I want to be overweight.

[Marble-eye]

Are these BMI tests a true indication of body weight and the reason I ask this question is I am classed as obese so it would be nice to come down one rung of the ladder and become overweight.

My BMI at the moment is 31.3, but a month ago I weighed about 99 kgs and today 93.8. To get down to overweight I need to lose about another 2kgs, but to get down to my upper end of my ideal weight I need to be 74.8kgs, which in is 11stones 7lbs. The last time I weighed that was at 18 years old. I am as broad as I'm tall which surely must have an affect on the BMI readings.

Most of my life I have been active and weighed about 14 and a 1/2 stones, so it doesn't really look like a realistic figure to achieve, anybody else have any thoughts on this.

 

[gummy]

4 minutes ago, Marble-eye said:

Are these BMI tests a true indication of body weight and the reason I ask this question is I am classed as obese so it would be nice to come down one rung of the ladder and become overweight.

My BMI at the moment is 31.3, but a month ago I weighed about 99 kgs and today 93.8. To get down to overweight I need to lose about another 2kgs, but to get down to my upper end of my ideal weight I need to be 74.8kgs, which in is 11stones 7lbs. The last time I weighed that was at 18 years old. I am as broad as I'm tall which surely must have an affect on the BMI readings.

Most of my life I have been active and weighed about 14 and a 1/2 stones, so it doesn't really look like a realistic figure to achieve, anybody else have any thoughts on this.

I'm borderline with a BMI of 29, used to be 23/24 years ago .  However I too am a bit sceptical about the BMI standards as my problem is I am now 1 cm shorter then I was.

Its a bit like climate warming for me 'cos at the current rate of height erosion I could become a hot blob of blubber. 

[Pinetree]

4 minutes ago, Marble-eye said:

re these BMI tests a true indication of body weigh

No, no, no. BMI is the crudest of crude measures of obesity.  You need to take into account body fat percentage, muscle tone and amount. body shape, etc  which BMI does not do. e.g. The vast majority of NFL players are all obese by BMI standards, enough said. You know if you are overweigh and need to lose body fat, you don't need a stupid BMI to tell you that. 

[gummy]

3 minutes ago, Pinetree said:

No, no, no. BMI is the crudest of crude measures of obesity.  You need to take into account body fat percentage, muscle tone and amount. body shape, etc  which BMI does not do. e.g. The vast majority of NFL players are all obese by BMI standards, enough said. You know if you are overweigh and need to lose body fat, you don't need a stupid BMI to tell you that. 

Phew thank goodness for that then as now I can get back to my daily egg, bacon sausage and chips and 6 bottles of beer with my pizza later.  Can't wait to to tell the wife what you said that is "you know when you are fat" rather then what she thinks as clearly she knows nothing compared to me. 

[Marble-eye]

2 minutes ago, Pinetree said:

No, no, no. BMI is the crudest of crude measures of obesity.  You need to take into account body fat percentage, muscle tone and amount. body shape, etc  which BMI does not do. e.g. The vast majority of NFL players are all obese by BMI standards, enough said. You know if you are overweigh and need to lose body fat, you don't need a stupid BMI to tell you that. 

Yes I came to that conclusion I suppose, there is no way on this earth or Fullers earth where I could get down to 11 and a half stone. I have the same physique as Usain Bolt except I'm much shorter and more rotund with a paler complexion. 

[gummy]

1 minute ago, Marble-eye said:

Yes I came to that conclusion I suppose, there is no way on this earth or Fullers earth where I could get down to 11 and a half stone. I have the same physique as Usain Bolt except I'm much shorter and more rotund with a paler complexion. 

Quick off your marks there 

[TWS60]

Right, generic BMI charts are a guide IMO.   Knew guys in the military who were at odds with the height to weight BMI standards.   Some were clearly taking the piss while others, like the gym/weight lifters, often prevailed on appeal through more precise measurement.  

Standard BMI chart feels about right for my frame.  Lost 10kg in the past 4 months, now fluctuating on the +/- 1kg borderline between the normal and overweight zones.   

[AussieBob]

BMI is crap as already stated by others.  The issue is how tall and how much belly and/or chest fat do you have. Men put weight/fat on where it can do a lot of damage - waist and chest. Women put it on where it does not cause same problems - hips, butt and legs.  Dont lose weight too quickly - bad for you and inevitably leads to putting it all back on and more. Forget exercise - that is crap, like BMI - all the Asians dont exercise - it is what you eat and drink - all the fat Asians eat western food. This is tough but it worked for me - 100+kgs down to under 80 in 2 years. Drinks lots of water and fruit juice - but never fizzy drinks (coke etc) - dont eat any cakes or bread or biscuits etc. - never eat western food (pizaa, maccas, kfc, etc etc). Eat as much as you want of meats (all), fish, fruit and veges - but no fried and no processed foods.  Drink lots of water - all day long. Start each day with a glass of water.  Never sit in front of TV or PC for more than 1 hour - walk for a few minutes every hour or so (going to toilet is good if it is upstairs). Long periods of inactivity and eating too much crap makes men fat - it aint lack of exercise so dont start walking miles every day (unlkess you want to). If you stick at it you will 'plateau' several times - I was 'stuck' at 92 for a while and again at 85 for a long time - just seemed to stay there - then it came down again.  Weigh yourself every day in the morning - before glass of water and after toilet - that is your true weight (otherwise weighing clothes and food and drinks).  You will go up and down each day for no apparent reason - it aint a linear trip - it goes all over the place (no idea why). When you have lost over 10kgs - put that weight into a containwer and walk up some big stairs - you were carrying all that weight (it was hurting you, even if you never 'felt' it). Do that when you have lost 20kgs and you will forever stay down in weight.  If you are a women then just try not to get too fat. Nursing homes are full of fat old ladies - it is not such a health issue for them - but there aint any fat old men.

[LoongFred]

1 hour ago, gummy said:

I'm borderline with a BMI of 29, used to be 23/24 years ago .  However I too am a bit sceptical about the BMI standards as my problem is I am now 1 cm shorter then I was.

Its a bit like climate warming for me 'cos at the current rate of height erosion I could become a hot blob of blubber. 

Change the wording from could become to am and I could agree with you. 

[gummy]

38 minutes ago, LoongFred said:

Change the wording from could become to am and I could agree with you. 

 

[Saltire]

As others have said BMI is no longer taken so seriously by the medical profession as it was.

OP when I came her 5 years ago I was just edging over 100 kg, today, and for the last 3 years or so I have been around the 80 kg mark. I see myself as still overweight and may attempt to get down to 75 kg at some point but a more pleasing measure for me is the reduced size of my trousers! If they start to get tight, time to adjust my eating habits again

I have to say I believe though, that the more excess weight you shed, the better your overall health will be.

 

 

 

[gummy]

1 hour ago, LoongFred said:

Change the wording from could become to am and I could agree with you. 

Well actually, clearly as an indication of your ignorance you have made an attempted insulting statement when you don't even know me. However we are very fair on here so I did conduct a confidential poll earlier .  You will be pleased to know that there was resounding majority to vote you as the past few weeks number one

 

Well done and congratulations on such an achievement.

[JamesE]

2 hours ago, AussieBob said:

Drinks lots of water and fruit juice - but never fizzy drinks (coke etc) - dont eat any cakes or bread or biscuits etc. - never eat western food (pizaa, maccas, kfc, etc etc). Eat as much as you want of meats (all), fish, fruit and veges - but no fried and no processed foods. 

Kill. Me. Now.

Eat whatever you want, just not so much. If your great grandmother would have recognized it as food, all the better. Meat/dairy - in all forms - is best considered a topping or flavoring. (But to each their own. I know I'm not giving up pizza or Sang Som and tonics. No. Way.)

[TWS60]

Nice one on the 100kg loss @AussieBob

Nodding my head at the term 'plateau', which can cause folks to give up, and rationalize it away.  Mine hit at 85kg, down from 90, and again trying to bust through 80 on the way to 77/78kg - high end of BMI 'normal' reference zone for me, not too far off the OP's. 

As you rightly mention, especially as we get older, lifestyle and informed food intake choices is the trick, not crash diets that wane over time, often resulting in a return to previous weight and habits.

Maybe some are in the same boat....  After moving to Thailand full time, I got stuck in sedentary "holiday mode", on the beer with the lads growing to 3~4x a week there at the end - another problem on its own - plus the typical pub food intake.   Soon found myself in the mid--90kg range with a budding beer gut, 2 chins and tits rivaling the Mrs.  During the end of that time, Doc mentioned signs of fatty liver during an annual health check/sonogram.  So it was time for a change.  That was hard to accept, and starting was a tough nut to crack. 

In my case, incorporated a late afternoon exercise program, which is when I'd normally pull my boots on and head to the pub meet.  Cutting down on the beer/drinking was a significant factor, and less pub food by extension.  Don't abstain from alcohol, and still enjoy a good feed, just less frequently, in smaller quantities, and then smarter food intake choices at home.  That, plus the modest exercise program, seem to be working, and has turned into a sustainable 'new normal' over the past few years.

[Marble-eye]

1 hour ago, Saltire said:

As others have said BMI is no longer taken so seriously by the medical profession as it was.

OP when I came her 5 years ago I was just edging over 100 kg, today, and for the last 3 years or so I have been around the 80 kg mark. I see myself as still overweight and may attempt to get down to 75 kg at some point but a more pleasing measure for me is the reduced size of my trousers! If they start to get tight, time to adjust my eating habits again

I have to say I believe though, that the more excess weight you shed, the better your overall health will be.

I have cut a lot out of the luxuries I really enjoy like, my breakfast would consist of bacon and egg with about 4 slices of bread thickly spread with the best butter I could lay my hands on, followed by a bluecurrant cordial. But that was enough to last me through the day until it was dinner time where I could be equally happy having a sandwich of some sort.

Then might have one or two cans of beer and a large glass of some sort of spirit. So have stopped drinking beer and the spirits and now just have a couple of glasses of red wine. Cut down on the bread, couldn't give it up all together as homemade bread is a necessity, put crushed tomatoes on the bread instead of plastering the bread with butter, poach my egg instead of frying. Drink water with a couple of slices of lime and orange.

I try to drink a couple of litres of water through the day and the weight is coming off, it does fluctuate but overal it is on a downhill spiral but only time will tell.

[Marc26]

6 hours ago, JamesE said:

Kill. Me. Now.

Eat whatever you want, just not so much. If your great grandmother would have recognized it as food, all the better. Meat/dairy - in all forms - is best considered a topping or flavoring. (But to each their own. I know I'm not giving up pizza or Sang Som and tonics. No. Way.)

Such a good statements 

"If your greeat-grandmother would gave recognized it as food"

 

Nothing processed 

[AussieBob]

18 hours ago, JamesE said:

Kill. Me. Now.

Eat whatever you want, just not so much. If your great grandmother would have recognized it as food, all the better. Meat/dairy - in all forms - is best considered a topping or flavoring. (But to each their own. I know I'm not giving up pizza or Sang Som and tonics. No. Way.)

Not for you - I understand. Up to you - but think of this.  Now that I have lost a lot of weight I can easily have a huge big meal and seriously enjoy it, knowing it aint gonna add to the already obese weight problem I had - just intake a little less tomorrow. Actually, I usually do that the day before I eat SFA. My body now seems to understand that it aint coming again for a while, so it uses it and doesnt store it.

[AussieBob]

17 hours ago, Marble-eye said:

I have cut a lot out of the luxuries I really enjoy like, my breakfast would consist of bacon and egg with about 4 slices of bread thickly spread with the best butter I could lay my hands on, followed by a bluecurrant cordial. But that was enough to last me through the day until it was dinner time where I could be equally happy having a sandwich of some sort.

Then might have one or two cans of beer and a large glass of some sort of spirit. So have stopped drinking beer and the spirits and now just have a couple of glasses of red wine. Cut down on the bread, couldn't give it up all together as homemade bread is a necessity, put crushed tomatoes on the bread instead of plastering the bread with butter, poach my egg instead of frying. Drink water with a couple of slices of lime and orange.

I try to drink a couple of litres of water through the day and the weight is coming off, it does fluctuate but overal it is on a downhill spiral but only time will tell.

Mate - when I have been 'good' over an extended period (under 80) I will have myself eggs and bacon at a local place for late brekky early lunch - but never any bread.  The reason for later is that men's metabolism is low in the morning and they should only eat lightly then (fruit etc) - lunch is supposed to be the main meal - and dinner just a top up.  Time you eat is important - worst thing is to eat processed fatty foods late at night - the body cant do much else other than store it while you sleep. 

Bread. I have been asked about that many times.  Bread is made out of grass (seeds, stalks, etc). All products made out of grass will make you fat - cakes, biscuits, snacks, etc.  The largest mamals on the planet are all grass eaters - that is why they are big - it is easy to eat and digest tons of the stuff and still want more. As we get older the body makes less muscles - extra stuff like grass goes stright to fat storage. 

Dairy.  If you eat a lot of dairy, you will also put on lots of weight (same reason as above). I do have light milk with tea/coffee - and very occasionally I have a small amount of cheese.  Best to avoid as much as you can if you want to lose weight 'naturally'. 

One more thing - never eat a large 'fatty' meal all at once.  If you do decide to have a pizza or burger or whatever, then only have a small amount, and then eat some more over 30 mins later - 1 hour better. 

  

 

[LoongFred]

20 hours ago, Saltire said:

As others have said BMI is no longer taken so seriously by the medical profession as it was.

OP when I came her 5 years ago I was just edging over 100 kg, today, and for the last 3 years or so I have been around the 80 kg mark. I see myself as still overweight and may attempt to get down to 75 kg at some point but a more pleasing measure for me is the reduced size of my trousers! If they start to get tight, time to adjust my eating habits again

I have to say I believe though, that the more excess weight you shed, the better your overall health will be.

I had knee surgery a few years ago. I'm 6'2" inches and have a  muscular frame. I weigh 100 kg but not considered fat. The orthopetist, who was a personal friend, told me that every pound equaled 4 pounds of pressure on your knees. So in spite of not being fat, I still needed to lose some weight. 

[Saltire]

18 hours ago, Marble-eye said:

I have cut a lot out of the luxuries I really enjoy like, my breakfast would consist of bacon and egg with about 4 slices of bread thickly spread with the best butter I could lay my hands on, followed by a bluecurrant cordial. But that was enough to last me through the day until it was dinner time where I could be equally happy having a sandwich of some sort.

Then might have one or two cans of beer and a large glass of some sort of spirit. So have stopped drinking beer and the spirits and now just have a couple of glasses of red wine. Cut down on the bread, couldn't give it up all together as homemade bread is a necessity, put crushed tomatoes on the bread instead of plastering the bread with butter, poach my egg instead of frying. Drink water with a couple of slices of lime and orange.

I try to drink a couple of litres of water through the day and the weight is coming off, it does fluctuate but overal it is on a downhill spiral but only time will tell.

Butter is good, bacon and eggs are good, bread, not good.

 

You are bordering on a keto lifestyle, high fat low carb, which is how I lost 20kg and will lose 5 more.

Bread has to go, along with potatoes and other root veg, pasta/noodles and of course rice. It's not easy to start with.

Your breakfast if you used olive oil or butter to fry would be good, I have a fried breakfast most days.

It is easier than most to stick to as once ketosis (fat burning) kicks in you are not hungry. Add s few days a week of intermittent fasting and it's like a booster.

My weakness is chocolate and sugar in general!

Good luck.

[AussieBob]

37 minutes ago, LoongFred said:

I had knee surgery a few years ago. I'm 6'2" inches and have a  muscular frame. I weigh 100 kg but not considered fat. The orthopetist, who was a personal friend, told me that every pound equaled 4 pounds of pressure on your knees. So in spite of not being fat, I still needed to lose some weight. 

Slowly Fred - that is the best way to do it - slowly.  Change your diet and give yourself 2 years to get down to 85 kgs. The body somehow adjusts to the change in food intakes - but it takes time.  Funny thing is that if you starve yourself over 3-4 weeks and lose 5-10kgs, the moment you start eating again the body seems to say:  'I better store this, there might be another drought soon'. 

[Marble-eye]

3 minutes ago, Saltire said:

Butter is good, bacon and eggs are good, bread, not good.

You are bordering on a keto lifestyle, high fat low carb, which is how I lost 20kg and will lose 5 more.

Bread has to go, along with potatoes and other root veg, pasta/noodles and of course rice. It's not easy to start with.

Your breakfast if you used olive oil or butter to fry would be good, I have a fried breakfast most days.

It is easier than most to stick to as once ketosis (fat burning) kicks in you are not hungry. Add s few days a week of intermittent fasting and it's like a booster.

My weakness is chocolate and sugar in general!

Good luck.

This morning as with most mornings now have cooked the bacon in an air fryer and instead of butter on the bread I put crushed tomatoes from a tin on the bread. I make my own bread and bacon and it would be too much to give up the foods I love so much. So it's a case of eating less and try to cut out the bad fats all together. Instead of my sugary drink I will drink water with a slice of lemon and orange, and hey it is not as nice but a little sacrifice may still work. As I said before the weight is going down so I will see how far it goes before I have a rethink.

Beer and spirits have now been put on hold but that doesn't mean to say if there was a special ocassion that came up I wouldn't have a few beers. But my main Achilles heel is that I like a drink before retiring in the evening so I will have a couple of glasses of wine, moderation again.

For my dinners I am trying a mediterranean salad with the likes of cucumber, tomato, basil and boiled eggs with virgin olive oil and definately no salad cream.

I must admit I struggle to drink two litres of water a day and arguably probably should be a lot more.

Thanks for the good luck.

[gummy]

Just now, Marble-eye said:

I must admit I struggle to drink two litres of water a day and arguably probably should be a lot more

That's very often the issue for many people. However as alcohol also stimulates thirst perhaps a morning of drinking alcohol would promote a thirst that you could quench with water for the rest of the day. Just an idea 

https://www.phlabs.com/drinking-makes-you-thirsty-and-that-is-a-good-thing

[Marble-eye]

22 minutes ago, AussieBob said:

Slowly Fred - that is the best way to do it - slowly.  Change your diet and give yourself 2 years to get down to 85 kgs. The body somehow adjusts to the change in food intakes - but it takes time.  Funny thing is that if you starve yourself over 3-4 weeks and lose 5-10kgs, the moment you start eating again the body seems to say:  'I better store this, there might be another drought soon'. 

Yes I once spent 3 nights in a gov hospital with food poisoning and as I'm not a great lover of Thai food I literally ate nothing but drank water of course, I was looking forward to getting on the scales when I got home and hey voila, I was the same weight as when I entered the hospital.

[Vince]

On 11/6/2021 at 8:56 PM, Pinetree said:

No, no, no. BMI is the crudest of crude measures of obesity.  You need to take into account body fat percentage, muscle tone and amount. body shape, etc  which BMI does not do. e.g. The vast majority of NFL players are all obese by BMI standards, enough said. You know if you are overweigh and need to lose body fat, you don't need a stupid BMI to tell you that. 

If the poster is an NFL player this is a great point. Most people resemble late career Sumo wrestlers if they are even that lucky.