Short people: does excess weight look different on us?

[PresidentBarklett]

Aware that's a really stupid title, with a lot if variables, but genuinely struggled to word it. I know it's all about context but here is my query:

I'm 5'3 and I've lost nearly 5 stone on MJ, taking me down to 11 st 12 and a size 14/16, depending on the shop. I have about 3ish stone to go till my self imposed target (still haven't quite decided where that will be as its off the edge of the map - never been below 11 stone as an adult).

People have noticed my weight loss, which is nice. However, I'm still objectively fat - by BMI (29.8 at last count) and by eye - less so, but still very noticeably overweight. This is fine, happy to keep going.

However, it feels like my chance to look 'slim' is ticking away with every lb I lose. Its not my primary motivation (that would be my family history of heart disease) but I would hope to look slim after all this. However, gauging how my body has changed due to a 5st loss, I'm not sure how much more visible change I could expect with the 3st loss hopefully still to come. Googling what a 3 st loss looks like it... looks like a lot less than what I would hope to achieve.

I guess I'm just very much hoping that on shorter bodies a few lbs can make a bigger difference as I just don't see how 3st could effect the changes I would hope for. I'm not asking for the body of a 20 year old or a model. Im come from robust peasant stock amd thats fine. I cant think of a way to phrase this without sounding shallow but, yknow, I would like to look objectively slim.

Any experience of the visual difference 3 stone can make to a shorter body?

I'm 5ft 3 started in October 13st 1lbs size 14 on bottom 16 on top prediabetic apple shaped massive waist of 93cm bmi 32.4, unhealthy aches joints craved lots of carbs.
I'm now 10st 3lbs bmi 25.3 waist 82cm almost normal waist to hip ratio, blood sugar symptoms all resolved, size 12. I'd still like to lose a little as I still have fat on my belly and with prediabetes and insulin resistance, i have a higher genetic risk for health conditions also with my ethnicity, normal bmi is 23 amd below for me.
I have noticed I get a lot of compliments now and especially attention and glances at my body and smiles from men. Men going out of their way to open doors for me, the ones I've known for years doing jobs for me at work without me asking.
It's actually quite sad how the world reacts to body size as I'm the same person inside, but suddenly I've got all this new found respect and attention because of my body shape. The slimmer women at work are being nicer to me and having chats to me, before they barely spoke a word. How fickle is the world.

Took me 3 stone to go down one trouser size.

So far I have lost 2st 5lb and gone from an 18 to a 10/12 .... 5ft 3. BMI 33 to 27.

This thread is really helpful. I have found MJ very easy - not fast and was planning to stop at 10st BMI 25 but it would only mean another (effortless) 6 weeks to get to 22 which would give some wriggle room.

Inspired now to keep going and push more on my exercise/weights for muscle and body recomposition.

I have done IF and keto to date and this has shifted fat mainly from my abdomen and arse which has been noticable to me and explains the dress size drop - but my legs and arms are still objectively fat. IF and keto targets belly fat so I am hoping once this is reduced further it will melt from my arms and legs.

Thanks for your comment 😊 I'm sure your body is also attractive. I wanted to give the OP some sort of visual for each weight change

Great thread.
after about 14 months on Mounjaro I’ve dropped from a bmi of 44 to 26.9.
im 5’3”
I plan to get to 23
at the moment I’m about a size 14 and 39-33-39.
i am apple shaped so thick waisted with no arse and skinny legs.
ive not been this thin since my early twenties so I’ve no idea what I’ll eventually look like.

I think everyone distributes their weight differently so it’s good to read how others at the same height are looking.

It’s really interesting hearing about everyone’s happy weight and shape.

I’m also 5’3 and my goal is 9.5 st. I know that I look ok at 10st, better at 9.5st (bmi 23.5) and gaunt/ill at 8.5. I have a largeish frame ( big feet, hips and shoulders), a short waist and big boobs, so I’m never going to look skinny. That’s ok.

@PresidentBarklett I noticed a big change in how I looked between 12 and 11 stone. Now at 10’12 and a comfortable size 14. My big, round, menopausal stomach is disappearing and I’m regaining an hourglass figure.

Keep up the good work

The 3 stone will really make a difference.

I am 5ft 2.

At 10.5 stone I’m decidedly overweight, bursting out everywhere.

At 9.5 I’m rounded like a Xmas pudding.

At 8.5 I’m slim.

caveat is that I’m a pear with small boobs. My thighs and bum are always relatively big compared to my top. Less than 8.5 doesn’t look good as my top half gets too thin. I’m also pretty untoned, I’m sure other people can look great at a higher weight than 8.5 stone.

Bizarrely, I would say that it was the final stone or so that made me look ‘tiny’ as people keep telling me! 🤦🏼‍♀️ My original (completely arbitrary and made up!) was 9 stone and I’m now around 8 stone 9 and even those 5lbs have made a difference to how ‘lean’ I look.

I am now in maintenance and hovering around the same weight but still noticing changes on my body due to the amount of exercise I am doing.

Same! I’m 4ft 11 and have weighed between 8st - 10.5st at various points. I have big boobs& a small waist. Looking at past photos, I looked awful at 8st. My face was gaunt and I was flat chested. I looked like a child. Somewhere around 9st is where I look best.

It also totally depends how toned you are - if you naturally carry more muscle or are more in shape you'll be slimmer at a higher weight than someone who has little muscle

This has totally inspired me to keep going. All the skinnys will be jealous as this is really hard to do in RL - but if we have the opportunity whilst still on MJ might as well 'go fo gold'....

Any weight training will help as contrary to many beliefs , muscle doesn’t weigh more than fat but the same weight once “converted” to muscle occupies a much smaller weight space - it’s dense

so two people of the same weight, one who trains and one who doesn’t will look very different with the first looking much slimmer

Fantastic, go for it! 🙌

Thats good to know - also muscle really important for sustainable maintence through metabloism.

I love the idea of lying down to exercise rather than burning a ole in my chest with cardio - currently working on my bulbous upper arms doing 'skull crushers'

Muscle is great for metabolism, but it also helps protect joints to prevent injuries, manage joint conditions, and as you get older it makes the difference between living life and slowly fading away

dont forget the big leg muscles though - squats are your friend
apparently

thisist

yes, still on it for maintenance and will never be able to come off. My maintenance calories are 1000 and there’s no way I could only eat 1000 calories a day for the rest of my life without it - I would be consumed with thoughts of food the whole time.

I’m peri, insulin resistant, in my 50’s and short. The only reason I put on weight was being unable to eat 1000 calories a day.

I literally put on 7 stone over 32 years. I’ve done the maths on that and ONLY putting on 7 stone in 32 years shows incredible will power as it meant I only averaged 1400 calories a day.

But that ‘extra’ 400 calories meant the weight gain. I was hungry all the time. I fought my body every day because I was hungry at 1400 calories 🤷‍♀️

Now I can eat 1000 calories and maintain without feeling like I’m starving to death.

thisist

fuck, sorry I didn’t answer your question ! 🤦‍♀️

Chicken, 60-80 grams of protein. Basically 4-6 chicken ‘kebabs’, Greek salad (tomato/cucumber/feta/red onion/olive oil). 2 biscuits with tea, one bag of as salty as possible crisps (as I faint if I don’t get enough salt so I eat a bag of salted crisps every night).

plus a couple of spoons of cottage cheese, 2 triangles of cheese and or babybels with 3-4 crackers.

I had zero interest in chocolate or alcohol apart from when I got pms/low oestrogen so would eat the equivalent of a mini magnum a couple of times a month

This thread is making me feel terrible. I wish I hadn’t read it. I am trying to lose weight but am also dealing with a lack of body confidence and trying to love myself as I am while I lose. This thread makes it feel as though being overweight is a cardinal sin.

I’ll depress you even further

I’m 5ft 2, weight 7st and still have fat arms and a wobbly belly (2 c-sections)

I look tiny in clothes but undressed is a horror story.

I’m the same height and the slimmest I have been is around 10 stone. Obviously it depends on muscle and your body shape, but I think at your target weight you’d be a very comfortable size 10 and definitely slim even if not skinny/tiny. The difference for me between 12 and 10 stone is really noticeable.

It really isn’t a sin. I’m 5ft 2” and am 73kg so think my bmi is 29. I would like to lose a bit more (have lost 3stone) but I’m also happy with how I look now. I don’t think I look unattractive at a bmi of 29 and am happy to wear tight clothes and not care that I have a bit of a tummy. I feel very confident.

I always think that if I see women who are larger than me wearing nice clothes rather than trying to cover themselves up with tent type stuff I think how good they look. I’m not judging them for having a bum or a tummy. And I realised nobody cares what I look like! 😁

Not sure if this is what you mean/are looking for but think of it like a roll of kitchen towel. At the start it’s big and ‘fat’, each sheet used makes it smaller but those first sheets don’t really make a lot of difference to the roll. Same as when you lose weight, at first it doesn’t show much. When you get 3/4 way through the kitchen towel it ‘slims’ very quickly. The same for us, a kg off a smaller weight will show a lot more especially if you’re working out and toning at the same time. Google the paper towel weight loss analogy.

This is why Im not surprised when slim people say they want to lose half a stone.

I'm so sorry it's had that effect on you. This is why I put it in the WLI board as I figured everyone here would be in the same boat.

If its any consolation, I'm at the top end of overweight and was extremely obese with a BMI of 42 and I never felt sinful. Unfortunately some people ascribe moral judgements to weight but I've not read any of that on here.

I think this has been a really positive thread OP, without some of the awful sniping and judgement often seen in this section.

I think it's possibly come up on 'trending' or 'similar' posts, which means people not actively trying to lose weight are seeing it. Which is obviously fine - I'm not gatekeeping and all perspectives welcome and useful.

But it does mean that if you are trying to avoid weight talk, which I sometimes did for my own good, it's hard to get away from it. That's why I put it in WLI but obviously algorithms have a life of their own.

I am 5'2" and about 2 stone more than I should be. But even when I was younger my weight fluctuated a bit but much lower than today and people would comment that had I been taller I could have carried it off. When you are short (and I am short and chunky/curvy rather than slim build) it makes you look heavier than you really are.

But I am now a huge convert to dressing for your body shape to make a that big difference.