Why do I look skinnier than I weigh?
taramcopley1198
Posts: 2 Member
I look skinnier than I actually weigh. I am 5’6 and not muscular. It is not all in my head either - when I was at my skinniest (130lbs), people frequently thought I was around 110 pounds, and when I was 190 pounds people thought I was in the 160s/170s. I actually think I looked better at 190 then I did at 130, which looked way too skinny on me. It's like I do not look good when I am too skinny, my body looks best with a little bit of extra weight. It is making it hard for me to decide that my goal weight should be, because I look best when I am still in the "overweight" category on the BMI. Also, my pants size is usually higher than other people’s when they are the same weight as me. When I was 130, I was barely squeezing into a size 8, but other people at the same height & weight as me were in size 4s - yet I looked skinnier than they did. Why is this? Does it mean I am large framed? When I put my fingers around my wrist, it (barely) touches on my right and doesn’t touch on my left.
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Replies
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I don’t know. I’m the opposite. I’m 5’10”. When I weighed 140, I looked fat and flabby. I do have a small frame.2
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I always feel like I’m heavier than I look too. I see other people whose stats are similar to mine and they wear 1 or 2 sizes bigger than me. I’ve always been this way.
I have one son who is the same. He looks lighter than he is, and one the opposite he is so light but looks bigger.4 -
Post a pic. I'll be straight up honest. Sometimes you just need to hear an honest observation and opinion. I have to do that with clients all the time.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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It could just be how you carry your weight. Some people carry their weight very proportionately...others bulge out in different places. I carry my weight pretty proportionately and on observation (especially with clothes on), most people think I'm about 10 Lbs less than I really am. That said, while not exceptionally muscular, I do have decent muscle mass, so even when I'm a bit fluffy I still look pretty fit, especially with clothes on.6
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Ninerbuff, this is me at 190 pounds. I am 5’66 -
Body's are interesting. General skeletal difference, bone thickness and density are actually a thing even though they are often over played "hey I'm big boned". But yes I am big boned and also grossly overweight.
However when I was a always very heavy compared to those around me growing up when I was "Normal" sized. I've busted a few peoples ribs, when they ran into me trying to knock me over playing various sports. I would end up standing there, and they would literally bounce off of me almost 10 feet. As a junior in High school I played on the senior football team as a tight end. Being a junior, I would often square off across the line in front of me and be intimidated by the size and angry look in there faces... Yet to my surprise, I always ran right over them literally. they had no ability to hold me back, and there were plenty of special teams designed to try and stop me. I've never even been knocked off my feet or broken a bone.
Went to wonderland with my family in my mid-teenage years and they had one of those guys that had to guess your weight within so many pounds or you win a prize. He under guessed by 60 pounds... I wore a 32" jeans at time.
And here near the peak of my last weight lost transformation... I'm wearing 36" pants and weigh in at 267 or was 272lb. I'm just short of 6 feet tall.
So there is lot to be said about body composition, bone structure and general muscle mass. On the downside, I also had a significantly elevated resting heart rate compared to my friends who were about the same height with a similar pant size. (I just out weighed them by 60-80 pounds.)6 -
I have a friend who used to always win those ‘guess my weight’ carnival games at fairs and Canada’s Wonderland. They always guessed she was 125 or 130. She actually weighed about 102.3
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Otoh, I always thought I carried my weight well. I did yoga, walked a lot, wore leggings because I thought they were flattering and I didn’t perceive myself as one of “those fat women packed into leggings”.
It wasn’t until I started looking at photos of myself from a trip we’d just returned from that I had a reality check.
Fat woman packed into leggings, right here^^^19 -
Kinda hard to tell with the dark clothing. But I wouldn't have guessed you to be 190lbs for sure in this pic. However seeing you from all angles might give me a different opinion. A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainertaramcopley1198 wrote: »
Ninerbuff, this is me at 190 pounds. I am 5’6
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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Bodies are weird! I totally hear you because when I was overweight I didn't really feel overweight, nor did I look it. Mind you, I was lighter than you, but still. I think it has a lot to do with how we distribute our padding. Wider shoulders and hips, and having a waist will hide a lot. If what you like about yourself happens to be slim then you might also feel you don't look your weight. In my case it was my tummy. It was still flat when I was overweight. So yeah.. I guess bodies are weird.3
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Another thing that, in women, can contribute to others believe us to be a lighter weight is a tendency to add fat in breasts and on hips (that are actually of narrow pelvic width, as opposed to having widely-spaced pelvic bones under the fat layers), with the waist not adding as much. The hourglass shape is deceiving.
When I was obese, I knew I was obese. I looked fat, but it wasn't unusual for people to think I was less fat than I actually was. What I knew, and they didn't, was that I have quite narrow hips (skeletally) . . . but I carry a bunch of weight (not all the extra) around my hips. With weight loss, my hips went from upper 40s inches to around 34".
There's also a lot of weirdness in our own body image, plus a social milieu these days for a lot of us where it's common enough for people to be moderately over-fat that it looks normal, and things of that nature.
Since you say you're at a higher body weight, plus in a larger pants size than others who appear heavier, I think probably multiple of the above factors are at play.
BTW: I'm not suggesting that you should want to be thinner than you think looks good. That's entirely up to you, maybe with a little input from your doctor if there's a question of health risk in the mix based on multiple metrics like BMI, waist size, body fat percent, waist/height ratio, etc.6 -
My dad was someone who carried his weight well. There were some times in his life where he could've been classified as "overweight," but he was 6'2, didn't have the round belly that a lot of guys do and overall just had a larger build. If he did start to put on a little more weight than he wanted to, he would start exercising again and be good.0
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taramcopley1198 wrote: »I look skinnier than I actually weigh. I am 5’6 and not muscular. It is not all in my head either - when I was at my skinniest (130lbs), people frequently thought I was around 110 pounds, and when I was 190 pounds people thought I was in the 160s/170s. I actually think I looked better at 190 then I did at 130, which looked way too skinny on me. It's like I do not look good when I am too skinny, my body looks best with a little bit of extra weight. It is making it hard for me to decide that my goal weight should be, because I look best when I am still in the "overweight" category on the BMI. Also, my pants size is usually higher than other people’s when they are the same weight as me. When I was 130, I was barely squeezing into a size 8, but other people at the same height & weight as me were in size 4s - yet I looked skinnier than they did. Why is this? Does it mean I am large framed? When I put my fingers around my wrist, it (barely) touches on my right and doesn’t touch on my left.
What are your measurements?
http://www.myfooddiary.com/Resources/frame_size_calculator.asp0 -
No, you don't look 190lbs.
But you also do look like someone who both knows how to dress and is carrying more energy reserves than a normal weight person would.
No idea if 130lbs is too far in the other direction for you.
By no means is the above statement to be taken as a "need" to diet.
That's way more complicated than a picture and a look!6 -
taramcopley1198 wrote: »I look skinnier than I actually weigh. I am 5’6 and not muscular. It is not all in my head either - when I was at my skinniest (130lbs), people frequently thought I was around 110 pounds, and when I was 190 pounds people thought I was in the 160s/170s. I actually think I looked better at 190 then I did at 130, which looked way too skinny on me. It's like I do not look good when I am too skinny, my body looks best with a little bit of extra weight. It is making it hard for me to decide that my goal weight should be, because I look best when I am still in the "overweight" category on the BMI. Also, my pants size is usually higher than other people’s when they are the same weight as me. When I was 130, I was barely squeezing into a size 8, but other people at the same height & weight as me were in size 4s - yet I looked skinnier than they did. Why is this? Does it mean I am large framed? When I put my fingers around my wrist, it (barely) touches on my right and doesn’t touch on my left.
You carry your weight well! I just checked my wrists and they don’t touch on either side. I’m currently 130 and a similar height. I still have at least 10-15 to lose. It’s honestly such a personal opinion what feels comfortable but it’s good to have a reality check from time to time- for me it’s getting too thin, perhaps for you it’s gaining too much. It definitely varies, and I respect your appreciation for honest responses!4 -
You look great to me! I wouldn't have guessed 190 at all. I have the opposite problem unfortunately, I tend to look flabby for my weight.3
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FYI the fingers around the wrist thing is deceiving. I’m 5’10” and at 190 lbs my fingers barely touch, at 167 they touch a heck of a lot more...
Both your fingers and wrist slim down as you lose weight, just ask my watch!
Personally I’m not working towards a number goal right now. I have recently hit a healthy BMI. I will now see where my weight naturally settles given the lifestyle I want in terms of food, treats and exercise.4 -
So many things account for how much we weigh. If you run the phrase: different women same weigh through google images you'll see how much/little scales tell us. It depends on your built, muscle mass and where you accumulate fat. I've always had thin legs with lovely muscle definition but even at my skinniest my boobs were huge and I looked heavier than I was because of how clothes fit women heavier on top. Now that I'm overweight my legs are still thin, my boobs are enormous and I've got too much belly fat but still when I look at different photos posted here, I think women at my weight look heavier than me. The best think I think is to only use scales as one of the guides and focus on other things like how you feel about yourself, how clothes fit you and how fit you are.3
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It's quite hard to tell from that photo, it's dark lighting and you're wearing dark, baggy clothing.
You definitely dont look extremely overweight but also don't look what I would call 'skinny'. I'd say you appear a bit bigger than me, I'm 5 foot 5 and about 135lbs, but as I said, hard to tell from that pic.
Ultimately, if you are happy with your body and there are no health reasons you or your doctor identified that mean you should lose weight, I would say don't worry too much about an arbitrary number and just be happy!8 -
Goal weight is so tricky as is comparing bodies (even at the same height). I prefer to have a target range for body fat percentage.
Many above have touched on body composition already. Are there other metrics you use to define your health and goals?1
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