I'm so heavy

[withmycoffee]

I am 5'3" and a small UK 12. So I'm a little chunky for my height but not anything excessive. I wear mediums In most brands. Being shorter ideally I would be a uk 8 and wear xs but I'm in my 50s and look ok. I work out and have significant muscle but.... I am 80kg. EIGHTY. How am I so heavy?

@waterlego

OP, you look bloody fantastic. 💚

Apparently not. Apparently I look like a size 16+ morbidly obese short person 😹😹😹 Honestly, I'm looking ok. I look better in summer and chunkier in winter and I'm cool with this. I work out to be strong and to reduce the ailments of old age -brittle bones, fragility etc. I don't ever think about my weight s I don't own scales. I go with how things fit. I know when I'm packing a paunch and when I'm looking cut. A recent trip to the hospital where I needed to be weighed and measured left me (and the medic) bemused. I'm actually thinking my bee goal may be to be the heaviest I can be in a small body. That would be truly entertaining. Like a black hole. Dense matter 😹

* We have got used to seeing it so think it's normal*

Replace “we” with “I”

Because BMI is a ridiculous outdated way of measuring someone's health

Well yes, BMI on its own is a blunt tool. But if someone looks overweight or obese, and their BMI also says they're overweight or obese, chances are that they are in fact overweight or obese.

People using the "what about muscle though" argument are also, very rarely, champion power lifters or hammer throwers. In reality, you need a truly stupendous amount of muscle to put you into the obese category, if you're not also carrying too much fat.
Which is why most very muscular athletes have a normal BMI. Examples, from some of the most visibly muscular women I could think of...
Jessica Ennis Hill - 9st and 5ft 5
Nicola Adams - 9st and 5ft 4
Rebecca Adlington - 11st and 5ft 10
Even Fatima Whitbread, famed for being "big", was 10st 10 at 5ft 6ins when she was competing in the javelin.

Generally, people who lift weights a few times a week, or go to the odd body pump class, will not be carrying as much muscle as these pro athletes. Yet so many seem to claim its their muscle that makes them overweight.

Thanks for the photos OP - yes, to me, you do look like you could weigh 80kg.

I'm 55 and 61kg. When I was in my 20s & 30s I was 50-53kg. I have plenty of size 10 & 12 clothes from 20+ years ago that I cannot fit into now. I also have plenty of newish size 8s that I can wear with ease. Sizes have changed enormously. (My shape has also changed so my legs are thinner and my torso thicker).

I have a very dear friend who is 5'2" and 13 stone. She recently bought some smart scales and was shocked and surprised to be told by the scales that she is obese. She genuinely had no idea. She wears a 14 is most clothes (won't shop anywhere that a 14 is too small) and, from her youth, believes a 14 is perfectly acceptable.

Not intending to draw parallels with you OP - just commenting on some discussion points.

Weight is a very personal thing - you're happy and healthy and that's all that matters.

I work out to be strong and to reduce the ailments of old age -brittle bones, fragility etc. I don't ever think about my weight s I don't own scales

Me too. Just go back to the mindset you were in before you stepped on those bloody scales at the hospital. You felt good because you know you’re healthy. I do think you look great!

Clothing sizes mean very little. I am 5'8, quite muscular and weigh around 56kg. I have clothes in every size from XXS to M, and from 6 to 10.

I agree with this. Clothing sizes seem almost random, best ignored as a measure of how big someone is.

OP - if you were to measure your body (arm circumference, hips, thighs etc) rather than going by clothing size, you'd see a big difference between 50kg you and 80kg you.

You are obviously fit and toned, and you look good, but you do look your weight.

Op I still think the scales are wrong. I am a similarly muscular build, lots of weight lifting and am around 61kg at 5'7". I accept that you are carrying a little extra fluff than me but not 20kgs!!

For the sake of closure I beg you to weigh yourself on some other scales

people who lift weights a few times a week, or go to the odd body pump class, will not be carrying as much muscle as these pro athletes. Yet so many seem to claim its their muscle that makes them overweight.

100% agree with this, and there are also sex differences. Men can build muscle mass to a greater extent than women. Very, very few women would be able to build the kind of muscle mass that would tip then into obesity.

Even Caster Semenya, famously big and powerful, is 1.78m tall and weighs 73kg - a healthy BMI.

The women all look great in the before and after shots but it's interesting in the after they are super toned but are the same weight or very slightly heavier

www.boredpanda.com/same-weight-fitness-incredible-transformations/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic

I think it could also be down to how much you were wearing when you got weighed and time of the day, it could easily make up to 3 kg difference.
You look good and your waist measurement shows that you don't have weight where it shouldn't be.

[quote ZaraW]The women all look great in the before and after shots but it's interesting in the after they are super toned but are the same weight or very slightly heavier

www.boredpanda.com/same-weight-fitness-incredible-transformations/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic[/quote]
I think the main take-home from those is that none of those women really gained any significant weight from getting strong.

They didn't lose weight (it looks like they were starting from healthy weights to start with), and their body shape changed, but they're not moving into a higher BMI category because they've gained muscle.

Which is entirely consistent with what you see when you look at female athletes. The idea that being muscly means you'll be heavy simply isn't true if you are female.

I normally weigh a kilo or so more than my home weight when I get weighed at the GP or hospital merely by wearing clothes and having eaten/ drunk something, so I suspect you are probably 78 or 79kg by other people's measures.

I have to say though, I can believe your BMI is around 30 though - your upper body shape is very similar to mine and I'm around that (although a fair amount taller) - you are WAY more fit, toned and muscular than I am though!

I think it could also be down to how much you were wearing when you got weighed and time of the day,

Yes, next time, don't wear the diving suit.

Brad Pitt = obese

@withmycoffee
I think it was J Lo who said that there is time when you have to choose between your ass or your face when dieting 😂

@TwunchOfBats User post image Brad Pitt = obese grin grin

Indeed, it would be 'grin grin' if he were anywhere near obese in that photo.

These were his stats in Fight Club

Brad Pitt Height: 5′ 11
Brad Pitt Weight: 140-155 lbs
Brad Pitt Body Fat: 5-8%

So his BMI there was... 20.

Not just not obese by BMI.

Not overweight by BMI.

Not even in the upper half of the healthy weight range by BMI.

Sorry to burst your bubble. Obese people look obese. They don't look like that.

muscleforever.com/brad-pitt-fight-club-workout/
www.highsnobiety.com/p/brad-pitt-fight-club-workout/

Incidentally, Serena Williams, at 5 ft 9, weighs 71 kg. And her sister Venus, who is 6 ft tall, weighs 75 kg. Both a LOT less than the OP of this thread, while significantly taller. And both very clearly a lot more muscular.

seriable.com/serena-williams-height/

[quote BJHair]@withmycoffee
I think it was J Lo who said that there is time when you have to choose between your ass or your face when dieting 😂[/quote]
That's why my standard size is a 10 (although by some people's opinions on here, modern day 10 is more like an 18 and everyone bigger than a 4 is actually deluding themselves by using vanity sizing...). My body looks best at size 8 but my face looks a bit aged when I am that lean. During winter I am bigger and whilst my face looks fine, I am not as comfortable with as much fluff.

That's because you, like many people, have a distorted idea of what obesity really looks like.

How on earth could anyone say OP is obese? Ridiculous!

Indeed, it would be 'grin grin' if he were anywhere near obese in that photo

That's what I was grinning at

Arnie S being technically obese at points in his life, I can believe. Old lean, mean fighting machine Brad in Fight Club, not so much.

Sorry @TwunchOfBats we clearly are on the same page!

Some else upthread was actually claiming in all seriousness that Brad was obese in that film

@Cam2020

How on earth could anyone say OP is obese? Ridiculous!

She is. It's not opinion, it's fact. That is what (low level) obesity looks like. Not like Gilbert Grape's mum.

[quote SnowAllSpring]**@TwunchOfBats* User post image Brad Pitt = obese grin grin*

Indeed, it would be 'grin grin' if he were anywhere near obese in that photo.

These were his stats in Fight Club

Brad Pitt Height: 5′ 11
Brad Pitt Weight: 140-155 lbs
Brad Pitt Body Fat: 5-8%

So his BMI there was... 20.

Not just not obese by BMI.

Not overweight by BMI.

Not even in the upper half of the healthy weight range by BMI.

Sorry to burst your bubble. Obese people look obese. They don't look like that.

muscleforever.com/brad-pitt-fight-club-workout/
www.highsnobiety.com/p/brad-pitt-fight-club-workout/

Incidentally, Serena Williams, at 5 ft 9, weighs 71 kg. And her sister Venus, who is 6 ft tall, weighs 75 kg. Both a LOT less than the OP of this thread, while significantly taller. And both very clearly a lot more muscular.

seriable.com/serena-williams-height/[/quote]
You need to see my PT. 6' 2" 108kg GOD. Literally body of Adonis. Ripped abs, astounding glutes...... This dude not only doesn't look remotely obese - contrary to your statement that all obese people look obese but he has women at the gym literally choke on their coffees when he walks past . Similarly but even more extreme, Richie McCaw previously All Black Captain at peak fitness had a BMI of 36.3. He was a good looking guy. Not a fat lard arse

This thread is weird.
Starting to remind me of the one a few months back with the woman who posted a photo of herself in a wedding dress, asking if she looked fat.

The whole debate about the BMI of super-muscly men is irrelevant if you're a woman imo. A man has to train extremely hard to get the kind of muscle mass that would start to distort their BMI, and women do not build muscle mass like men do. They just don't.

Serena Williams, Caster Semenya, Fatima Whitbread - these are/were very strong, muscly women, but even they haven't built the kind of muscle mass that would distort their BMI.

I'm so bloody sick of men being the default human. Isn't it mad, that in discussions about physiology, men get wheeled out as examples on MN?

It's like using the physiology of a 3 year old as an example. It might be interesting, sure, but of no relevance whatsoever to adult human females.