Don't "Look Your Weight"?

I get this a lot, too. Part of it is that I have a larger frame, hourglass shape, and carry some weight in my limbs (muscular calves, thighs, arms) so I look okay at a higher weight.

I also think the social norm is to keep weight secret and it results in people having little understanding of what a given weight looks like on different people. A shorter person, less muscular person, or someone who carries weight in places that make them look heavier might be shocked about how much weight a different body type can carry.

Yes, I am consistently judged to weigh less than I actually do, no matter what my weight.

I am the most fortunate of women in terms of weight gain pattern as well as ability to put on muscle mass. I attribute this in part to genetics and in part to the fact that we heated our home with wood when I was a child, so we did a great deal of manual labor when I was a youngster.

I also think that @Docbanana2002‌ has a real point. We don't get a great deal of honest data about what certain heights and weights look like. Though there is this interesting chart: Photographic Height/Weight Chart

I agree with the point that many (most?) people really do not know what overweight, obese, morbidly obese looks like. At all. I used to be morbidly obese and I guarantee that 99% of my friends/family would be like "No you were not...that's like people on Mart Carts in the store with bellies hanging over both sides". People have this belief that morbidly obese people are in that category and if you're fitting into a compact car and walking several miles a week for exercise, you are just overweight. Wrong.

When I was at my heaviest I do think I looked like I weighed as much as I did. But honestly during the years I was around 260 lb (for a very long time) I think I could have "passed" for weighing 210-220. At 5'8" with pretty long limbs, dainty hands/feet, and no double chin, I did look somewhat proportioned despite very large bust, hips and belly...kind of like a dress dummy for plus size clothes, and because of that I felt "lucky" and pretty happy with myself. Even at the doctor's office they would express surprise I was as heavy as I was, and it happened enough times that I believe I looked a bit smaller...I don't think 10 different nurses/techs were flattering me.

I agree with the idea that we don't always have a realistic idea of what overweight or obese look like. In terms of BMI when I started on MFP I was obese and a UK14. No muscle and 5'4". But, I am an hourglass and have always dressed in flattering styles, so people regularly underestimated my weight. Even in my late teens - at my slimmest and fittest, UK10 - whilst healthy I was at the upper end of my BMI and people always guessed I was at least a stone lighter. I had some muscle then, but not lots.

Likewise I haven't really had realistic ideas about my size. At my slimmest I kept thinking I was fat, and at my heaviest although I knew I was heavy I didn't expect to be obese and didn't truly appreciate my size until I looked at photos. Like upthread, you hear obese and think of a very large size, people who need help with mobility, for instance. My look is not the common portrayal of obesity, but maybe it should be.

britishbroccoli wrote: »

Recent studies have shown that parents can't even tell that their school children are overweight.

I grapple with that one. Self delusion is more understandable, but I can't fathom how some parents are so blind that they can't see the excess fat bulging off their kids' bodies.

britishbroccoli wrote: »

I'm 5'11. I thought I carried my weight well, until I lost the weight. Now I look at the old photos and I'm horrified with how I looked. I thought I was hiding my weight, but you could even see it in my face.

Right. Even for those of us who legitimately carried our weight "well", it's almost shocking how visually deceptive fat is. I never cease to be amazed at how visually different human beings look when crossing from fat to normal, or lean, levels. You really don't know how much fat, even just an extra 20-30 lbs, distorts your appearance until it's gone.

rabbitjb wrote: »

I have to say, to my English eye, a lot of American football players look overweight ...almost Sumo like

That's because some American football players are overweight.

Like sumo wrestlers, some of the larger players have an extraordinary amount of muscle, but also a lot of fat right along with it (though not to typical sumo proportions).

jumblejups wrote: »

Like upthread, you hear obese and think of a very large size, people who need help with mobility, for instance. My look is not the common portrayal of obesity, but maybe it should be.

Yes. But when your eyes are opened it becomes damn near impossible to unlearn what you have learned. I've come pretty good at guessing people's weight, even the well carriers, if I know their height. You no longer walk around thinking of obesity as the massive, mobility challenged people oft associated with the word.

I can spot obesity in most people from a mile away. And in being able to I can see how normalized it's become. Our idea of obese, and definitely "just" overweight, is wildly skewed in the US (and quite a few other places). Spending time in other countries shocks you out of that pretty quickly though.

NoelFigart1 wrote: »

Okay, here's the thing about fat and sports.

Sometimes fat/weight is positively DESIRABLE for a particular sport. It might be an advantage for certain forms of performance. It might keep you from DYING. <cough>Marathon Swimming</cough>

The health/body fat percentage correlation simply is not the one to one ratio that we think it is, either.

Of course. Fat/muscle ratio can vary from sport to sport, as well it should.

But for the overwhelming majority of sports, particularly at the professional level, high body fat levels are unnecessary and rare. The larger athletes might be medically overweight or obese according to BMI, but as outliers that's coming mostly from lean mass, not body fat.

People.say I look skinnier than I actually am. BTW I think I want to move to England so I can start using stones as a measurement, I think that's so cool. Or maybe when people ask me how much I weigh, I tell them in stones to confuse them lol. How much does a stone weigh BTW?