What do you consider "fat"?
 

Some time ago one of my friends asked this question on facebook: what do you consider to be fat? It gave me a lot to think about, and I was surprised at other people's preceptions. Many of them considered what I had thought to be healthy, "fat". After reflecting on the topic, I realized that I was in denial about by weight and that I actually agreed with them, which made me fat by my own definition.

So I pose it to you: at what point is someone (or yourself) fat?

My answer: size 12. I know this will vary for others depending on body size, height, etc.

Well i think 130 is skinny which i knpw a lot of people dont think so...140-160 the good kinda thick 170-190 getting chunky and anything above 190 fat but just bc you might be that weight you might not look fat...so really it just all depends..like you said...height..shape..all that.

I am short so if I am overweight I am fat. A healthy range for me is 101-127, 101 is way to low, but 127 while many would consider that to be a good weight on my short, small boned frame I am fat at 127 and better star doing something about it.

This is only based on me and my body.
I am fat when I can't do regular everyday things comfortably. If I can't walk up the stairs without huffing and puffing - fat. If I can't bend over without my waistband cutting me in half and my fat crushing my chest so that I have to hold my breath - fat. If in order to, um, groom myself "there" I have to hold up my fupa and hold my breath - fat. If i have to almost grease my jeans to get them to go over my hips - fat. There are more but i think this is enough, lol. I know there are lots of people who are heavy and can run marathons and do everything with ease, but I can't so these are my points of being fat for me.

When noticeable muffin top occurs or when you put on jeans, bend over and your eyes feel like they may blow out of the sockets. That's my cue to put down the fork.

I think this is a dangerous topic.

I don't measure other people's level of fatness or non-fatness.

For myself, I don't know. I think I'm still fat now, yet I would never in a million years look at another person my height, weight, and pant size and think they were fat. How messed up is that.

I have absolutely no idea. It totally depends on body type, on height, on muscle mass, on personal standards...

At 1m57 and 54ish kgs, and coming down from 79-80 kgs, I consider myself as pretty normal and not fat (if not exactly "thin" either). But if your ideal female body type is 1m70 for 45 kgs, then I'm a huge lump of fat.

This is really difficult to answer as different people who are the same height can look drastically different at different weights depending on muscle and frame size in general. I'd be wary of choosing a number and saying 'xlbs is fat!' and offending somebody or just making them feel bad about themselves.

I don't think I'm fat any more if I'm honest but I still have excess fat that I want to lose.

There are also plus size models who are size 12+ who don't look fat at all because they're tall and bigger in general.

I agree, it's likely a dangerous topic. And it's all relative.

I think it's ok to define standards for ourselves as long as health is the priority (both physically and mentally), but not to project any such standards upon others. You can't just run around and tell someone else that 150 pounds is too fat, or that a size 14 is too fat, or that wearing a size 8 ring is too fat. I mean, I'm not a doctor, so who am I to say? Too many people use perception of weight as a status quo, as a way to judge others. And I believe that as long as we keep trying to define what "too fat" is outside of a health concern, we're stepping over the line.

Only speaking for myself, since my weight yo-yo's so much (not others):

I consider myself "fat" when I begin to develop a double chin and have love handles on my lower back (even when I'm not wearing pants).

Agreed, dangerous topic.

But I will say this - my definition of "fat" has certainly changed as I have gotten older. It is utterly shocking how much pressure I put on myself when younger. And I'm sure most people here would agree with that.

Not to be a wierdo stickler but the word "fat" doesn't mean anything to me personally.

I like to think in terms of body fat percentage and catagorize things as below normal, normal, over weight, obsese and morbidly obese.

This is SO individual. And most people have no clue, besides their own body and measurements, what the actual dimension s of someone else are. I've been considered healthy and quite attractive at a weight the same person would say is fat, because my body composition and measurements differ from their litmus as the same weight.

So I really try not to get into justifying, measuring, and eyeballing other people if I can at all help it, because too many factors beyond just weight determine whether someone is fat, and quite frankly it is their health and happiness that matters more than their size!

So for ME, I can answer that my start weight was unbearably obese - when I was in the prime of my life (21!) and got tired going up stairs, couldn't easily get down to play with my kids, let alone get back up. Where nothing I put on, no matter how expensive or elegant, looked good. My fat as inescapable and no angle I turned my head could hide it from me anymore. At my height then, of 5'2", with a broad but not overly dense frame, 260-ish pounds was morbidly obese in both appearance and BMI. That didn't make me ugly, a bad person, or even miserable from day to day, but it did become a stumbling block to me serving my family rightly, and I was convicted that I needed to fix it.

My original goal is what I remember 'not fat' being. Back when I was in highschool I was 160-165 and though I got called fat by a few rude boys, I was healthy, active, and considered quite lovely by many others (including myself - I didn't mind looking in the mirror). And it was a good litmus - when I got down to 163 right before this pregnancy most of my excess torso fat was gone - back and neck fat, flanks, apron fat, etc. It was reduced enough to give me a normal silhouette and my clothing was firmly a size 12/medium, except in button up tops (I have still been blessed with broad shoulders and a big chest, regardless of my weight). For me, that was a size that I could consider myself healthy and normal, even if I never lost anther pound. I was fit, looked good, and felt even better.

I ended up lowering my goal because once I got there I could see that additional fat could and should be lost from my body. There was a lot more work that could be done to improve my shape without too much difficulty in maintaining it. So I lowered the goal twenty to forty pounds, intent on stopping wherever I looked and felt best without excess daily struggle to stay there. Then iwas richly blessed with a little metabolic bomb called pregnancy and additional fat loss was somewhat stalled out by fatigue, cravings, food aversion, and the occasional bout of ravenous hunger. My goal still stands, but it will have to wait just a bit longer since I'm not quite halfway through this pregnancy. But I'm back on my plan and working off some vacation/fun eating weight, and will be raring to go when this baby is born and I'm breastfeeding. My original self-assessment still stands :)

Just to clarify, I don't want to offend people or judge or compare bodies. I'm just interested to see how people's perception on "fat" vary. I'll ask that answers are in reference only to your own body and no one else's.

I think it's interesting for some how they can define it by a number (this includes me, for my own body) and others define it by other means.

Thanks for the responses so far!