The FastDay Forum

I'm going for the minimum BMI now having been around 20/21 for a while. I agree, Mimi looks really good and not unhealthy, so why not?

Just resurrecting this thread having read the Mumsnet chat with Mimi Spencer (link here, thankyou Breadandwine!) She is no longer verging on the unhealthy BMI range.
http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnet_liv ... May-9-10pm

The BMI measure is only general and doesn't take account of body specifics (ethnicity, age etc), so I treat it with studied caution. It is however one of the very few tools we have to discover whether we are a 'healthy' weight or not. I don't think I set a BMI target for myself - I was far more interested in how I felt and how I looked in my jeans!My BMI is now around 20, and I do want to keep it in that zone.

So Mimi no longer has a BMI of 18.5 as she did after following the 5:2. It seems the 6:1 maintenance isn't working that well for her either. I'm not finding it that easy to keep a BMI Of below 19 either and have had to go back regularly to 5:2 in order to do so.

I think BMI is just a guide and so many other factors are important. Lots of thin people can be skinnyfat , a result of poor diet and too little exercise but they fit into their skinny jeans! Athletic builds can look bulked up but with very little body fat in the case of body builders for example. I also think it matters what sort of frame you have, as the lower end of the bmi can look "unhealthy" on a large frame but very attractive on a small frame. It all comes down to perception and personal taste. Fashion has a lot to do with it too, especially for women, and many young women particularly feel under a lot of pressure to reach a low body weight because that is the image that we are confronted with on magazine covers, etc. and the supposed ideal woman that we are told is desirable by men and society is THIN. As for Mimi I don't regard her as a great role model for the 5.2 as I find her too skinny, but much more importantly I didn't find her contribution to the book interesting at all!.

Wow, this forum talks fast! Just read the post by Franglaise and think that Mimi will look better with the little bit extra -still think her part of the book wasn't great though...

I'm 5'6 and trying to get down to about 8st 7lb. I have been as low as 8st (not through trying but rather through stress) and am currently 9st 6lb. On me personally I know I don't look too skinny at low weights, even when I was 8st I was not bony or skeletal. I am quite muscular and can carry more or less weight and still look essentially the same. I wouldn't want to go to 8st again though because that would put me at an underweight BMI. I know BMI is quite arbitrary but it's all we've got and I'd rather be as near the low end as I can be without going under!

Interesting Susan. My OH has been doing 5:2 with me for a while and just stable, not losing. Now I have reached maintenance I have switched to 6:1 but too early to say whether it is going to be sufficient. Seems like maintaining may be harder in some ways than losing because you have to mix it around a bit, you can fall off the bucking bronco either side!

Re the BMI issue, we know that the waist / height measure is a better guide and that too is fairly arbitrary. But I wonder if there is a difference between 'pears' and 'apples' too in what the 'ideal' weight might be. Pears naturally carry more subcutaneous fat on bum and thighs and AFAIK that is quite healthy (even if not always admired on the beach). So logically pears can have a higher safe BMI than apples, whose excess fat builds on their tummy and wraps around internal organs.

I've no idea which fruit Mimi would be, though!

I know BMI is quite arbitrary but it's all we've got and I'd rather be as near the low end as I can be without going under!

I agree. But it is harder to maintain as obviously your TDEE is lower than before which can take some getting used to. But if you only have a few kilos to use then it shouldn't make too much difference. I feel better with a BMI of around 19 than I did with a BMI of 21 but I know it isn't the same for everyone. I think you need some reserve especially as you get older as studies have shown. As I'm quite fit and health (touch wood) it hasn't been an issue for me yet.
Congratulations on reaching your goal Dominic! I look forward to hearing how you get on with 6:1. I find I have to add in at least a half fast on another day as I can't do without my breakfast like others on here. I know some people on here swear by skipping it but all my slim/skinny friends and aquaintances never miss breakfast either so I don't think skipping it would make maintaing or losing weight any easier, therefore I prefer to do some sort of fast on 2 days.
I don't seem to be a pear or apple shape, more straight up and down so I can't comment on the ideal weight for either type.

It's such a personal thing, both the perception of what looks good and also, what is 'ideal' for a body. For someone like CreakyPete who does a lot of climbing, I can definitely see that a lower weight is 'ideal', however to give an opposite situation, I have a friend who on paper is obese, but in fact is a committed long distance road cyclist, 6'1 and slabs of muscle from top to toe. There's not an inch to pinch on him. BMI serves no purpose for him.

I think for non-sporting women it's particularly hard to be objective. My DH shudders at the sight of really lean women and thank goodness for that because I'm never going to be one However, I have another male friend who find any woman with more than a B cup unappealing. One man's meat is another's poison as they say. I have known women who hate how slender they are naturally, BUT I've yet to meet the woman who lost a lot of weight and wasn't happy with herself at the time. I don't begrudge Mimi her short period of life as a dinky thing, and she looks in proportion and lovely in that picture IMO.

Personally, BMI has never served me well because I've always been heavy for my size; I was 6 lbs away from the top of my healthy BMI range for months when doing WW and training very hard at the time to try and drop the last few lbs, but I felt good and was a size 10/12 at 11st 2, 34C (I still have some of those bras tucked away). I gave up WW in the end because they wouldn't make me a gold member (and therefore eligible to attend meetings for free) because I was overweight, and yet I used to help out and people always assumed I was at target. I'm 5'4" and currently 12st 4, and I'm pretty comfortable in most of my size 12s again now. There are a few that are snug, but for example I just bought a brand new pair of size 12 skinny jeans from Next and they are fine. I should weigh at MOST 10st 8 to hit the healthy BMI range, which I guess would make me a 10. My friend who is a different shape to me weighs almost exactly a stone lighter, is in the healthy BMI range and yet struggles to do up my old size 14 jeans! I'm an hourglass, she's an apple. I am sooo jealous of her slender arms and thighs though Although... my bottom is perkier

Live and let live I say. We're all fighting our OWN battle.

I'm 5' 8" ( a bit under) and the lightest I've been as an adult is 9 st 10lbs just before my wedding an I wouldn't have wanted to be any slimmer I'm aiming for 10st 4lbs which was my slimmest post babies. My heaviest was 11 st 7. Point is I've aleays been a size 14 just the difference bewteen a big 14 and small 14. If I was 9 st I would really be a bag of bones. my daughter is an inch shorter than me and weighs less than 8st 7 and looks slim but not skinny but she has a comletely different shape and has inherited her dad's slight build. So BMI can be fairly meaningless for individuals. I think Mimi looks great by the way.

Live and let live I say. We're all fighting our OWN battle.

Yes, that's very true. As long as you are happy in your own skin that is the important thing. I know if I can pinch more than an inch or my thighs touch when my knees are together...I'm not! I need to be at the lower end of the BMI scale to achieve this, but I'm sure it isn't the same for everyone.

From Mimi's picture, she looks great. She's not anorexic. Everyone's body is different. There are just people whose basic build is willowy. Mimi's probably one of those. I, on the other hand, am not.

But, I am enjoying the journey of getting this almost 65 year old body in shape. I'm 5'4" and 150 pounds (10 stone 10 pounds?). My goal is to be 9 stone 8 lbs. for health reasons.

I was looking at some old statistics on average weights of people from even the 1960's. The new normal with regard to weight is not a good thing.

Wow, people do talk fast here! Franglaise, I think that if you're straight up and down, you probably would be an apple if you were overweight. But, as you are not, everything's cool!

Cor, Miami looks great in that photo. That is just how I look in my minds eye!! Like you Bordergirl I am 5'4 and not willowy! I am distinctly apple. I was an underweight child and teenager who could eat anything and was probably about 8st till well into my grown up years. I have been gaining weight slowly and steadily for the last 15 years or so. I have set my target to 9st because I hope that will be achievable but I would like to try out the low end of BMI like Mimi.

I was looking at some old statistics on average weights of people from even the 1960's. The new normal with regard to weight is not a good thing.

Have the average weights changed a lot from the sixties Bordergirl? Or was it then that being skinny became fashionable with models like Twiggy and Jean Shripton, and before the average weight was higher?

Having a family member who has an eating disorder it always worries me when I read about people wanting to be at low weights for their height.
Sorry I can't help it having lived through it. I don't always think the thinner the better always looks best either.
Not trying to be confrontational just makes me a bit panicky.