Trying to work out ideal weight?

[plaingirly]

I am 5'2 (and a 1/4!!) and when I saw the nurse she said my ideal weight was 8 stones 2 pounds.

Soooooo that means I have an awful lot of weight to lose! A scary amount to lose.

I don't know if she worked it out a certain way or if it was a figure just picked out of the air!

I don't really know what other people that are my height actually weigh! I see myself as looking huge but other people never believe how much I weigh.

[Sleepwhenidie]

I would say you would probably be a size 8 but keep in mind that dress sizes vary quite a lot between shops and 8st(or whatever) will also look different on one person with 20% body fat and another with 40%. 20% person will look smaller and tighter but that will depend on your exercise.

What size feet do you have OP ?

[dottyaboutstripes]

I'm 5ft 1 and weight 9st exactly. I wear size 10. I used to weight 13st 5 and was size 20 but went to Weight Watchers and it worked its magic as I lost the weight and went on to have 3 more children (I already had 3) and managed to lose it again. The lowest I got down to was 8st 3 and people told me I looked like a little girl. I had no boobs etc and was just starting to go down to a size 6. That nurse was talking rubbish I'd say.
If you decide to try & shift some weight, look at the long term rather than short term, and work at losing half a stone at a time, otherwise it all becomes just too daunting.

[Sleepwhenidie]

stclemens with the exception of being wary of looking gaunt at lower weights when you are a bit older, why should age make a difference to a person's target weight ?

[plaingirly]

My feet are a size 6!

I don't like being fat but I don't want to get really skinny either. I love the 1950s style clothes and I think you need some curves for that.

Wonder how the 1950s celebrities stayed so small but didn't look muscular - guess they didn't lift weights. They look slim but softer somehow.

[B1ueberries]

That nurse would have got a beady eyed stare from me.

I am 5'2". I work out 4 or 5 times I week. I watch what I eat. I walk every where. I am nearly 9 stone. Yeh, because I'm human I would like to be slimmer but my bmi is about 23 i think. which is mid range, so rationally i know i'm certainly not overweight. What the hell is the nurse on telling you that you should be 8'2". The only time i was ever 8'2 i lived on two weetabix in the morning, one ryvita sandwich with ham, a banana a diet yoghurt and a lean cuisine for dinner. I kept that up for about a year and was demented with the hunger the entire time. Everybody told me I looked fabulous. It's a funny old world.

[B1ueberries]

ps, I'm size 10-12

I know that in a fashion sense of the word I am not slim but I feel 'healthy slim' if there is such a word. I would be at a member of the medical profession telling me I was overweight. I'm aghast on your behalf.

[plaingirly]

I didn't know what to say to her! She was bigger than me too. I know that I need to lose weight (just finished wk 1 of healthy me and have lost 4 pounds) I was more shocked that she gave such an exact figure.

Not a from 8 to 9 stones but precisely 8st 2lb. The way she said that I was designed to be tiny sounded like look what you have done to yourself. I didn't even go to see her about my weight!

[fedupofnamechanging]

Hi OP.

I am your height and this time last year I was your weight too. Don't feel disheartened by how much you have to lose - I have done it by breaking it down into half stone chunks, so it didn't feel like such an unmanageable task.

I am now 9.6 and want to lose 6lbs to reach my overall target. I am currently a size 12. In the past I have been 8.5 and it was honestly too thin for me. My face looked gaunt and old and my boobs disappeared - not a good look.

I think your nurse is a dozy mare for telling you to aim for 8.2. This may look fab on you, but it may also be far too thin. There is no one weight which is right for absolutely everyone - I think it depends on where you tend to lose eight from. People who retain a bit of weight in their faces/boobs tend to look better at smaller weights than those who lose too much from their faces.

I would aim for 9.5 and see how you feel then.

I also heartily recommend myfitnesspal, to log what you eat. It has helped me enormously and I have lost weight by sticking to 1200 calories per day, which gave me the freedom to still eat chocolate sometimes!

Best of luck with it all.

[B1ueberries]

ignore her!! That would give you a BMI of 20.096

I just worked it out. That is very much at the bottom end of the 'normal' range and I think that #s a stupid thng to recommend to you now if you are overweight. supposing you aimed for a bmi of 24? that is still within the normal healthy range and that would be about 9 stone 6. Does that sound more d0-able and less scary?

[InMySpareTime]

I'm 5'0" and size 12/14 at 11st 3lb, I'm aiming for size 10 and 10st 7lb, people are starting to comment how thin I look, but BMI- wise, I'm obese, and even my target weight is in the middle of overweight. My "Ideal" weight of 8st would make me about a size 4/6, which would not be healthy at all. I am very active and large of norkage (28GG), which may skew my "true" BMI.
BMI is a very blunt instrument, don't set too much store by it. On the other hand, I feel much better having lost some weight, I have more energy and clothes fit better.

[cheesesarnie]

op- i'm the same height as you but was 2 stone under ideal weight. i've just managed to put on one stone .

I think it's about how you feel (so long as you're healthy obviously) not what a chart says.

I like the weight i am now but think maybe another half a stone atleast would be good.

[awaywego1]

I'm the same height too. Am currently 9.6-I would be more than happy with 8.10 but am currently aiming for 9.2. I'm a small size 12 at the moment.

[MoaningMingeWhimpersAgain]

I am about the same height and I haven't weighed 8st since I was a teenager - at 8st5 I was very slim and my boobs disappeared, I currently lurk at about 9 and a quarter and look a bit podgy but pretty ordinary size wise.

I have been around 10st and I didn't look nice at all, IMHO. I think it's very unrealistic for her to suggest you aim for 8st 2 TBH. Getting to a BMI around 25 is a good idea though, I am at the top end of 'ok' but not far off the overweight range and I think they are pretty generous/realistic.

[Hopefully]

I would aim for the top end of a 'healthy' BMI to start with, and see how you feel.

[FeuDeSnowyRussie]

OP I think that was a bit harsh of your nurse. I also don't agree with her that you were 'designed to be tiny'. If your feet are size 6 isn't it more likely you have a medium-large frame? I'm 3 inches taller than you and have size 3.5 feet and tiny wrists/rib cage/ankles to match.

A very rough test of your frame size is to see if you can get your thumb and middle finger round your wrist. If they don't meet, that's a large frame, if they meet its medium and if they overlap it's small. Unless your frame is small, 8st 2 could look a bit gaunt.

[plaingirly]

Just done the wrist thing - they overlap very slightly. I have always had narrow feet but size 6 just seems too big for my height. Not much I can do about that though!

I can't really tell what my frame size is like as it is covered with a lot of podge! I used to be sort of an hourglass shape but now am just big all over.

[FeuDeSnowyRussie]

Maybe you'll go down a shoe size if you lose weight? I have a friend who is size 4 when she's sitting down but goes up to a 5 when she stands up because she's quite heavy. Good luck anyway OP. You should have asked that nurse if she was planning to take her own advice!

[B1ueberries]

I'm your height and size 5 (feet) so the designed to be tiny comment is a bit weird. I can put my middle finger and thumb around my wrist and i could fit a rolled up piece of paper through the gap, but my bmi is still mid range and that takes exercise and healthy eating. NOT everybody can be 8'2". I KNOW I couldn't.

I don't think it would be suggested to an overweight man that he aim for the very bottom of his bmi. Seriously, can you picture it? a man goes to the doctor about a sore throat. He's six foot and has a 40" waist and the doctor tells him a propos nothing related to his ailment that he ought to have a 30" waist. I can NOT see that.

[B1ueberries]

OK, just to put this into perspective here, can you imagine a 6 foot man being advised to get down to 10 stone 7? or, if he were overweight to view that as a goal?

That would never happen..

[Mintyy]

Its utterly ridiculous to give you 8 stone 2 as a goal ffs! If you ever did get down that low it would be impossible to maintain. How about aiming to lose two stone for starters? in half stone chunks. You will look and feel a great deal better already and can then reassess. I'd also strongly advise you to plan to take about a year doing it. Good luck!

[cathyandclaire]

Well I think that's rubbish! It all depends on your build, I'm just a teeny bit taller than you (just under 5 3) and was 9'3 when I had a well woman check and the nurse said that was bang in the middle of a healthy BMI. I've got size 3 feet and v small wrists with biiigggg overlap so small build but have always been solid IYKWIM. I have lost some weight to get to the target the nurse suggested for you (8 2) but it is the smallest I have ever been (well since 14 anyway), not sure I can sustain it. Everyone is different, which is why there is a range of BMIs...big boobs will weigh loads on their own.
Definitely agree with the aim of heading for a healthy BMI and going from there.

[Wishfulmakeupping]

OP I'm going to echo what other posters have said- aim to be healthy not to get down to a low bmi/goal weight at this point. Also when I was dieting my goal bmi was 21, I stopped at bmi 23.5 as people were telling me I was looking ill and I was!
Good luck but don't go crazy with it take it one step at a time

[Ephiny]

I don't think it's ridiculous. It's about the middle of the healthy range for your height, which seems a reasonable 'goal' assuming you're average build.

I'm the same height and about 7st 10lb. I am not skinny and definitely have curves, and it's not at all difficult to 'maintain'. However the exact ideal weight will obviously vary between individuals. If I were you I would aim for the 8-9st range generally, which will be a healthy BMI for you.

[B1ueberries]

No epiphany, that's you.

I work out between four and five times a week and I watch what I eat (adn drink) and I weigh 125lbs. That's a bmi of 23 roughly. It just isn't sensible or realistic to aim for something that is right for epiphany!!! no offence. But seriously, it's because I am so health and fitness focused that I know it just isn't a goal I could ever reach, and WHY should it be a goal?

[B1ueberries]

and 8 stone 2 is not the middle of the bmi range for a woman of 5'2"

it's the bottom of it. the thinnest.. models have a bmi of 18. I think somebody who is outside of the range should just aim first to get into the healthy range and then see how they're doing/feeling IF they manage to get into the healthy range.