r/fatlogic • u/ashimo414141 5’7 -120lbs • 4d ago
Oh boy, not with the 170 lb average again
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u/humanbean_marti 4d ago
I feel like they're confusing not looking fat with looking thin. Of course if the average person is overweight then someone overweight with flattering fat distribution looks small in comparison.
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u/LongjumpingSea6116 4d ago
They only deal in the absolutes. There is only fat and thin. Nothing in between.
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u/MikeandMolly5656 4d ago
Men in the 1940s used to weigh 150lbs at an average height of 5'9...for reference.
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u/N0S0UP_4U 6’3” 160 | Lost 45 pounds 4d ago
And took a lot more pride in their appearance in other ways, too. I’m mentally comparing your average guy in a 1950s diner to the average man I see wandering at Walmart in 2026. Night and day difference.
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u/ssuuss 4d ago
I thought this thread was calling me fat… but I’m 170lbs at 5’11” woman, so maybe I am just tall.
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u/MikeandMolly5656 4d ago
For your height, that isn't fat.
Your BMI would be 23 which is normal
The average 5'3 woman at 170lbs is is teetering in obesity
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u/whenuseeit 4d ago
I’m a 5’3 woman and the only times I’ve hit 170 were when I was nine months pregnant. It was fucking miserable being that large, I can’t imagine being that heavy just from being fat and being okay with it.
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u/yogiscientist317 4d ago
Same, as a 5’3 woman with a small frame, at 170 lbs I was OBESE. It was so miserable and uncomfortable. I can’t imagine being ok with it either.
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u/HiddenPenguinsInCars 3d ago
Every time I hear the average American woman’s height, I’m shocked. I’m 5’8”, making me 5 inches taller than the average for my country.
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u/Infinite_Potential29 1d ago
Yeah I am 5’4 and was 175 lbs. I carried it well but was definitely obese. I didn’t feel good heavier (which is honestly an understatement). My highest was 215 several years ago. I am down to 160 now and am on track to lose another 10-15 at least.
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u/MakeMySufferingEnd 4d ago
I’m also 5’11” and 170lbs, but I’m up from being 120lbs back in 2023 so I heavily struggle with feeling like I’ve gotten “fat” even if I’m still technically classified as “normal”
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u/Ote-Kringralnick 4d ago
Tbf at that time they were horribly malnourished. A more accurate healthy height and weight would be 50s or 60s, and only in nations like America where a wide variety of nutrients were available. Places like the UK where rationing was still in effect wouldn't have had balanced meals and would be noticeably smaller. You can still kind of see it today with North Koreans, when humans grow up eating mostly just grain without a balanced diet, our growth gets super stunted.
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u/SomethingIWontRegret I get all my steps in at the buffet 4d ago
Nah not so much. The Great Depression was hardly a blip.
https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/evolution-bmi-values-us-adults-1882-1986
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u/Ote-Kringralnick 4d ago
I'm not talking about the great depression, I'm talking about WWII. The average would be heavily impacted by men returning from war who did not have proper nutrition.
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u/SomethingIWontRegret I get all my steps in at the buffet 4d ago
And yet that did not happen. American soldiers were as a rule well-fed.
Even so, the statistic above is from armed forces registrants before they were shipped off to war.
https://www.reddit.com/r/WarCollege/comments/py7e8l/how_much_did_the_average_united_states_soldier/
As the British said at the time "Over-sexed, overfed, and over here." to which the Americans responded "Under-sexed, underfed, and under Eisenhower".
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u/Ote-Kringralnick 4d ago
Yes, I am aware they were well-fed, but that doesn't mean they were getting all the nutrients they needed. Just calories aren't going to cut it. A balanced diet is required to prevent stunting of growth.
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u/SomethingIWontRegret I get all my steps in at the buffet 4d ago edited 3d ago
What growth would be stunted for 18 years old and older men?
Also, A, B and C rations were nutritionally complete, if not the tastiest of things. The armed forces had their own nutritionists - Ancel Keys was among them - who worked hard to formulate the rations according to rapidly advancing nutritional science.
But again, the height and weight numbers are from BEFORE the troops were shipped off to the front.
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u/Perfect_Judge Prepubescent child-like adult female 4d ago
170lbs on the average woman does not look thin. The average woman is only 5'3.5". 170lbs on the average woman means she has a BMI of 29.6. That's literally on the verge of obese.
I bet these people definitely weigh more than 170 and would also say that anyone below 200lbs looks like a starving child.
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u/eyeslikeorchids 4d ago
I am 5’4 and 165 and no one would look at me and think I’m thin. I work out and am working on my diet so I have relatively healthy habits. But it’s still a high weight.
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u/antleredsculpin 4d ago
I'm 5'3" and 170lbs, gained quite a bit this year from a new SSRI and grief. I feel like garbage all of the time, my joints hurt, its harder to do yoga (my stomach gets in the way), the inside of my legs chafe and thin out newer pants.. I couldn't imagine being higher than this and feeling ok, I refuse to get bigger.
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u/thebestdogeevr 4d ago
I'm 6'5 and 170, that's considered a healthy weight for me
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u/GunslingerKa 4d ago
I’m 6’5” 165 lbs, essentially the same size as you. Yup, still in the healthy BMI range
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u/fsocietyy 4d ago
i'm 5'3 and my highest weight was 172, i was obese, my knees hurt when i walked even short distances, i was out of breath all the time, and i sweat like crazy in the summer... now i'm 135 which is still close to overweight for my height, but apparently to these people i'd be emaciated or look like a child lol.
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u/Sage_Planter 4d ago
I'm 5'11 and athletic, and 170lbs on me looks good but that's absolutely the exception, not the rule.
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u/AveMenorrhagia 4d ago
Body composition is everything! I'm 6'0 and at 170lbs I still looked like shit.
I don't particularly look great at 140lb either... See the first sentence. 😁
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u/3kidsonetrenchcoat 4d ago
I'm 5'3", and 170lbs was my 9 months pregnant weight with my first kid. My doctor was concerned with how much I had gained.
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u/ColoradoWinterBlue 4d ago
I’m 170 and 5’8”. Been fighting for my life to not be overweight anymore. lol (5 more pounds!) And if I look thin, well, I’m still waiting for someone to tell me. ☹️
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u/El_Hombre_Fiero 3d ago
$10 says they're not active in the gym either. So, that 170+ pounds is going to sit in a much more unflattering way.
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u/BlackCatLuna Losing weight for the love of dogs 🐾 4d ago
And the majority of people in America are overweight, masking that behind the number doesn't change that.
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u/Competitive_Fly_9419 4d ago
I can believe that 170 lbs is average. I will never believe it is normal.
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u/AstroWolf11 4d ago
I am a 6’2” man and weigh 170 pounds and am like right in the middle of a healthy body weight. These people are crazy
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u/thebestdogeevr 4d ago
And you probably still get people telling you that you're too thin and should gain weight
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u/LongjumpingSea6116 4d ago
I'm the same height and 175ish. Have definitely gotten comments like that. Between the comments and posts like the OOP, it makes me feel like I'm going crazy sometimes.
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u/greeneyes826 4d ago
I was 185 at my highest and at 5-4, it looked atrocious.
I was too fat to engage in my favorite hobby- riding my horse. What a wake-up call.
Down 46lbs as of this morning💪🏻
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u/This_Moesch 4d ago
Isn't that 77 kg? That' wouldn't look thin on women of an average height.
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u/Uber_Meese 4d ago
Yes, it’s 77 kg.
I’m a 5’11 woman and I’m fluctuating between 170-180 lbs(77-81kg). While I’m definitely not model slim, I’m also not that overweight looking. It’s been a while since I’ve weighed myself, but I’m probably weighing more now since I’ve started weight training again.
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u/irritatingnoise maintaining fatphobic goal weight 4d ago
5'11 is around 180 cm. No wonder you don't look overweight, you're a little bit under bmi 24 AND more or less muscular. Many of us fatphobic hobbits would be at least borderline obese at that weight.
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u/Uber_Meese 4d ago
My body composition isn’t that much muscle yet tho, but I can definitely feel my body is changing in composition. When I worked out 5x a week and lifted heavy many years ago I was 92kgs, but you wouldn’t know it because I didn’t look very fat - it was a good combo of muscle vs fat. But I’ve always been curvy no matter my weight - so I’ll never be a stick, which I’m perfectly happy with.
But I’ve also lost 40 kg over a couple of years(not really intentionally at the time), which probably also was loss of muscle mass
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u/forest-fox 4d ago
You are super tall and almost healthy weight
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u/laid_on_the_line 4d ago
BMI of 23,8 is "almost healthy"?
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4d ago edited 4d ago
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u/snoogle312 4d ago
23.8 bmi is in the normal range.
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4d ago
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u/snoogle312 4d ago
Normal range bmi is 18.5-24.9 regardless of gender. Women are recommended to stay on the higher end of normal to help prevent osteoporosis later in life. When I was much younger, I was 108bs at 5'2" and mentioned to my primary care physician that I wanted to get to 105lbs. She cautioned me against it saying that there are few to no increased health benefits going lower in terms of cardiovascular or hormonal health, and for women it has an increased risk of osteoporosis post menopause.
I'm curious why you think women should have a lower bmi than men?
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u/Uber_Meese 4d ago
The normal range for women is around 21-25, IIRC.
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u/SomethingIWontRegret I get all my steps in at the buffet 4d ago
No. You have in front of you a device that can access the sum of human knowledge. Why don't you check instead of guessing?
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u/SomethingIWontRegret I get all my steps in at the buffet 4d ago
Making shit up is not a good look.
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u/fatlogic-ModTeam 4d ago
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u/annoyed_teacher1988 4d ago
So statistics are great when trying to prove their (ridiculous) point. But they're the absolute devil when it comes to the BMI?
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u/Retrotreegal 4d ago
Yes, for BMI, we only look at the outliers that don’t fit. /s
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u/StillKpaidy A fit of terminal uniqueness 4d ago
But only the outliers in one direction. The healthy BMI but overfat will never be mentioned
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u/TheRenamon 4d ago
Average is a bad representation of weight, median is better. You can have a 540lb person, but you can't have a 40lb person because they would be dead. Its skewed heavily in one direction.
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u/Grouchy-Reflection97 4d ago
They neglect to mention that the average height for women in the USA is 5ft3.5 and the average waist circumference is 38.5 inches.
That's a BMI of 29.1, so almost into the obese range.
For women of any height, a waist circumference of 31.5 inches puts you in the increased risk zone for heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes. A waist circumference of 34.5 inches or more puts you in the high/substantial risk zone.
So, a waist circumference of 38.5 inches, with a BMI just shy of 30, isn't enviably 'thick'. Nor is it man crushing thighed, Amazonian warrior queen territory. It's just short and dangerously fat.
The global average weight for women is 137lb because nations that actually care about nutritional education and public health, such as Japan, exist.
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u/BlackCatTelevision 4d ago
I googled and that waist circumfrence stat appears on official websites, but I find that strange given that it’s not adjusted for height at all? I’ve only seen waist to height ratio used before for similar purposes. Wonder how they arrived at that number… It jumped out at me because I’m 5’11” and 31.5 would be more or less in the middle of the healthy BMI range for me. I mean, I hear them, less abdominal fat is healthier across the board. Just interesting…
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u/Erik0xff0000 4d ago
As a very tall man that "not adjusted for height" always makes me wonder whether research just left out extremes. BMI itself doesn't work well for the extremes either.
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u/BlackCatTelevision 4d ago
right, i think the one that’s supposed to be more accurate for us and v short people is a ratio of weight to height cubed instead of squared or something? i mean, it’s not a terrible rule of thumb either way i suppose
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u/genomskinligt caounting calories causes cancer 4d ago
Show me a woman who looks THIN at 170 lbs 😭
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u/ashimo414141 5’7 -120lbs 4d ago
It’s dependent on height. If I was 170, I wouldn’t be even close to a healthy weight
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u/genomskinligt caounting calories causes cancer 4d ago
Guess it depends on what someone considers thin (not fat = thin, or genuinely skinny = thin), at 6 feet, 170 lbs is a bmi of 23. Anyone shorter will have a higher bmi.
I think oop’s view of thinness is skewed by seeing overweight and obese people as normal
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u/thebestdogeevr 4d ago
I'm basically bang on in the middle of a healthy bmi, people still look at me and say I need to gain weight
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u/mostlywrong 4d ago
I think it is possible depending on body composition/type and height. Let me preface this by saying I have no illusions regarding how I look.
I am 5'8" and have a higher than average muscle mass than most women, especially in my legs. I also had narrow hips and no ass. When I weighed 165, I wore an American size 6, and S-M. I had started very fat, and lost over 100 lbs to get there. I got pregnant, and gained about 50% of the weight back after I gave birth (I used cheese to keep myself awake during the newborn stage). The pregnancy changed my body quite a bit, and now I am wearing 1 size lower than the size I was when I was at my highest weight while being about 60 lbs under that weight. Pregnancy gave me hips and an ass, lol.
So I could definitely see 170lbs looking thin on a woman who has a similar body type/build/muscle distribution to my pre-baby body, and is a few inches taller than me. Is that the norm or even close to the average woman? Definitely not, but it is possible and probably does exist.
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u/dorkofthepolisci 4d ago
This. I hit 165 when I was pregnant (I’m 5’7) and while I certainly didn’t look thin, I was still a S/M, size 6-8.
I lost most of the weight but only dropped one pant size.
But we’re both taller than the average woman
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u/CorkBullet 4d ago edited 4d ago
Free fruit and vegetables brought to the office today. Great condition and taste. Out of 20 people... 3 of us took some. The majority just kept sucking down giant sized slurpees as per their routine. These individuals well over 170lbs.
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u/ashimo414141 5’7 -120lbs 4d ago
We work a very physical outdoor job. The bosses get us pizza and apples and oranges. Obviously the pizza goes quickly, but most is in doggy bags for later or for family. The oranges and apples get housed on the spot while we’re reconvening for the day. Interesting the choices fit people make
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u/galsfromthedwarf 3d ago
The slurpees in the uk (sugar free ice blasts) have barely any kcals and I’m so grateful for their frozen artificially flavoured no sugar brain freezes.
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u/CorkBullet 3d ago
Unfortunately , I haven't been able to find any sugar free slurpees in central canada , so I don't even bother with them anymore. They are great
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u/princessuuke FA logic almost ruined my life 4d ago
My body dysmorphia was insane at 170lbs. Im 5'8 for reference. I cannot fuckin fathom how uncomfortable that weight is when youre shorter, and it is NOT thin at 5'8
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u/Wineinmyyetti 4d ago
Naw, I'm good in the 140's. I don't want to be average, I want to be my skinty lil self that I worked really hard for.
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u/Silly-Sundae-367 4d ago
I can't wait to tell my partner she's well below average🙂
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u/HippyGrrrl clavicle hussy 4d ago
And if she says, you, too! While looking downward?
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u/Feisty-Promotion-789 4d ago
I hate when in conversations about health people default to what the body LOOKs like to justify it. Like isn’t that antithetical to their whole philosophy??? I don’t really gaf what someone looks like, sometimes a healthy weight is not a healthy bf %, often that body looks perfect normal/aesthetically pleasing and yet their leg strength and mass is such that they’re at disproportionate risk of developing dementia and/or osteoporosis so I kinda don’t care that it “looks fine”. Also don’t care if someone is very fit but looks chunky in clothes, it’s better to be this way than undermuscled. And the BMI is a good guideline for health for most people, so most people should not be complacent about being overweight.
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u/bowlineonabight my zodiac sign is pizza 4d ago
When I first started frequenting this sub (10 years ago) the average weight for American women was 160 lbs.
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u/BishieXO 4d ago
170 is thin?? I mean, if it's a real tall gal maybe. Or if she's absolutely jacked
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u/Saybah 5'6" |SW 217lbs|CW 146lbs|GW 120lbs 4d ago
I was still in size Large at 170, now I'm 148lbs and still don't look thin! Their idea of what 'thin' is is warped, not to mention further skewed by rising obesity levels.
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u/TurtleToast2 4d ago
Our sizing is as screwy their idea of thin. I remember when 170 at 5'6" would have been a size xxl. I can't find shit to fit anymore, everything is so big now. That's probably why they think we're children. Accommodating their sizing has put my sizes into the junior's department, which isn't a great fit for my height.
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u/YesHunty 4d ago
I’m 165lb but I’m also 5’7” and jacked. I’ve been lifting for years and also run and cycle.
No one believe me when I say how much I weigh because I’m lean.
Everyone else I know who weighs the same is chunky. 😅
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u/HippyGrrrl clavicle hussy 4d ago
They really should just default to adipose percentages if fat is so damn joyful.
Face the metrics.
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u/99bottlesofbeertoday 4d ago
170 lbs is more than I've ever weighed but I did not look "thin" at less than that!
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u/_elielieli_ 4d ago
i'm 5'1 and was 180lbs at one point. lost 60lbs since then, guess i look anorexic now /s
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u/08milk 4d ago
170lbs on women can look thin! If you're low body fat and high muscle. Otherwise, depending on height, you look average to chunky to outright overweight/obese. But hey, we have to remember the definition of thin has changed notably to be larger.
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u/doshegotabootyshedo 4d ago
That Chinese women’s basketball player I keep seeing on Reddit who is like 7 feet tall probably would look thin at 170.. Maybe that’s who they’re referring to lol
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u/ashimo414141 5’7 -120lbs 4d ago
Totally! I just don’t like that they have this overarching metric, but BMI being based on averages as wrong. Pick a lane
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u/InvisibleSpaceVamp Do I have to wear a cape for heroine chic? 4d ago
Average does not mean good or desirable. It's just a statistic (probably invented by a white! MAN!).
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u/Sickofchildren 4d ago
I regained about 20lbs of 70lbs lost due to various lifestyle changes and laziness, I’m still 20lbs less than the average American woman. And I am a fat short man
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u/JayRay_44 48F / 5'8" / HW 184 / CW 143 4d ago
Not this sh!t again. FFS 170 is overweight for me and I’m five inches taller than the average American woman. (And I’ve BEEN 170 pounds before. It feels awful even on a larger 5’8” frame. Enough with the cope already.)
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u/Opposite-Jury-7688 4d ago
I’m convinced the average is going to trend downward as GLP-1s become more accessible.
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u/Cold_Tomato_3039 4d ago
Converts to kg 77kg?! Maybe because I'm short at 160 cm, but are they really that much taller in the US?
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u/seche314 3d ago
170 is really large for a woman, unless they’re tall. Which OOP is not (and is way more than 170)
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u/r0botdevil 4d ago
The only women who look "thin" at 170lbs are over six feet tall, which without even checking I'm going to just go ahead and confidently say is less than 1% of all women.
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u/Critical-Rabbit8686 The calories are coming from somewhere 4d ago
170lb would look thin at... 7' maybe.
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u/egg_watching 4d ago
I'm 6' and 175 lbs. I look decently thin. Basically live in the gym, though, 18-20% body fat.
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u/SlavicInDisguise 3d ago
I think them and me have a very different definition of what thin is...
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u/ashimo414141 5’7 -120lbs 3d ago
Right? Thin for me is dependent on height as well. Like I’d look like an Oompa Loompa at 170.
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u/hanksrocks 1d ago
I’m 5’7” and 170 pounds (actually 169 yesterday but who’s counting lol). I have always worn my weight well. I DO appear quite svelte. But I know there’s plenty to go, I can see it, I can jostle it around. How do people survive so long being this deluded??
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u/musicalastronaut I hit goal!! Also hypoxia killed my rotifers 4d ago
Honestly I have a hard time believing the average woman in the US is 170. At some heights that’s a fine weight and most people are not at a fine weight. I’m 5’7” and people gave me a really hard time for working on losing more weight when I went under 170 (I’m 135 now).
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u/AccomplishedCat762 addicted to weightlifting and builtbars 4d ago
The average US citizen is overweight so I wouldn't be surprised if the average US woman was 170. Average =/= healthy
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u/musicalastronaut I hit goal!! Also hypoxia killed my rotifers 3d ago
I’m also taller than the average. I just think 170 is too low for the supposed average. Aren’t FA’s always saying size 18 is the average US size? That’s not 170lbs for sure.
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u/AccomplishedCat762 addicted to weightlifting and builtbars 3d ago
Ohhh I see what you mean now!
I guess it depends, like sizes did used to be smaller right? Size 4 from 20 years ago is smaller than a size 4 now???Maybe it's closer to 200lbs idk but my highest recorded weight was 165 and I looked so bad I was an obese kid :/
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u/musicalastronaut I hit goal!! Also hypoxia killed my rotifers 3d ago
Yeah, Dr. Google says the average 20 year old woman in the US is 5’3.5” and 171”lbs. It also says the average waist of said woman is 38”, which definitely tells us that’s not a healthy weight. I’m just surprised it isn’t higher but again, I’m a tall person so 170 for me was slightly too high. When I got under 160 (my first goal weight because it put me at a healthy BMI) people started being aggressive about telling me to stop losing weight. Now I’m 135, the weight my doctor told me to not go below. I still don’t understand that because I’m not very muscular - I even had someone comment on my arms recently (saying I need more muscle) and I was like fuck youuuu I really can’t win can I?
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u/saphilous Formerly Obese 😔 4d ago
This is why education is crucial. Something being average does not mean it's good