Gaining

I agree. People are far too different for something as generic as BMI. In general, I would consider a girl fat when her belly starts to sag way over her waistline.

My BMI is 33 and I consider myself just a little chubby at most, but medically I am obese.

With a BMI of 31.7, former NFL linebacker Ray Lewis is well into the classification of "obese". The BMI scale is only useful when accompanied with a picture, and even then it's only useful for saying "hey, that person is proportionately heavy/thin" It is never an indicator of athleticism or internal health, nor is it an indicator of how fat a person is.

There are people who eat healthily and are what would be considered medically healthy, but who are considered overweight or even obese by BMI. There are thin people, even athletic ones with fast metabolisms who don't eat well, and have clogged arteries/high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc.

To answer the question of the thread, body fat percentages are a far more reliable indicator of fatness, since it is a fairly accurate estimate of how much of a person's weight is actually carried in fat. This requires water weighing and is not simple to obtain. I'd say a woman with more than 25% of her body weight being fat, should be considered fat.

For a less scientific estimate you could say if she has a double chin, or if her belly has a hang, but some women don't really put on weight in the face, or don't really develop a belly hang until after they're quite on their way to being fat.

In the words of Potter Stewart, "I know it when I see it."

I would imagine you mean "Fat" considered by people on this board and not mainstream.

I would say it varies based on many things.

For example a shorter girl looks fatter with less weight, so it can't be purely a number associated with weight. Likewise based on body type some women can have a big belly with only slightly chubby legs or arms which some would say, "wow, she is fat" because her belly is so big but in reality she is only considered fat because of that body part.

I guess I would categorize fat in two ways where everything on a women's body is quite a bit bigger than normal and it hinders her physical ability somewhat not to mention limits her movement. This is not a for sure because there are plenty of women who are fat that can move really good but I guess I would say if that women was thinner would they be able to move and do things better.

OK...here's my take on this.When you can't see hipsbones,collar bones,RibBones...You're Normal!When your close start to feel tight & slightly overflowing...you're Chubby.When you literally BURST out of your clothes for the 1st time...you're FAT!

lol, yes you are definitely fat now.

I think everyone would consider you a bbw at this point. But you're definitely still on the small side of the bbw spectrum.

I don't often quote posts. But when I do, it's after a great one. Right on!

Yes, you're fat!

BBW? Idk, I've always thought that was a euphemism.

Generally, in the US, the clothing indistry considers someone plus size at size 14. I think that is a good guage.