If someone is a size 12, do you think they are fat?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have to say, I'm a size 12 at age 50 and after 2 kids, and this has been a kick in the butt to get back into an exercise routine.

That said, nobody believes me when I tell them what I weigh. Not even the nurse who weighed me recently and said, "well, that's a surprise!" But I know what I look like in a bathing suit, and while it's not awful, it's not perfect either.

I'll say again, this thread is a kick in the but. However, sometimes I think maybe we're too obsessed with physical perfection in this country, to the exclusion of other things. There are tradeoffs when you work and have kids, and maybe you can't have it all. I'd much rather spend time with my kids or read novels than work out 7 days a week to solve what isn't exactly a physical crisis. But yeah, more exercise is probably good for me in more ways than just weight loss.

Just curious- do they think you weigh more or less?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have to say, I'm a size 12 at age 50 and after 2 kids, and this has been a kick in the butt to get back into an exercise routine.

That said, nobody believes me when I tell them what I weigh. Not even the nurse who weighed me recently and said, "well, that's a surprise!" But I know what I look like in a bathing suit, and while it's not awful, it's not perfect either.

I'll say again, this thread is a kick in the but. However, sometimes I think maybe we're too obsessed with physical perfection in this country, to the exclusion of other things. There are tradeoffs when you work and have kids, and maybe you can't have it all. I'd much rather spend time with my kids or read novels than work out 7 days a week to solve what isn't exactly a physical crisis. But yeah, more exercise is probably good for me in more ways than just weight loss.

Yeah, I agree with this. I was sort of kicking myself in the butt a little already, but now I definitely feel like even if I don't perceive myself as "fat", maybe other people do, and I really don't want that. And I don't want to have to buy new clothes because I don't fit into my old ones. Or, if I do buy new clothes, because I actually feel like trying to look cute, I don't want to have to buy them in a bigger size.

[Anonymous]

I'm the OP, and as I said, I'm creeping dangerously close to a size 12 myself. I do not consider myself "fat", but I could certainly stand to lose some weight. My ideal would be 140 and I'm 5'6''...when I weighed that a year or two ago, I was a size 4/6. I'm now 165 (ok, 166), and wear a 10...but after the holiday season this year, it could be a 12 And no, I'm not happy with that weight or that size, it just kind of happened to me over time.

I agree with the pp who said it's a kick in the butt, which is kind of why I started the thread, to see what ppl thought about it. While I'm not fat, I am overweight, and it would be very very easy, with kids and life, to creep up to fat a few years down the road.

Thanks to everyone who replied to so candidly...you've certainly given me something to think about!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the OP, and as I said, I'm creeping dangerously close to a size 12 myself. I do not consider myself "fat", but I could certainly stand to lose some weight. My ideal would be 140 and I'm 5'6''...when I weighed that a year or two ago, I was a size 4/6. I'm now 165 (ok, 166), and wear a 10...but after the holiday season this year, it could be a 12 And no, I'm not happy with that weight or that size, it just kind of happened to me over time.

I agree with the pp who said it's a kick in the butt, which is kind of why I started the thread, to see what ppl thought about it. While I'm not fat, I am overweight, and it would be very very easy, with kids and life, to creep up to fat a few years down the road.

Thanks to everyone who replied to so candidly...you've certainly given me something to think about!

Why do you care what "society" thinks of you? You're still healthy and presumably your spouse thinks you look good. What else matters?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have to say, I'm a size 12 at age 50 and after 2 kids, and this has been a kick in the butt to get back into an exercise routine.

That said, nobody believes me when I tell them what I weigh. Not even the nurse who weighed me recently and said, "well, that's a surprise!" But I know what I look like in a bathing suit, and while it's not awful, it's not perfect either.

I'll say again, this thread is a kick in the but. However, sometimes I think maybe we're too obsessed with physical perfection in this country, to the exclusion of other things. There are tradeoffs when you work and have kids, and maybe you can't have it all. I'd much rather spend time with my kids or read novels than work out 7 days a week to solve what isn't exactly a physical crisis. But yeah, more exercise is probably good for me in more ways than just weight loss.

Just curious- do they think you weigh more or less?

They think I weigh less, much less. I do have a fair amount of muscle mass. I also agree with the PP who said your body changes after kids - I went from a 4 to an 8, but only gained about 10 pounds, with my first kid. The space between my hipbones increased by 1 inch (that's 2 inches total around my hips), at least going by the fact that before kids I could span my hipbones with my stretched hand, but after the 1st kid I could no longer do this and there was a gap of about 1 inch. The rest of the weight, well, I stopped exercising in the effort to manage a house, 2 kids, and a full-time job, I admit it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the OP, and as I said, I'm creeping dangerously close to a size 12 myself. I do not consider myself "fat", but I could certainly stand to lose some weight. My ideal would be 140 and I'm 5'6''...when I weighed that a year or two ago, I was a size 4/6. I'm now 165 (ok, 166), and wear a 10...but after the holiday season this year, it could be a 12 And no, I'm not happy with that weight or that size, it just kind of happened to me over time.

I agree with the pp who said it's a kick in the butt, which is kind of why I started the thread, to see what ppl thought about it. While I'm not fat, I am overweight, and it would be very very easy, with kids and life, to creep up to fat a few years down the road.

Thanks to everyone who replied to so candidly...you've certainly given me something to think about!

OP, beware of the creep. It never stops. At least for me, I can't believe how hard I have to work just to maintain my weight as I get older. So my advise is to at least start making those small changes now (cutting out white starches, limit the calories you drink, etc) and do more (truly healthy eating, good exercise routine) when you can.

[Anonymous]

i'm 5'6 and about 135 and I wear a 6/8. I think I look okay--I feel better at a straight 6 but that requires me to continually starve myself. As it is, people (friends) always refer to me as thin (which always takes me back because I don't "feel" thin. If I mention loosing weight I get the eye roll of "are you nuts? you're fine!".

If I gain 15 pounds (150), I'm a 10 and I"m definitely over weight. Not chubby per say but slightly overweight. I've never been a 12 (yet!) but on my frame that would mean 165 and I'd be quite chubby.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the person's build. A stocky person can be a size 12 and not be fat. When I was a size 12, I was a mad athlete, working out every day. If I had gotten down to a size 10, I would have been too thin.

[Anonymous]

If I was a size 12, I'd be seriously underweight. So, no--what a stupid question. It's about proportion; a size 12 on someone who is 5'0" is completely different from a size 12 on someone who is over 6'0".

I'm a size 14 or 16, and there's no way I could be described as "fat."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the person's build. A stocky person can be a size 12 and not be fat. When I was a size 12, I was a mad athlete, working out every day. If I had gotten down to a size 10, I would have been too thin.

Ok, now it depends on your own personal definition of "fat." If you said someone's "stocky" wouldn't most assume that person could stand to lose some weight (regardless if you dubbed her "fat")?

[Anonymous]

Different poster here, but to me, "stocky" has more of a sense of 1. lots of muscle mass, and 2. big bones in the real sense, not in the wink-wink sense.

At the risk of getting flamed - I think thin is almost always attractive when you're in your 20s. But I don't always think really thin older women are attractive, especially if the effort is obvious because they have no butts and their cheeks have caved in. Does anybody else remember Tom Wolfe's social x-rays?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:5'9" here former 12, now 4 after a lot of hard work. I lost 40lbs to get here. I was very overweight and would say I was fat. It really was pretty gross. There is really no excuse as to how I managed to get so fat and out of shape, other than too much eating and too little moving. I think it is a horrible example to your children to allow yourself to get so out of shape, especially if you do not naturally have a big build and never struggled with weight until kids came along. I feel for people born heavy, or people who's parents fed them junk as a child they really have an uphill battle.

As a former fat girl, I really hate all the excuses people make about fat. You don't do the fat person a favor by making excuses.

How did you lose it?

I ate less and moved more. I eat only protein in the morning and hardly any white carbs throughout the day. Due to all my exercise, I would guess I'm eating about 2100cal/day to maintain. It took about 9 months for my metabolism to really start to kick in and crank up. Once I got most of the egregious excess weight off and had a lot of strength training under my belt, I started to run. The running has shaped me into my dream...a nice slim build.

I just hear a lot of people overweight who have more excuses and I was one of them until I was truly digusted by what was in the mirror and how out of shape and tired I was feeling.

As to the PP, I'm not calling fat people gross. I was speaking of myself. I find it very hard to believe that there are many women out there happy with themselves as a 12. Today's 12 is yesterday's 16 and whichever you slice and dice it, a woman in her 30s and 40s should not be that size. Your 30s and 40s should be prime time for looking and feeling your best ever.

Good for you, but realize that we all have different issues. I am a runner and serious exerciser, eat about 1900 calories/day, and am a size 12. I'm 5'8" and don't have small bones but there is definitely a good fat layer there, too.

[Anonymous]

Size 12 is neither fat nor thin but just edging toward chubbiness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i'm 5'6 and about 135 and I wear a 6/8. I think I look okay--I feel better at a straight 6 but that requires me to continually starve myself. As it is, people (friends) always refer to me as thin (which always takes me back because I don't "feel" thin. If I mention loosing weight I get the eye roll of "are you nuts? you're fine!".

If I gain 15 pounds (150), I'm a 10 and I"m definitely over weight. Not chubby per say but slightly overweight. I've never been a 12 (yet!) but on my frame that would mean 165 and I'd be quite chubby.

How old are you?

[Anonymous]

I am a size 12. I am overweight. I run about 15 miles a week, do yoga, eat ok...my body is kind os happy here and so am I. The third baby has been really hard on my body and I have found that when I am negative about my body, it gets fatter on me.

So, it's ok. If I die like this, I am think I look pretty good and I am eating what I want!