If your BMI is mid-range healthy, how do you feel about your body?

[Taptaptapster]

Just that really.

Mine is around 22. Been higher, although not overweight, but never lower.

Some days I'm pretty happy but wonder if I'm deluded, others I find plenty to criticise. I definitely don't feel slim.

When I was up near the top of the range, I always felt fat.

Would love to know how others feel.

Pretty much the same as you.

When I’m bloated I feel enormous and every bit of me looks shapeless and awful

When I’m not bloated and at the lower end k feel pretty good

I do a lot of exercise including weights and running so in theory I should look decent when not carrying too much fat but it does f seem to translate in the way I want it to

But I have to remember that when I was a lot slimmer I still wasn’t happy and I looked scrawny and unattractive

Cant win really

Ha never happy.

I feel bloated and fat most of the time, I prefer when I'm a lower weight, not to the point of being underweight but just towards the lower end of healthy BMI.

Pretty bad. Had to buy a dress in a large today. The medium showed my bloated stomach too much. The sleeves will have to be turned up because the large dress has longer sleeves, presumably to accommodate tall/long armed people when my problem is just a bulging peri-menopause tummy.

Me too. I look better around a BMI of 20.

It's fine. Bit crumbly round the edges, but mostly works well enough.

I've never been good looking so decided early on that looks weren't that important. Sour grapes and all that.

I feel great. Had my BMI checked at an NHS check up recently (I rarely do scales) and I was happy with it because I like what I see in the mirror. Been about this size all of my adult life, never been overweight.

I’m 42, with a BMI of 23.5. I’m really happy with that! I’ve been trying to get back in shape since DD was born, she’s 3.5 now and I’m pretty much at my target weight. I try to eat healthy most of the time, I cycle daily and do Pilates weekly. I’d like to find time to start doing some weight based exercise at the gym, but apart from that I feel like I’m in much better shape than I have been for years, so I’m going to take the win 😊

Age 39, BMI 21.7 and I do feel a bit bulky. I only have a couple of extra kilos since my second pregnancy, and I know that technically I'm on the slim side but I just don't feel it.

When I see pictures of me all I can see is how chubby/untoned I look.

Just checked and mine is 22.5. I feel absolutely disgusting and hideous currently- heaviest I've ever been and really struggling to lose any weight at all.

I feel fine & happy, bit thinner than I would like & sometimes feel a bit conscious of it but not anything that bothers me for long. I have a varicose vein that bothers me more as I can only ever wear trousers or long dresses!

Interesting, and sad, how so many of us who are very much a healthy weight feel bad about our bodies a lot of the time.

I feel ok in normal clothes most of the time. It's more what's underneath I don't like. Can't imagine ever being truly comfortable in a bikini, for example.

And bloating is definitely an issue. I hate it!

Have always been pretty happy with my body. That said, and perversely, am far happy in my body since breast cancer. Was busty (large bust on a slim frame) before and never really felt comfortable which partly influenced my decision to have a double mastectomy with no reconstruction. Love being flat tbh, clothes hang so much better.

However, chemo has been really hard on my body, ditto radiotherapy. I still have a burn from the latter and little energy as a result of both. Despite having a BMI of 19.47, am not happy with how I look, particularly how sluggish my system is. Also, my muscle tone is now terrible as I haven't been able to heavy weight lift for over a year now. Hopefully, once I'm back in the gym next year, I'll start to feel more in shape.

I don’t really think about it tbh. I keep fit, I’m healthy and still above ground, and enjoy good food. That’s about as far as I get.

I'm a healthy weight and really happy about it.

When I get stressed I shed weight at an alarming speed and I've been seriously underweight just briefly twice in my life just because of life stress combined with infectious illness. It's a hard situation to be in because being underweight is much more urgently unsafe than being a bit too big, especially if you just can't eat at all. When the life stress or infectious illness is that bad, it can really be very difficult to sort out and that can become dangerous.

I've also been overweight once, but that didn't bother me nearly as much. I also had a problem with weight gain another time, but it went away when I stopped eating wheat.

The bloating things is different from being overweight, and might be to do with diet. If people struggle with that and have the money it might be worth talking to a good nutritionist.

I have always been around 19/20 until this past year. If I lost weight I would look gaunt. I'd usually lose weight if I was ill, stressed or particularly busy at work.

Since a coeliac diagnosis I put on a stone and now managed to lose half of that. I'm now 22.6 BMI. I'm told I'm looking well but I'm not comfortable and my waistbands are tight. I'm adamant I'm not going to buy new clothes (because I can't afford a new wardrobe!). I do have a dietitian who told me that my body will process calories more efficiently now I'm avoiding gluten and weight gain is normal.

Same as a lot of others- I'm mid range normal bmi, work out a lot, and normally really happy (in clothes/bikini). But the bloating can be a killer. For me I think it's hormonal. I'd hate for it to be there all the time though

I'm in my 60s and BMI is 23.

I'm happy with my body. It still does everything I ask of it, I still have a waist. I still look good in a cocktail dress. I can still run 10k on a good day.

I consider myself fortunate.

Tbh I think BMI is a load of rubbish based on a particular (male!) body type! My husband is really fit but stocky and muscular his BMI always classes him as overweight. I'm a tall slim build (with tiny boobs) and if my BMI hits 20 it means I'm carrying weight on my belly, hips and face.

I would be very wary of tracking BMI as an indicator of how your body "should" be. Some people are built to be curvier, some slimmer.

Bmi around 22. Mo matter how much I weigh I don't really like my body because I'm out of proportion. I'd be considered healthy though, as I'm fairly slim around the waist. So that is more important really.

I feel great about it. I work out a lot and lift weights and I have more muscle than I've ever had. My body is strong and capable and I think it looks awesome. I am in my early 40s. BMI 22-23, I no longer weigh myself but it's pretty much always been in that range.

Despite being tall I have a very small frame and start to look quite (objectively) overweight at BMI of around 22, I need to be at the lower end to look my best. Likewise, there will be people with bigger and/or more muscular frames who look their best at the higher end.

Im BMI 22 and Im mostly happy with it. Proud of my weight loss and how toned I am thanks to exercise but put me in front of a mirror and I'll start to pick myself apart.🙄

My BMI is 21.9. I’ve gained a kilo recently. Feel fat as fuck. I’m 48. I don’t feel I look any different from when my BMI was 26.9. It’s shit.

I didn’t know my BMI but just checked and it’s 21.5. I’m 5’6” and 9.5 stone.

I look and feel good. I do lots of exercise so I’m toned and carry weight evenly which probably helps.