Do I look 3-5 stone overweight?

[Obsesetits]

I know I’m overweight, absolutely.

I also know we shouldn’t take much notice of BMI because it’s a load of rubbish. But I checked anyway to see what a normal healthy range would be for my height/age and it’s coming up with between 6st 11lbs, and 9st 2lbs. I’m 12st 2lbs currently, I have a 5 and 3 year old and until recently had a 9-5 WFH job so I got too comfortable too close to the fridge 🤣

Even as a teen I’ve always had wider hips, bigger thighs and I was an E cup at 14. So I’ve always seen myself as on the curvier side. I’m much more jiggly now after two kids but I cannot ever imagine myself to be 7stone?! I was really shocked to see that I should lose 3-5 stone! I was expecting maybe 2-3.. but over 3 seems impossible without having a breast reduction 🤣

ps… ignore my extremely discoloured bra and non-matching undies.. it was a comfort day 🤣

I am the same height as you and at my heaviest was 13.5 stone, my shape looked very similar to yours, and I really didn’t think I looked that overweight. I’m now down to 10 stone and have realised I could probably do with shifting another stone, although happy with where I am of that doesn’t happen. I also do a ft wfh job, kids, elderly parents etc, but it’s surprising how much exercise you can fit in once you’re lighter and feeling a bit healthier. Focus should absolutely be on health rather than looks and weight, but I must say not only has my physical health improved, my mental health has too. X

At 5ft yes, you're overweight and that extra weight, as you've identified, will have impact on your whole body, strength and future health.

As others have already said, in the UK we're an overweight nation in general and too used to seeing it as 'normal'.

Take it slowly and I would recommend building some kind of resistance/weight training into your routine at least twice weekly. When you work out with weights your muscles will continue to use energy, even when you're at rest. You'll be stronger, have more endurance and it will improve your shape and help protect you from Osteoarthritis.

I have been using kettle bells for years at home, and you don't need a lot of space - as a single parent it worked for me as I could fit it into my schedule easily and was cheap! Kettle bells are a brilliant combination of cardio and strength training. You could join a gym if that works for you or get a PT for a few introductory sessions to start you off, so you can exercise safely.

There's nothing wrong with how you look if you're happy with it, you're probably not at the weight/age where it will start making you unhealthy but you look 3-5st overweight to me. If you imagine a dog or a cat (or any animal outside of ones who need to store fat reserves) at your same weight it would be very overweight verging on cruelty. You should ideally be able to feel ribs and hipbones with ease and see some degree of muscle outside of your calves at a healthy weight. You look fine though, if you want to lose some weight do one stone at a time and it's better than nothing before it starts affecting your joints with age.

you say you are lacking motivation big time… surely your children are your biggest motivation? I would want to be fit and healthy for them, to set a good example?

I went from 14 stone to 9 stone 11.. inch was just fed up of not feeling comfortable in my clothes, and I wanted my daughter to see me as a role model in what I ate and what exercise i do etc

The evidence for women now suggests that having a BMI just above 25 is associated with living longer in older age - there is a protective aspect to a bit of extra padding for postmenopausal women.

Women love this little tidbit because it excuses a bit of excess weight, but it's misused and the reality is a bit more nuanced.

If you're lucky enough to make it to real old age, frailty becomes a big risk, when you may struggle to get good nutrition due to various parts of your body failing. Then yes of course a few extra kgs will provide a buffer and slow down the rate of decline.

That doesn't necessarily translate to overweight being better for your health overall, especially not in your 50s and 60s and especially not if all that weight is around your middle and internal organs.

Apparently my bmi would be in the healthy range if i was 7 stone 10lbs...but I would have to severely restrict food to reach that and remain there...to the extent I probably wouldn't be achieving adequate nutrients and would also feel quite weak. Hardly healthy. I'd probably be healthier with a BMI of 26.

I look very similar to you - at 12st 10lbs and 34hh boobs. I know I need to lose 2 stone minimum and that’ll only take me to the top end of my bmi. Im 5ft5. I look my best around 10stone, but to caveat everyone saying my boobs will disappear then - when we got married 6 years ago I was 10st 7lbs and my boobs were still 32g. So there’s really not much been gained of that 2 stone in cup size. Some of us literally are naturally huge chested.

Absolutely agree, it’s like the starvation mode myth, being overweight isn’t better for us.

What the bmi is is when you’re over 65 (not younger that 65 or below) it could help our bones and prevent osteoporosis by having a bmi of 25-27, however this needs to be offset by the highly increased risk of heart attack stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure, many cancers, joint degradation, bone pressure that comes with being in that over weight category in that and all age ranges.

it really isn’t as simple is hey let’s all be fat as it’s better for us, but sure, when you’re heading towards seventy being at the higher end of a healthy bmi, ie 24,9 may protect our bones, but is offset by the very many negative and dangerous health impacts it brings, we don’t magically become immune to them as we are older.

by having a bmi of 25-27, however this needs to be offset by the highly increased risk of heart attack stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure, many cancers, joint degradation, bone pressure that comes with being in that over weight category in that and all age ranges

I understand the health issues that being overweight or obese can cause...but let's say your BMI is literally just over 25...are these health issues really such an issue. I mean once your BMI goes from 24.9 to 25.1 are you suddenly at such an increased risk?

If I saw you walking down the street (not in your bra and knickers!) I wouldn’t look twice, in the best way possible! You look absolutely fine in my opinion.

That's because obesity is so normalised. It's doing nobody any favours saying they look fine.

I say that as an obese woman who's sick of the be kind, body positivity crap that is causing all of us health issues at some point down the line.

With kindness, being 5ft and a size 14, BMI 33 does put you well in the obese range, which is more noticeable at your height than on someone taller, but more importantly is a health issue that will increase in impact as you age. You may be carrying it well for now, but over time it will get harder to manage.

If you focus on losing the 3 stone, that would bring you to the top of a healthy BMI, and then you can reassess. Start sooner rather than later to try to build better habits, prevent further increase, reduce risk of obesity related conditions (high blood pressure as you age), your skin will respond better and hopefully ping back into shape while you are younger.

Couldn't agree more and tbh I used to be one of those people.

I don't mean to pick on you personally, but I do want to understand this concept a bit more.

Do you think all the people who are a healthy BMI at your height are malnourished?

We can eat a LOT of vegetables on a calorie limited diet so there's your fibre and the majority of your essential micronutrients taken care of. What are you worried you might miss out on - protein, iron, fish oils maybe? All of those things can be supplemented if calorie restriction is a priority, but I really don't think it's that difficult to incorporate foods that contain them and not put on weight.

You might have decided you can't be bothered with all that and that is absolutely fine - but I really doubt that your body is designed in such a way that it's impossible for you to be both lean and healthy.

I've lost 3 stone this year after feeling it was an impossible task! I am 5ft 6 and hit 13 stone 1lb, a weight I never thought I would get to!

I did it with intermittent fasting, still doing it. 16:8 so miss breakfast and eat within an 8 hour window. That and the gym, shifting the focus to improving my health and fitness has helped me eat healthier.

You look like I did when I was 13 stone and I look so much better now i am under 10 stone. I've got a waist again for starters!

I just took it week by week and pound by pound. My goal was 10st 7 but i just kept losing weight and I like where I am now at 9st 11. My best advice is just to focus on the week ahead and eating food that will nourish your body.

I was addicted to junk food but I rarely eat crisps or chocolate now and I don't really miss them.

Hi OP, we’re the same height so I thought I’d share my photos as an example of where I lost the weight from. In the before (colourful dress) I can’t actually remember how much I weighed. I was 74kg at my heaviest, but don’t have pics from then.

in the after photo, I now weigh 48kg again. I was slim before I gained weight so that’s why I wanted to get back to my old weight of 48kg. I think it’s totally fine for shorter people to weigh less. I think like you, I thought I looked alright before but looking back I think I looked more compressed.

At 5 feet exactly, 6 stone 11 would be too thin. I know someone who is currently under the care of a dietician, who is this height and this weight, and trying to gain another stone.

But 12 stone is probably 3.5 to 4 stone on the heavy side.

That’s a BMI of 18.6 so not quite underweight. Maybe the person you know has health issues where being very slim isn’t healthy but on its own that weight isn’t too thin.

If she lost 4st she would be in the middle of the healthy weight category, she would not be overweight. Her BMI would be 22.3.
In your next post after you found out her height you said 4 stone minimum wtf,

Well done @ChangingWeight I wondered if you’d mind sharing what your current diet/exercise is? Do you track calories? I slowly gained a stone over the last couple of years and I’ve got around 10 pounds to lose to get back to my weight that I feel happiest at (similar to your current weight).

No you misunderstand me. I'm not saying having a healthy BMI is indicative of being malnourished...what I'm saying is it's a broad range. A healthy BMI for me would range from 7.5 stone to about ten stone. If I was at the lower end, on paper I'd be 'healthy' but in reality I would be far from healthy.

Now I am actually losing weight currently and want my bmi to be healthy. But no I can't aim for 7 and a half stone. Like I said the lowest adult weight I reached was 8.5 and that's when I was in my late teens and unwell with a hideous infection. So no, I don't think I could achieve a stone less than that as a 43 year old mother of two without becoming significantly unwell.

No matter my size my boobs never change. I recently tipped the scale at 5stone heavier than when I was 22, my cup size was the same. When I was pregnant and then breast feeding, my boobs never got any bigger.

when a friend of mine loses weight, the first things to shrink are her boobs

The cup size is relative to the band size. So for example a 34G -> 38G is much bigger in breast volume.

Agree. I have always sat at the very bottom of the BMI range. Thus I could put on about 3 stone and still technically still be in the healthy range. I know it would not be healthy for me.
A stone or a stone and a half might be ok, but more than that and it would be way more than my frame is meant to carry.

I had my boobs measured in June and the lady was not only rough with me but she asked me why I wanted them measured and when I explained I’d lost two stone she laughed and your boobs don’t change. I’ve lived with my bras since despite them gaping and being uncomfy and just this week measured my and asking chat gpt to work out the cup size. Bought what it suggested and have worn a new bra all day with no gaping! So boobs for some of us do change 😀

That makes sense, thanks for explaining