@peaceprevails26 Bone structure and muscle mass make a huge difference in what different weights look like at a height. If you feel comfortable and healthy at a weight then there is no reason to try to change it.
@nancyd Yeah looking back I was at my goal weight and didn't really understand what it meant to 'tone up' as people advised me. Now I am 20lb heavier and do want to lose, but it looks different on me because I have more muscle. It's a head f*ck for me to go on the scale tbh!
@togetherinjesus thank you so much for sharing this and being vulnerable with how hard it is to gain weight. i am right there and admit it is really really hard. thank you so much for the support. how were you able to feel okay eating more and gaining weight? i know I have to eat a lot more to get the protein i need to gain muscle but have just been eating at a deficit for so long it is really hard to shift gears.
@nancyd So I can't say I have been happy about gaining weight tbh! It was a combo of the pandemic and a couple of other things so it feels 'unfair' to me (I appreciate life is unfair). More recently, though, weights classes mean that although the scale hasn't moved, my shape has changed so that's why I feel okay about it. When I was smaller I felt flabby and couldn't diet my way out of that (I was never going to be skinny). I still worry about what I look like so I haven't really reframed that, but I feel a lot better exercising than relying on restricting which has never worked for me long term. Also the exercise just sorts my mental health out a lot so that really helps. Oh and sometimes I look at celebs who have gained but I think look fabulous / even better at a higher weight and remember them (I mean it's basically everyone who is no longer in their twenties!). Good luck!
@jeanclaude To add to this, if anyone has had children, they may find their hip bones and pelvis to be wider than it used to be. Sometimes, it's a permanent change, and sometimes it isn't.
@medli Which scale metrics? BMI is a screening tool, but it really isn't conclusive for an individual. Someone with a lot of muscle will have an overweight BMI but may be very healthy.
Scale that report body composition are notoriously inaccurate - BIA just really isn't that accurate of a way to determine body fat or muscle mass. Maybe they have some value in tracking trends but I'm not even sure most scales are accurate enough for those to be meaningful.
I think more useful things to look for health at are waist circumference (larger than half your height is correlated with heart disease and type 2 diabetes) and lab work like checking lipids and A1C.
Of course people can have aesthetic goals besides health goals, but scale numbers really aren't that important for those either.
@peaceprevails26 Im 5'2 but I have a really small frame so I currently 110lbs and look flabby with some fat in my midsection. So I'm totally the opposite. Maybe it has to do with your bone structure? Or maybe I just need to build more muscle lol
@beautiful_insideandout Tbh I’m 5’3 and at 140 I look really fit (150 now, thanks holiday cookies smh) because I focus on muscle gain rather than weight loss. That way I can burn muscle easier and going on a cut yields a much better result.
I wouldn’t knock building the muscle! Unless you’re looking for a very slim fit build instead of a more curvy one.
@beautiful_insideandout I am the opposite too, I’m 5’0 and look fat at 105 lbs. I have a small frame and that combined with my height makes it so I can’t carry my weight well.
@beautiful_insideandout I only felt like I looked slender at 5’0 and 98lbs (without muscle mass anyway). I gained 10 lbs and I’m flabby now. I have a TINY frame. But I’ll probably try building muscle so feel good, and also so I can eat more without gaining weight.
@beautiful_insideandout same height and i’m around 108 and i also look flabby i think when i checked i have a medium frame. i also believe i need to build muscle
@peaceprevails26 I have been around 140 for a while at 5’2. I wear size small & medium. Jeans are size 4-6 because I have thick legs and a booty: I workout 5-6 days a week and I am very strict on my diet: I hate the scale , it makes me feel unworthy because of my bmi & what the internet says I should weigh.
@jazmyno Wow this is so interesting to me because I’m 5’2” and when I was 140 I had to wear sizes 8-10 in jeans. The last time I fit into a size 4 I was around 110 lbs. Goes to show that even at the same height and weight our bodies can be so different!