Do you look thinner than you are?

2

Replies

  • PunkyRachel
    PunkyRachel Posts: 1,959 Member
    Yes, I am 5'5, I've always been pretty well proportioned. Even when I was 225 lbs, no-one believed I weighted more than 180-190. Now I'm 165 lbs and already have people telling me to stop and maintain before I get "too" skinny. lol I'm a size 10, down from a size 20, and according to my BMI I'm still 15 pounds overweight.
  • NordicAlien
    NordicAlien Posts: 110 Member
    Not so much now (276lb) but right up until I was about 240 I looked a lot thinner. At 240 I wore a US size 10 / UK 14 - same as my niece who was 4 stone lighter than me and one inch shorter. Guys would often ask if they could pick me up, and I'd be all, "Uh, I doubt it, and I wouldn't try." Then they'd try anyway. Only one managed it comfortably - my 6 foot 5 Navy SEAL friend. :)

    I don't think I look lighter than my weight now though - those extra 35 pounds have mostly gone on my stomach and arms. Sigh.
  • PunkyRachel
    PunkyRachel Posts: 1,959 Member
    I blame it on all the weight I carry in my boobs!


    LOL:bigsmile:

    ditto! lol I blame my back pains on my boobs too. I've dropped 10 clothing sizes, but have gained 2 cup sizes.:grumble:
  • SerenaFisher
    SerenaFisher Posts: 2,170 Member
    I think people are just really really bad about guestimating weight.

    I SECOND THIS
    Third.

    People of my build and athletics usually guess my weight.
  • PunkyRachel
    PunkyRachel Posts: 1,959 Member
    It's not that I hide my excess weight well---it's painfully present and obvious BUT I must be carrying a bit of muscle, too, because I wear much smaller sizes than I did at this weight in the past. Maybe sizes have changed a lot over the past 10 to 20 years and everything is vanity sized up. I wouldn't dare asking how much people think I weigh, it's bad enough that I know!

    I had fluctuated between US sizes 16-20 for the past 11 years. I weigh the same now as I did 9 years ago on my wedding day. The catch is I didn't exercise or have muscle back then, so my wedding dress was a size 16. I currently wear a size 10, so yea muscle really does weighs more.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,740 Member
    I think people are just really really bad about guestimating weight.

    I SECOND THIS
    Third.

    People of my build and athletics usually guess my weight.

    I agree with this. The only friend I have who has guessed my weight really close is heavier than I am by about 40 lb. With anyone else I would be really surprised for them to get it right. But she is my height and build so she knows what 230, 270 look like.
  • Holly_Roman_Empire
    Holly_Roman_Empire Posts: 4,440 Member
    I'm 5'7" about 150 pounds. I often get guesses of 130-140, but I often chock it up to people just being nice. When I tell them what I can do fitness-wise (running, stairclimbing, etc), they are often surprised by my weight. I guess when people picture a runner in their head, they think of very lean people.
  • CrazyAnimalLady
    CrazyAnimalLady Posts: 104 Member
    This is definitely me too, most people are genuinely surprised to find out that I weigh 300 lbs, at the doctors office when they weigh me they always are setting that scale about 40 lbs less than I am and are shocked when I tell them that needs to keep moving to the right. I'm 6' tall and am very proportionate, so I think that helps with the illusion of weighing less than I do.
  • Myhaloslipped
    Myhaloslipped Posts: 4,317 Member
    Yes! People think I am joking or fishing for compliments when I tell them my weight. Either I have a good amount of muscle or I just carry it well. Not sure which one.
  • Scotland_forever
    Scotland_forever Posts: 64 Member
    Absolutely have heard this before! People don't believe me when I say I'm not at an acceptable weight for the air force, and then try to cover their mistake by saying it must all be muscle (not the case, believe me!)
  • srcardinal10
    srcardinal10 Posts: 387 Member
    I definitely do not look smaller than I am. I'm 5'0' 132 lbs and look every bit of overweight.
  • hopefaithlove24
    hopefaithlove24 Posts: 454 Member
    I'm the opposite too, people think I'm heavier than I actually am! :(
  • Yes2HealthyAriel
    Yes2HealthyAriel Posts: 453 Member
    I totally know what you are talking about. I am only 5'1" and when I started MFP I weighed in at 201, people always acted flabbergasted when they asked how much I weighed and that was my answer. Now I have lost some weight but am still wearing a quite a large size in bras. At my last job I was talking about how it sucks that I cant just go into any ole store and get a cheap bra because a lot of places don't carry DD or DDD. My coworkers were like say What??? They were like you must have never gotten yourself fitted before cause there is no way you are that big up top. I told them I had gone to Lane Bryant and got fitted. They still acted like they didn't want to believe me.
  • thenewmanda
    thenewmanda Posts: 189 Member
    I blame it on all the weight I carry in my boobs!

    I second this!
  • Buckeyegirlbritt
    Buckeyegirlbritt Posts: 69
    Absolutely! My family didn't believe me that I was 180+lbs and wearing a size 12. To them, I look "pencil thin, " but I am far, far from. Though I don't know my BF% exactly, I had my physician look at me and say, "You look fine! I wouldn't worry about your weight." It doesn't get any better than that.
  • sullus
    sullus Posts: 2,839 Member
    Maybe .. or maybe people are "nice"? Seems nobody has ever guessed my weight within 30 lbs ...

    When I was 300, I heard looked 260 (my fat profile pic)

    I'm 235 in my thinner profile pic. I feel like I look about 205 in that pic.

    I've always attributed it to having an "even" coating of fat. 85 lbs down, and I;ve even lost a half a shoe size and a width. I've had to go to the next notch on adjustable baseball hats .. oddly, I've only gone down 3 pant sizes (44 to 38)
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
    When I was heavier, I thought I didn't look that heavy, but it wasn't true. I was just deluding myself to make myself be OK with it, because I wasn't ready to face reality. Other people said nice things to me about my weight, but I think they just didn't want to be hurtful. I almost wish someone had said more harsh things to me earlier and forced me to face reality. Now that I've lost the weight, nobody is shy about telling me how fat I used to be! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    Had to click on the Topic because it made me smile. I guess I do look thinner than my weight would suggest (tho not thinner than I am:wink: ).

    I do weigh more than I did the last time I wore some of the clothes I wear now. But I've been doing a lot more strength training than I have in decades and for a long time I wasn't eating a deficit, so that likely lead to a higher muscle content than I've had in a while.
  • Ed98043
    Ed98043 Posts: 1,333 Member
    I think people are just really really bad about guestimating weight.

    I SECOND THIS
    Third.

    People of my build and athletics usually guess my weight.

    I agree with this. The only friend I have who has guessed my weight really close is heavier than I am by about 40 lb. With anyone else I would be really surprised for them to get it right. But she is my height and build so she knows what 230, 270 look like.

    Fifth! The vast majority of people just have no idea what women look like at different weights so they always underestimate.

    As for feeling like you don't look your weight...it's a lot like people who think they don't look their age. 90% of the time they look *exactly* their age. I'm the same way - I was feeling pretty good about both my size and my age but then I went to a social thing over the weekend and when the pictures started getting posted to Facebook I realized that I, in fact, look nothing like I do in my mind. Hello, reality calling. :/
  • Fabfitgirl5
    Fabfitgirl5 Posts: 91 Member
    Right there with you. It is a compliment that ppl are amazed when I tell them where I am (just go over 180-WTH!) because they know I work out, don’t eat more than my allotted calories (although I do have bad days).

    I like the fact that I look slimmer than I am, but with all the other ladies who said it, when I take off my work clothes, I am looking at a hot mess train wreck, at least to me. :sad:

    But I just have to keep at it. I know I am muscular as I am built like my father's said of the family (two sisters were 5'9 adn 5'10 and pretty big girls) but dang! Can the muscle come through already and the tummy fat disappear!

    All this work and eating right with no results is starting to get a bit frustrating. I don't want to settle for being the girl who doesn't look like her size, I want to be the girl that ppl look at and say "dang, she is wearing that dress!"

    One day *sigh*:grumble:
  • SlytherinPrefect
    SlytherinPrefect Posts: 64 Member
    I think I look thinner than I am because people look at me from the front, where I tuck in at the waist quite a bit, so I basically just look pleasantly curvy. But then you look from the side, and the belly is obvious.

    I did get the opposite, but only once so far. One of my students rubbed my stomach last spring semester and asked when I was due. When I told her I was just fat, she said, "Well you weren't this big in the fall!" Yes. Thank you. Good thing I have you here to monitor my weight for me. *eyeroll*
  • CJ_Holmes
    CJ_Holmes Posts: 759 Member
    I can't even imagine a situation where someone would feel the need to try to guess my weight. A carnival? An overpacked elevator or life boat?

    This does come up, though, because my sister and I can share clothes, but I weigh 145 and she weighs 125. It's like we are made of different material. When I was a little kid, I remember my uncle trying to throw me up in the air after he had thrown her, and he was all 'Holy crap, you're heavy, like a little refrigerator!" Yes, it burned into my mind for all eternity.
  • Achrya
    Achrya Posts: 16,913 Member
    Yes, but then I've worked very hard to maintain lean body mass.

    I think, to a degree, people like to make other's feel good about how they look. In February I was pushing 165 and everyone told me I looked great/that I wasn't getting fat/ that there was no way I weighed that much but to be honest I look at the pictures and do you know what I see? A woman who weighed 165 and looked every bit that 165. I didn't look smaller than I was, people were just trying to protect my feelings.
  • JewelsinBigD
    JewelsinBigD Posts: 661 Member
    Yes- I told some one how much I weighed the other day and they said "are you sure? when did you weigh last?". I think I hide about 40 pounds - probably in my "J"s. However, once I get those reduced to a "D" I may not be able to hide as much!
  • JewelsinBigD
    JewelsinBigD Posts: 661 Member
    I can't even imagine a situation where someone would feel the need to try to guess my weight. A carnival? An overpacked elevator or life boat?

    This does come up, though, because my sister and I can share clothes, but I weigh 145 and she weighs 125. It's like we are made of different material. When I was a little kid, I remember my uncle trying to throw me up in the air after he had thrown her, and he was all 'Holy crap, you're heavy, like a little refrigerator!" Yes, it burned into my mind for all eternity.
    I am so afraid of that - my 2 daughters weigh the same but one is 4 and the other 2. The 2 year old is perfect for her weight but the 4 year old is very thin and people make my 2 year old sound like a ton of bricks when they compare them. I just hate it.
  • GymRatGirl13
    GymRatGirl13 Posts: 157 Member
    Yep. I usually have people guess that I am around 115-120, but I am 5'7" and 148 pounds. :-) Yay for muscle.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    'eh, probably. But I think people have un-realistic ideas of weight and size.

    <- 5'9", 163lbs, size 8
  • Zelinna
    Zelinna Posts: 207 Member
    I'm 5'7" I weigh 194 and everyone tells me I look 160ish. And even at my heaviest which was 229, I wore I size 14. I guess my weight is equally proportioned. So according to the BMI my lowest is 118, I don't think so. I would look sick at my height and my genetics. I'm shooting for the highest range of my BMI which is 169.

    I am very much the same as you. At 210 I was just starting to buy size 14 but could get away with 12's still. When I gain, I gain all over. I just wish I would lose all over too. My hips are a bit slow to join the party :)

    I also agree that people have unrealistic ideas of weight and size.
  • sweetpea129
    sweetpea129 Posts: 755 Member
    Yes, I get this often. I'm 5'5 and 152 lbs. Wearing a 6-8 in jeans and usually small shirts. My sister is 10 lbs less than me and an inch taller and we wear the same size. Actually shes a tad bigger than I am. My mom actually made me get on the scale at her house one time because she refused to believe what I was telling her I weigh (like i would lie to make it MORE?!). I think i have maintained muscle mass pretty well throughout my journey.
  • bunnies26
    bunnies26 Posts: 149 Member
    I have this little fantasy in my head (no idea if it is true or not) that people who are heavier than they look must have really dense bones. That or really good muscle density under the fat. Hopefully we won't get osteoporosis as we age. And I came up with the muscle thing because people tell me I am strong too, like when I am moving boxes.

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