What do YOU mean by ‘x stone/kg/lb overweight

[NoNewClothes]

When someone says they’re 5 stone overweight, for example, what is the starting point? What do you take it as?

’Healthy’ BMI? Size 8? Or something else?

I’ve never known what my ideal weight should be, since young adulthood I’ve been on either the slightly squishy size 12 end, never slim, now I’m just over an obese BMI.

What do you take people to mean?

Probably BMI, but could be the weight they think they should be.

X stone over a BMI of 25

This

I think it’s what most people mean?

More than they'd like to be.

At 14st I would say I was 4st overweight. I thought 10st would be a good weight for me, although I couldn't remember what that would look or feel like.

For me it would be bmi 24.9. For some people it might be over whatever weight they were previously happy with.

X stone over the weight they think they should be if it’s about themselves

if it’s about someone else then they’re referring to the persons bmi I think

For me it’s how much over what I wish to be,

For me it's how many kg I am over my max weight before I start looking and feeling fat. For me that max weight is 64kg which is a bmi of 25.

Like you I was a squishy teen. I would never describe myself as slim, although I'm currently a healthy weight (58kg, bmi 23). I've never been any lighter so don't know if lighter would work for me.

So at 64kg I would be heavier than I would like to be but not overweight. At 67kg I am 3kg overweight even though that's 9kg heavier than what I am now.

Yep, this is what I’d mean and what I would assume other people meant. If they had an ideal weight lower than that then I’d expect them to say “X stone over my ideal weight”.

I am currently about 7 pounds overweight and about a stone over my ideal weight.

Interesting, thanks.

For my height it’s about 2 stone between the overweight and obese BMI thresholds. But then another 2 stone to BMI of 20, which is still within the healthy range.

So I should perhaps frame it as I need to lose about 2 stone for my health, but more to probably be where I feel happy to run around in a bikini 😆

I always took it to be be the top weight in a healthy BMI range. However, BMI is such a weird thing. I understand the need for a literal score classification, but there are a few things wrong with it. I honestly don't see how I would look healthy at the weight I would be at a mid range healthy BMI.

But then, I was extremely overweight for most of my life so my view of how I look is pretty skewed, I'm still in the obese range, but close to getting out. I'm a size 14-16 btw, so not big anymore, but still technically obese, that stings a little

I would mean over the weight I want to be, which is lower than BMI 25. But it clearly varies.

Overweight and obese are medical classifications based on the BMI so that's the only way they should be used. Anyone using overweight to mean 'over my ideal weight' is just using the word wrong!

I mean "x stone more than I would like to be, based on the weight that I used to be".

This would probably take me to a BMI of about 21.

BMI is only a rough guide to what we should weigh. I would feel huge at 25.

By this logic an anorexic person might consider themselves overweight at 6 stone. Does that make the slightest bit of sense? Overweight is a medical classification meaning above 25 BMI.

Im not sure bmi is accurate. I look fat at a bmi of 25

BMI is a range and I look pretty chubby at the top of it so if I said I need to lose a stone I would be at BMI25.

It's as accurate as a blunt tool can be. At BMI 25 there will be a variation in the amount of body fat because someone may be more muscular than you and therefore look slimmer but weigh the same. Obviously at the top of the healthy BMI scale most women will have a quantity of body fat and the way it's distributed aesthetically isn't really relevant to whether a person is healthy or not.

You might say you need to lose a stone but you wouldn't be 'overweight'

But the OP asked what posters meant, when they said they were 'x stone overweight', and an anorexicwould indeed consider herself overweight at six stone or whatever (she would just be wrong!).

As far as actual usage goes, 'overweight' is not a medical term. It is a general-language term which, when used in a medical context takes on a more specific meaning that is defined by means of the BMI chart. The chart is very useful for some purposes, usually relating to healthcare, but it doesn't displace the more general usage - it exists in harmony alongside it.

I think that in general, non-medical usage most people are trying to indicate how their weight compares to what they as an individual should weigh (based on aesthetic, health or fitness priorities), whereas BMI provides a range for each entire height demographic.

If I told you I'm 2.5 stone over weight I'd mean over MY ideal weight of 9st which I was before I purchased a car in my mid 20s. I think that takes my bmi to 23, in the middle of healthy range.

I'm currently 1.5st down from my heaviest weight. I've never been superfit

I would take it to mean they were 2.5 stone above the weight that would put their BMI at 24.9, i.e. a healthy weight for their height (or if they'd been medically advised their healthy BMI should be different, e.g. it's lower for some ethnicities, 2.5 stone above that weight).

If you're within a healthy BMI but above your personal ideal weight, I wouldn't consider that to be 'overweight' - overweight is a medical definition, being above your target but within the healthy range is a cosmetic definition. There's absolutely nothing wrong with having a personal target - I'm in that position myself - but I don't think people in that position should be describing themselves as overweight - it's intensely annoying to people who are genuinely overweight, like the size 18 person who has to put up with their size 8 friend moaning "I'm sooo fat".

This, for me anyway.

This is what I mean.

I am 3 stone over a healthy BMI.

I could lose 5 and would still be in the healthy range.

So I say I’m 3 stone overweight.

A mix of BMI and history: when was the last time I felt good about my body and what did I weigh then. I know I would be happy at 75kg, which for my height is about 25 BMI, which is just over into being classed as overweight. But to get down the the ‘normal’ BMI range I look too thin - a size 10 at 5’10”, which is also very difficult to maintain. I would be happy at a size 14, 75-78kg. I’m in my 60s I don’t need to look like a supermodel!