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?

loopylou
I did watch the programme and
NO BMI was NOT made up by Met Life
the man from Met life - quite accurately - redefined everybody over the average weight as being "over average"
and created the diet industry.

I've watched all of Jaques Peretti's programmes
I have issues with the Minnesota test
Michael Mosely's Horizon programmes are better based scientifically

pinupgirl
I do not have an "eating disorder" : you are just jealous that I can combine today's yummy meals
(sausages and scrambled egg on toast with tea and OJ for breakfast
followed by
full on roast lamb with veg and gravy and red wine for lunch)
and be the size I am

AND
that answer is 5:2 - anybody can do what I have done.
It just involves a bit of self control

A question about the BMi. Why is it so bad that it was made up by an insurance company? Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't they say on that tv programme that the statistician who came up with it based it on the health (and death) records of 4 million customers? I know that arbitrarily they decided some people were fat for the first time but over the last year I've gone down from a BMi of 32 to 24 and it is nice to have a goal. I haven't exercised enough so I know I'm 'skinny fat' but to me my BMi is one of a few tools that confirm I have made real mprovements and need to make some more.

5:2 when I maintain so might join the threads soon.

What the man from Met life did was reclassify from the old score of
"top 10% are over weight"
to
"everybody above average is over average weight"
and weight wise, everybody wants to be below average
(same as in schools, everybody wants their kid to be above average)

what in fact happens is that - as per the statistical rules
the average changes ....

BUT
what has happened in the west in the last 30 years is that more and more people weigh more than the long term average
(the long term average being BMI 22.5)
therefore the obesity epidemic is real

Jaques Peretti can be great but conflated two issues in that slot and did not disambiguate them later : he might in the next programmes

PS Met Life are my Dad's landlords and insurers so I've read quite a bit about them

Jealous? Hardly-I had self confidence when I was a size 10 and still have it as a size 16. Your own self esteem is something for you to work on.

I think that it is clear when someone has a 'real' weight problem.
Worrying plump people into needless yo yo dieting is pointless.
Any BMI under 30 shouldn't worry imo

Gasp, so the long term average is 22.5? Think I'd look gaunt at 22.5. Rationally I'm happy at the moment (5ft4, 10st), but still trying to lose a final 7lbs (and fighting the self-esteem demons that sometimes tell me I'm still fat even though today I'm in size 10 clothes).

johnny
aaaaarrgghh Statistics
the "average" is 22.5
which means half of all people MUST be above that amount - some by a little - some by a lot
FFS - those blerdy scrawny "victorias secret" stick insects have to be balanced out by somebody normal to create the average
for every Kate Moss, thee is a Dawn French
BUT
at present there are more overs than unders
and that has no biological basis so is a cause for concern
= the obesity epedemic

I have felt 'fat' since I was about 12 years old.

I wasn't. I was just growing into a womanly shape.

Currently am a size 14 - but am 5ft 9" and generally quite athletic.

However, I would give anything to have the Kate Moss type figure - but even at my very, very lightest (where I basically starved for months to get down to a size 10) I still had the hipbones and ribcage. (and sturdy calves).

It's sad , and I would love to be able to just feel happy in my own skin. I know most of my friends and colleagues feel unhappy with their shape also.

when we talk about the 'average' BMI is it a mean median or mode average?

Why would anyone want to have the figure of kate moss?-she has the body of a pre pubescent boy. I don't want to look a boy thanks very much-I am a women and women are meant to have some body fat.

mercury
tee hee - a girl after my own heart.
Until the 1960's BMI was a non skewed normal distribution
and
for statistical and political reasons
racial and socio-econonmic differences were not picked out

hence why the recent change to say that for asians
(from Northern China, through south east asia to the whole Indian subcontinent)
the ideal BMI is between 18 and 23

BUT what is becoming clear now is that the "average" hid a disparity
and the upper tail of the disparity led to increased healthcare costs

(the man fom Met life liked them : they died young with few pension payments)

and despite what folks are saying - being fat is a huge precursor to ill health
and fat is defined as currently BMI over 25 - which "should be" top 25% by weight
(and is in the non junk food world)

I'm not into fat territory, but am chubby IMO. Not technically overweight but BMI just under 25, and being short I don't carry it well. I look my best (and am no longer chubby) when it's 23ish.

Kate Moss has a very attractive feminine hip-to-waist ratio which keeps her looking 'womanly' no matter how thin. Not to mention her very feminine facial features. I think women those who compare her to a boy are being disingenuous at the very least.

But they are also probably the same people that equate curves with rolls so...

I didn't say anything about her face-although I think she is nowt special-just happens to take a good photograph. She doesn't imo have a fabulous figure-I don't equate ribs sticking out and constantly puffing on a fag witb good health though

I also slightly suspicious of men who prefer women with the figures of boys

I'm so sorry to hear about your mum, EBear. Of course, if I thought a friend was drinking to excess or becoming dependent, I would speak up.

Talkinpeace, your breakfast and lunch sound great. Do you mind me asking what's for dinner? I think my issue with this thread is the level of obsession some posters seem to have over body image, weight and numbers. I have lived like that and couldn't do it again. Nowadays I eat mindfully, curiously and happily and, most of the time, healthily.

Genuine question: do you find blogs and websites encouraging bigger women to love their bodies ethically problematic? I read a lot of these on Everyday Feminism and generally find them sensible and positive.

No she definitely doesn't look good with the cig hanging out I agree :)

But neither would a noticeably overweight woman puffing on a fag look lke the poster-girl for good health.

I still think you'd need a trip to specsavers if you mistook her figure for a boy's though.

Estelle
as openly discussed on the 5:2 forums since September
I don't eat supper on a Sunday.
2 pints of water and I'm still stuffed

I eat 1.5 "meals" a day
no breakfast, little bit of lunch, family supper
I eat less all week so that I can relax end enjoy weekends : as my "diet" (way of eating) works that way

I do not read any blogs / magazines / articles
as experience tells me that who ever is paying for the article inflences what it says (kellogs, Nestle, Slimfast etc etc)

Kate Moss looks ill! Being that thin isn't healthy. She'll be a great candidate for osteoporosis.

If there was a breeze am sure Kate Moss would be blown away.

Thanks for your openness, Talkinpeace. I would like to hear your views on whether a genuinely written piece encouraging overweight women to love their bodies as they are (ie not funded or paid) would be ethically dubious. Could you tell me?

I hope you don't think I'm getting at you. I respect your choices completely, but our views on food and self-image are very different.

No I have never been fat or even slightly overweight, and never been on a diet or restricted my eating. I just eat when Im hungry and exercise.

Fat may be a precursor to ill health but overweight isn't

Stop stressing about nonsense like BMIs.
It is clear if you are fat and a long term sensible solution should be sought if that is what you want.

For everyone else it's simply making better food choices that will make the difference. It doesn't have to be a diet by any means.
Take time to lose the lbs and celebrate every time you make a better choice. Reinforce what a great job you are doing.
Do things gently and positively and you will succeed.

Most people cannot follow a fasting plan or if they can they only do so for a while.
Instead Eat real grub. Cut back on alcohol. Walk everyday.
In a year you will be transformed and it will have been easy

This thread is doing my head in, making me cry and I've just refused to let DP take my photo 'because I'll look fat'.

I am 5ft, a bit over 9 stone and have been crucified with guilt over my bulk since I was nine. My mother has eating and body issues and my sister used to be anorexic.

Rather amusing to see Ronald McDonald giving healthy lifestyle advice on MN