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 am 5ft4 and weigh 9 stone, size 10, I feel fat one day and not the next, I am fairly toned at the moment so am having a few more good days. I can literally go from feeling slim to feeling I am fat in a matter of hours.

I hate feeling this way and actually look at people I know are heavier or bigger dress size than me and I think they look fabulous, I don't understand why I don't feel ok.

When I was bulimic and 6 and a half stone I didn't feel thin then either eben though i knew i was but loved the shock factor when people saw how thin I was, seriously messed up!

When I was size 6 - 8 I always thought I was fat but I wasn't at all.

Now I'm size 12 and probably just in the overweight category, but I feel less fat than I did when I was very skinny. And I don't spend any time worrying about it. I feel mentally much better at this weight, I think I'm far healthier.

Yes, I do.

Currently I can't think about it too much (third trimester) but I do find myself obsessing about whether my face looks fat, or my arms, or my feet, blah blah blah.

I know I have body dysmorphia though so I also know that what I see in the mirror doesn't match what the photos show, nor vice versa.

I don't think I'm fat I know I'm fat. Had big baby nine weeks ago, horrible CS recovery, stressful pregnancy and currently in a bad family situation. I'm eating badly and not going out even for a walk so its my fault.

I'm size 8-10 and wear a 34 bra, my ribs expanded in pregnancy and stayed there!

Hmm, I'm wearing 12/14 maternity and in a 34 back.

What does your back actually measure? Unless the answer is 34, you aren't a 34. That's the essence of the intervention!

5' 4", 9st 7lbs and size 10-12 here.

No, I don't feel fat and people often comment on how slim/petite I am.

Always used to do exercise so I don't have many wobbly bits. Have just started running in an attempt to keep it all together.

Stop giving a crap about other people's comments. Who are they, the diet police? An ex-boyfriend used to make comments about my portion sizes and love of fish and chips. Thing is, I could out run/swim/cycle him and I never had a go at him for his smoking habit!

I'm sure you are lovely as you are...

I think I have a perfectly valid point. People have body issues = people need to get over it! Seriously.

Excuse me crashing the bra intervention! I am a genuine fatty. This is a new(ish) development. I would be lying if I said I was happy about it. I would prefer to be in a healthy range and have more choice of nice clothes..etc. I will get back there.

My point, however, is that, having worried all my adult life that I was fat when most of the time I really wasn't, I have now had a revelation. I am fat...and the world hasn't ended. I still have friends! I still have my job and my home! My children still love me. My partner still loves me. I still have a decent brain. People don't point and laugh in the street. I worried all my life about something that has now happened and it's not that bad!

OP you are not fat. You admit that. However, my question to you would be: So what if you were? Is there really nothing worse that could imagine happening to you?

I don't think I'm fat but I know I should be thinner, for my frame - 5'4 (used to be 5'5), size 12-14, 10st5, 32FF. I'd also be 9st7, if it wasn't for the lard around my belly, which is the worst place for it to be. Unfortunately, even at 9st, at which point I'm looking scrawny, I still have that belly - the muscles are knackered around there.

Can I just ask you OP - why does it matter if you are "fat"? or otherwise?
I am fat, and from your stats in your first post, I would consider you to be thin, if not skinny, but I can't for the life of me see why it bothers you so much?
I am huge - you actually probably weight about the same as one of my legs, literally, and I just can't see why you are getting so upset about random people "thinking you are fat" and stressing out thinking of yourself as fat? Even if you were to eat and eat and stuff yourself and put on four stone in a week, or double your body weight overnight somehow, would it be so bad? do you despise/look down on/fear/think less of fatter people? or worse, look down on/think less of yourself when you think of yourself as fat?
(I'm not having a go, honest, I guess that while I'm not "fat and happy" my weight is one of the least of my worries so to speak, and I can still be comfortable with myself, and secure in the love of my family, and have some self esteem even as obese as I am, and it's sad that you don't seem to be able to get past something that appears at first glance, from your post, to be all in your head :( )

BTW 32FF equates to boobs around the 40' mark, which is not an 8-10!

God no, snot, it is not the worst thing that could happen to me...the point is, I am not sure it's 'fat' that I am worried about...is it a manifestation of something else? And if it is, do other people experience it? Why does it manifest as 'fat' issues? Is it only women? Why? And how do people deal with it?

40"! I don;t think even Rigby and Peller cater for 40' chests!

Haha, ouyre you have to see it to believe it. They just haven't stopped growing since I was 15. Buying clothes is a nightmare

I see people who are clearly bigger than me who may or may not be technically overwight and think they look fabulous, not "fat". I meanwhile can go from feeling skinny to feeling fat during the course of a day. By BMI and %body fat I am underweight. I increasingly realise that "fat" is just an expression of how I channel unpleasant feelings about myself into my body image.

Why isn't it ok for people to have body issues? Why do we have to "just get over it" when other mental health issues are taken more seriously on MN?

I agree with others that you need to measure yourself - my 32FFs are substantial, but not huge in relation to the rest of me. I bet you're a 28GG or H.

Even with my slightly dumper proportions. most size 14 tips stretch over them and beneath that, I have to make a choice between cling to the belly fitted or skim the belly and look like I'm either pregnant or a sofa. I look infinitely better with the correct bra on, though, rather than an old 36D.

Hmm pombear, I think you have hit the nail on the head. You are secure in the love of your family. My sister was taken into care at 15, my brother sofa surfed and I got a scholarship to a boarding school...would likely have otherwise been care. Didn't meet my dad til 25 and been treated like shirt by my Mum mad Step Dad all my life. I think this is why my self confidence is so low...but why it translate as 'fat' I don't know. And as you can see from other posters I am not the only one.

Pombear put it better than me, but the point is essentially the same.

And no, actually, it isn't just you at all! I was always like that when I was thinner and it doesn't take a genius to work out why. It's because being fat really IS the worst thing that can happen to a woman if you absorb all the messages doled out in the media. Any dissatisfaction with life or any insecurities we have about anything in life always seems to lead to a question of weight. Someone gets dumped 'I must be fat and undesirable'.

It happens on here regularly. Someone finds their husband has been having an affair and the comments in the OP of the thread about the discovery always seem to contain a mention of weight. Either 'I take care if myself and am the same weight as when he met me. I don't understand this' or: 'well I have put a bit of weight on over the years, but I didn't think it bothered him.'

It's usually completely irrelevant to the situation, but we think it is, for some reason.

I know I'm fat.

I wear a 40JJ ouryve - Fantasie do them that big - I buy on ebay lol cos I can't afford Bravissimo or FigLeaves, so I tend to end up with some weird colours, but it's not like I let it all hang out anymore so I don't care. I cut the wires out as soon as they arrive too - I am too old to suffer in the name of pert boobage anymore and just want them contained, no black eyes if I break into a dawdle, and not to be cut in half by the band

The fattest I have ever felt was when I was 8 stone 10..I am 5'8 so I was skinny then.

Am more comfortable now at stones more for.some reason.

But it definitely is possible to be truly upset about your weight when it is not an issue..even if you don't have full blown anorexia. People arent lying or just being self indulgent.

Hmm I will release myself ouyvre (sorry keep getting your name wrong)...but yeah my 32ff is a mega improvement over the 34D before

Re-measure, obvs, not release