What,s in a name

[timetoact16]

I thought I started as Morbidly Obese but realise I am Obese, however being obese still is a risk factor for health.

[Prince56]

Go for it, labels mean nothing, feel  good for yourself, one life, live it, be the best you can be! Ps it takes a bit of time! Good luck

[DartmoorDumpling Restart Feb 2024]

My Grandmother had 5 children and weighed over 15 stone all her life.  She walked everywhere and at age 80 was looking after a 90 year old!  She lived to 89 despite her life-time of being "obese" and was rarely ill....so I choose to ignore these "one size fits all" labels. 

Having said that, any excess poundage is still a load to lug about and having now lost 25lbs, I can vouch for the fact that you will feel more lively and your knees hurt less as you get closer to a healthy weight, so it it is well worth going for!

[IndigoBlue61]

These words do not define us!! I know many slim healthy people who are in the 'overweight' category 😕 It's how we feel, can we climb stairs, where we carry the excess fat etc 😕 Much more complex than BMI 

Good Luck 😊

[Bongo4]

I've been tested for diabetes  risk every six months, and vitamin D levels were down, and the thyroid dodgy-ish, cholesterol testing, and something else to do with weight I can't remember. My joints used to hurt and I worried about my knee. I may - may- have just edged over the line from obese to overweight this week, or if not yet, then soon. Maybe this summer's tests will be the last ones? I go in to the doctor's once a month to use the scales as they are accurate and it saves the ten weighs a day habit I would otherwise go in for.

I love being fit again, and running up and down stairs with no bother just as if I had lost 20 years in age. It makes you happy and confident. I should make the healthy range by August, any faster and loose skin would be possible. I've lost about 10 kilos in 3.5 months without ever feeling hungry, or even slightly inconvenienced. What I'm doing and eating now I hope to keep doing always.

[Venusflytrap]

Well they're talking about average shapes and sizes.  If you looked at the average (and nowadays very fit) rugby team, they would mostly come up as obese on a standard BMI scale.  But they really are a different shape to the norm.  They would still look and weigh heavy even when most of their shape is muscle not fat.  Height and bone weight is significant in working out fat ratios.  But you're right "obese" does sound so much better than "morbidly obese". So much so that they amalgamated the two categories.  I'll echo the others in saying that getting to our healthy weights does make a fantastic difference to mood and health.  And it does seem to cancel out a lot of the effects of age.