tone, age, etc. At my lightest, I was 9.5st and a BMI of 20 apparently, and I was still wearing size 14 trousers because I have broad hips (they hung off me around the waist but that is true no matter what size I am), yet some people of my height (5ft 7in) can fit into an 8/10 at that weight. I wouldn't want to be lighter than that either because I didn't look good at that weight - I looked haggard and gaunt facially.

And despite what I have just said, I don't think clothes size is a good measure of size either. They vary so much from shop to shop, there is no gold standard of what a size 10, for example, actually is. I don't necessarily hold with the idea of vanity sizing either. I have a 30 yr old shirt, size 14, which I can still get into and wear, albeit with the bottom, hip level, button undone. I would have no hope of wearing a 14 now - I am an 18/20. Did shops not change the ratios a few years ago to accommodate the fact that hip/waist ratios are changing, rather than to trick us into feeling better about ourselves? It didn't work for me as a classic pear-shaped figure but less people are these days, perhaps because we are a more varied ethnic mix as a society, I don't know. Unfortunately I think if your perception of 'slim' is tied up with dress size rather than an objective look in the mirror, some people are going to suffer in terms of their self image as a result because you can always find a clothes in sizes bigger than you want to be even if your weight measurement doesn't change.

To me good measures of healthy weight are about waist measurements and hip to waist ratios but saying that doesn't have any impact if it is not what you see in the mirror. I think, no matter what size you are, if you are unhappy with yourself there will be some measurement somewhere which 'proves' your image of yourself as fat.

And just as an aside, I didn't think visceral fat necessarily shows up in our weight? You can have outwardly slim person with too much visceral fat and yet an overweight person with less visceral fat so it doesn't pay to be too complacent about you long term health if you are only going by weight or BMI.

Oh and it made me laugh when somebody said that touching your toes was a sign of fitness. I am the least fit I have ever been, I am several stone overweight, I am 47 yrs old and getting very creaky and I can not only touch my toes, I can also place the palms of my hands flat on the floor (no cheating, legs completely straight). I don't think it shows anything other than the fact I am perhaps blessed with longish arms!

Clothes size is useless as a measure of weight because it depends on height. Someone who is 5ft tall and a size 14 is overweight. Someone who is 6ft tall and a size 14 probably isn't.

I actually think BMI is fine as a rough and ready tool. The range is broad and what it really means is that if your BMI is over 25, your weight is likely to carry health implications. If your BMI is 20-25, then it usually doesnt. It doesn't mean that if your BMI is 24 you'll look hot in a bikini or that a BMI of 22 is "better" than a BMI of 24. I've never met/seen anyone with a BMI of 25+ who isn't overweight (excluding the very few pro athletes who fall into this category, and even they are a minority of all athletes, most of whom would have a normal BMI). I think a lot of the doing-down of BMI is from people who don't like the implications.

There is also a lot of normalising of obesity now because being overweight is normal. Two thirds of British adults are overweight, with 25% falling into the obese category. So if you look around you, you could conclude that because you're not fatter than average, you don't have an issue, when in fact you do. Life expectancy in the UK will fall within a generation, largely due to obesity.

The problem of course, is that the obesity epidemic is very very hard to solve. Staying slim for most people takes permanent willpower because we are bombarded by food from all angles, and live largely sedentary lifestyles. That won't change unless the government bans the sale of certain foods, and actually, that's almost impossible to legislate for. You can't "uninvent" pizza delivery.

It's quite depressing really to think that we spent centuries developing agricultural practices that banished hunger, only to eat ourselves to death.

The obesity epidemic is not just about food. For me is multi faceted and has a lot to do with feeling very down at times and not getting out and about, not using my gym membership and binge eating biscuits because I feel like such a failure for being fat!
I know all the issues I'm not ignorant but I'm my own worst enemy.

I also have a underactive thyroid which led to me putting on weight after having my second DC and Ive never been able to get a grip since. Recently had my dose upped to 100mcg. I have really struggled to lose weight with the thyroid condition.

I'm moving next week to a house 15 minutes further away from school with not enough seats in my car for all my childminding kids. And the house backs onto school playing fields which I intend to use.

I think lots of fat people know how bad they are its just having the self esteem to do something about it.

If I was thin things would be perfect, I have a lovely husband gorgeous kids and a great house. The only thing spoiling it is me being fat and the health implications of that.

P.S I never order take away pizza!

"Anything over a size 12 is fat."

I was taken back there, just for a moment to being 15 and throwing up what little I'd eaten that day into the toilet. And my mum never eating a full meal. Thinking if I was 'thin,' which I was, everything would be fine. I don't ever want to go back to that level of aesthetic obsession and I see it in abundance here. I feel so lucky tp have friends who never talk about weight or calories.

I exercise, I eat well but perhaps not enough. I'm tall, soft and curvy. But my mental health is paramount.

Apologies if anyone else has mentioned this (and I'm not good at linking on my phone sorry) but please, anyone thinking you're fat, have a look at a programme called "the men who made us thin" on the bbc iplayer. Think again.

Chances are that you're totally fine and you're being told you are fat (we ALL are) I'm order to sell you diet products. The more diets you do, the fatter you'll get and the more dieting products you'll buy. It's a pernicious cycle that we've been sucked into.

I think BMI is mostly an unnecessary tool to beat ourselves with.

I think up to BMI 30 there is absolutely no need to worry. Overweight is not a real problem for your health.
I have friends who are very ordinarily plump lovely luscious ladies who should simply enjoy their lives
You might not always fit into Zara but so what.