We don’t see it and definitely not in ourselves but most people think people still look very slim at a bmi of 19 and under then underweight 18 and under. Then again if someone has
a medium/large frame they’ll probably still look underweight to others at 19


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I'm currently at 16.

It really depends on where I'm at, I've been at a lower weight and then recovered for a while and at one point was 16 while eating at a recovery level and felt great.

At the moment I'm very fatigued, frequently get brain fog, can't focus on hobbies, have minimal sex drive, constantly think about food, get constipated all the time, I'm more depressed and anxious, and my immune system is in the bin (I've had a flu for over a week and the cough isn't lifting). Everyone gives me the side eye. I look awful in clothes. Everything hurts.

I don't even see myself as thin, I can still see so much fat that needs to go and it's really disconcerting bc I can see my bones. I used to dream of this weight too, but now I just dream of normality, whatever that is.

 

I’m (essentially) 5”4 with a small frame so in the mid 16s I’m not getting any comments because it’s been gradual loss and nobody can tell as I wear clothes that hide it. Even years ago when I was exactly at 16, doctors were the only people concerned.

I think it depends on your frame and your previous weight but a BMI of 16 is visibly and notably underweight for most people and you might experience concerned comments or weird looks, especially if you’re tall.

As for how unhealthy it is, let’s be honest here- it’s a less than optimal weight you’ll likely have to restrict to maintain. You might feel fine at that weight but if you stay there for 10 years, that’s probably a different story for your body and your health.

Non ED people don’t really know about EDs beyond the stereotypes so when they did start wondering what was going on, people started asking me if I was sick or assuming there was some poverty or health issues but nobody once assumed (to my face) that I had AN, though that could be because I’m a POC.

 

It's the BMI of a model. And seen as underweight. Examples of BMI 16 wmen:

I used to feel ok at this bmi, which made me think I was too fat!

 

I'm 5ft5 and bmi 16.5 now down from bmi 22. Folk are starting to comment on my weight but to me you wouldn't do that to someone you thought had an eating disorder as I would be more like the elephant in the room. I think I look very slim by normal standards but not anorexic skinny. Bmi 17 till now I've noticed it being a lot harder. A lot harder to restrict as my body is trying to fight it and I'm tired a lot and get tired easily. I'm also cold a lot and I'm much more depressed. I'm not ready to try maintain though

 

it’s not “anorexic” skinny if you’re short but otherwise i’d say it is (not sure your height).
got comments mostly at bmi fifteens or boarder line 16/15s but i’m short
then again i have weird proportions and my upper body is more of a bmi low 15 and lower body like 18 lol so if people see me from the top only i do get concerned comments at bmi 16.

 

it’s not “anorexic” skinny if you’re short but otherwise i’d say it is (not sure your height).
got comments mostly at bmi fifteens or boarder line 16/15s but i’m short
then again i have weird proportions and my upper body is more of a bmi low 15 and lower body like 18 lol so if people see me from the top only i do get concerned comments at bmi 16.

Oh god that's so relatable, i naturally have a pretty full figure, the type that's also short and without a significant waist and with short legs (fucked, basically) and when I went down to sth like 16.5 bmi I looked STARVED above the waist but my legs remained very average?? Like my face and collarbone area especially "looked underweight" but below the waist it was meh

 

I'd indeed say it also depends a lot on your height and your body shape. I'm relatively tall, and even at a higher BMI it's easier for me to look 'slim' than people with other body types (at least, from what I have to believe, I don't see it lol). When I look at pictures from my late teens/early twenties when I actually hit a BMI 16, it looks a lot more 'sick' than it might be for others. Although it's easily a decade ago now, I do remember it really getting in the way of my Uni days though. I often had to fight brain fog and had very little energy overall, but I did function semi okay physically. It definitely did take me a lot longer to graduate than most people I started my Uni years with, though 💀

 

Large frame so everything hurt sitting or laying down and I was visibly unwell and people could tell. Felt physically unwell too. It’s uw so despite what we wanna tell ourselves it’s not ideal.

 

16 is my favorite bmi. I've been lower and for sure I've been higher. I look skinny but not scary skinny (I have a tiny frame and need to lose A LOT more than that to be scary skinny) and the negative effects are pretty much all from the restriction I need to get there rather than the weight. (Again, I have a small frame and naturally should weigh less than most people for health)

 

I’ve been at bmi 16 my whole adult life, except some short periods of time when it got worse and I got lower. (developed ed at 19 and i’m 35 now). but my set point seems to be at bmi16. they let me out of the inpatient when I reached bmi16.5 or so.

I sometimes think if I had a fuller life and would achieved more if I was at normal bmi… but since I’m so used to it, I can’t tell exactly what it’s like. to me it’s normal. but I am easily tired. my body doesn’t absorb iron and b12. I need to eat lots of “natural laxatives” like prunes, kiwis, coffee etc to have regular bowel function. it’s like I can’t afford eating unhealthy or my body starts protesting. I have bad skin (dry , excema, acne). I have back pain almost all the time for the past 15 years. i’ve been recently diagnosed with adhd but I suspect that those symptoms are really the consequence of my ED. I have high anxiety about everything health related. I have depression. I have thyroid issues. but otherwise I eat normal maintenance amounts, so I can function.

 

I'm short but still looked uw. Didn't have any health consequences until 15s. Body composition definitely matters though

 

During my 9 years on and off with an eating disorder the BMI 16 range is where I spent the most time. For me once I dropped into the 15 and 14 range is when there were no questions about it I suffered with anorexia, but in the 16’s it really just depended on the person. Currently my BMI is 17 and I’m 18 weeks pregnant and I’ve had multiple people comment on how “skinny” and “tiny” I am so idk. I personally feel like a whale.

Anywho. Here’s a few photos of me with a BMI in the 16’s. I didn’t feel great but I was also binging and purging a lot so do with that information what you will.

 

During my 9 years on and off with an eating disorder the BMI 16 range is where I spent the most time. For me once I dropped into the 15 and 14 range is when there were no questions about it I suffered with anorexia, but in the 16’s it really just depended on the person. Currently my BMI is 17 and I’m 18 weeks pregnant and I’ve had multiple people comment on how “skinny” and “tiny” I am so idk. I personally feel like a whale.

Anywho. Here’s a few photos of me with a BMI in the 16’s. I didn’t feel great but I was also binging and purging a lot so do with that information what you will.

Off topic but girl your hair is so pretty!

 

I felt fine personally at bmi 16. However I was a teen and still am but it was underweight. Ig bc I’m a teen I’ll just use my experience at bmi 14 as a better guide. I felt ok ish, very cold, weak a lot, not much appetite, full very easily, didn’t poop very often, etc

 

BMI 15-16 was honestly my fav because while I definitely looked thin, I feel like I normies didn't really assume I had an ed just because of it. But I could see all my favorite bones clearly, even my spine, and I was finally developing the smallest of thigh gaps. And clothes looked so good on me too. I miss it.

 

I’m at bmi 16. gained a bit since I was 14 for a while. I honestly feel fine physically, I have more energy and brain power than I did at bmi 14. my bones are still pretty visible and I get cold a lot but other than that it ain’t too bad

 

tbh you kinda get used to any BMI

 

Felt perfectly healthy.
The 16s are a sweet spot, 15s is ok as well. I feel weak at 14s

 

I was fucked at bmi 16. AN (b/p) just not in life at all. Lost everything that made me me. Told my wife the other day I liked my 15.6 body and she was like "you couldn't do anything with that body. You fainted all the time." And it was true.

 

I’ve been on-and-off at BMI 16-point-whatever for a couple years now. I’m anorexia binge/purge subtype so how I feel depends on which behaviors are reigning supreme at the moment.

At times I’ve been high restricting and binge/purging less, I honestly don't feel bad. I am definitely able to function at daily tasks. Can’t speak with certainty on my health because I’ve not been to a doctor in so long.

When I am binging and purging constantly I feel like utter shit. So fatigued and cold, shaky, headaches and overall body aches. The water weight is more intense at a low weight, too. It comes on with a vengeance at the result of the smallest transgression.

My mental state varies. When mid to high restricting - no binging and purging - I only feel mild brain fog and sometimes, none. When low restricting or B/P-ing I’m dumb as dirt. It wasn’t that severe while at a higher BMI, which is why I am mentioning it.

I am short, only 5 feet 1 inch, so I don’t look emaciated or anything. My arms are thin but my stomach is huge. At lower BMIs any weight re-gained tends to go straight to the middle. You’d notice it yourself, most likely because the “food noise” in my brain is elevated much at bmi 16 as opposed to a higher BMI.

If you have any more specific questions, let me know. Like I said, I’ve been around this BMI on and off for a couple years now.

 

My BMI was hovering around in the mid-16s from September 2018 until August 2019. At that point in my life, my natural set point was around 57 kg so BMI just below 18.2 so it wasn't a huge change from that to a BMI in the 16s. I also lost the weight very slowly.
However, I was definitely restricting and I definitely felt it. My backpack felt heavier to carry, walking upstairs was more difficult, I felt faint and sometimes cold. My brain wasn't working as well as it could be. At the time, I was still mostly in denial about my bipolar disorder and I naively believed that my ED would actually help me keep my mental states under control. I was depressed, I went hypomanic often, I was depressed again. Those are of course non-ED symptoms. I don't think they get exacerbated by ED that much though because they didn't get much worse in my recent relapse beginning in summer 2020.
I looked underweight and small to other people. My friend kept calling me anorexic. My boyfriend said I was too thin and he knew I was anorexic so he was really worried (and pushy about it). I didn't see it. I told my psychiatrist in 2019 that I was anorexic and she didn't question it, just wrote it down and sometimes asked me how I was eating. She saw how I looked so I think it didn't warrant medical intervention, she never asked me my exact weight either.
It is unhealthy. I felt unhealthy. I felt that I wasn't eating enough. My face looked thin and in some pictures my skin looks like it's just kind of hanging on my face.
Here is a picture (idk I hope I don't look big)

Edit: I found more pictures. Some of them look okay. Some of them look scary.

 

Loved ones would express concern, but it wasn't so much about them thinking I was anorexic but rather thinking I was stressed or struggling with one of my health issues which causes nausea. But then I've always been thin, so the weight loss wasn't so drastic/notable, I think. I looked like what I considered, "enviably slim". I didn't feel too thin or unwell until reached 14. So, I'm unhealthy and I can feel it, as opposed to 16 when I just felt slim and great.

 

I'm currently at 16 bmi, I was previously much lower but was forced into inpatient, but I'd say anything between 15.5bmi and 16 bmi is a pretty good goal to have, you have an almost anorexic look to you, but not completely, certain parts of your body will still be pretty normal sized (it ranges for person to person, some people will still have chubby cheeks, fingers ect), you'll get comments about how skinny you are, but they're still pretty positive compared to when you get to 14bmi and less

 

Definitely maintainable

 

my lowest weight was exactly bmi 16, it was pretty maintainable for me but honestly i barely remember it. i was starved, tired and depressed, foggy brain all day, everyday. but i know one thing, i didn't feel thing enough. i mean i didn't think i was 'fat' but i still wanted to lose 20 lbs and my body felt like shit. but at the same time everyone is different.

 

i’ve been stuck around BMI 15.8 for over a year now and i hate the way i look. i feel like i’m still too pudgy/normal looking, but i also deal with shitty physical side effects like chronic fatigue, constant bloating and constipation, weak muscles, no period, brain fog, heart palpitations, hypothyroidism, constant hunger, and worsened anxiety and depression. i don’t mentally feel thin enough, but i also don’t physically feel healthy. worst of both worlds 😭 here’s a couple pics of me, if it helps