Weight to be BBW,SSBBW and USSBBW
- Thread starter BBWBecky
- Start date
Help Support Dimensions Magazine:
Joker
Well-Known Member
I think it has less to do with weight and more to do with overall body composition. Consider this: Two people have the same weight (say 250 lbs). One is 5'2" and the other is 6'0". Which one do you (or most people) consider a BBW/BHM? Depending on how the weight is distributed, the taller one could look rather average or (if pear shaped) more BBW-ish.
John Smith
Well-Known Member
A BBW meant any woman of average height (5'4" tall) whose weight exceeds the threshold of Class 3 obesity relativelly to her height, so to speak 220 pounds; a heavier BBW is amy woman whose weight exceed 300lbs, SSBBW is any woman who reached Class 4 obesity (400lbs) , then a USSBBW is any woman whose weight exceeds 600lbs. But given the fact the BMI indec table is not accurate at all ans that that women comes in a wide variety of height, lean mass weight and body shape, let's figure out that BBWs meant any women whose body fat mass index exceeds 40% (morbidly obese) , heavier BBWs as women who already appears bonafide obese prior reaching SSBBW status, 60% for SSBBWs (superobese) and 600lbs for USSBBWs.
John Smith
Well-Known Member
A taxonymic term used in WG fiction coins about MUSSBBWs (Mega-Ultra Super Sized Big, Beautiful Women) or inhumanly obese women whose weight vastly exceeds the uppermost limitations of extreme obesity ever observed by medical records (1,000 ~ 1,434lbs) and can only sustain such heft by otherwise seemingly superhuman or paranormal means... like these women illustrated by Deviantart author Kraban / Krabanart.
John Smith
Well-Known Member
A long-obsolete term in the 2000s to early 2010s coined about MBBWs or "Medium-Big Beautiful Women" or any woman (of average height) whose weight exceeds 180lbs or Class 1 obesity. Alternatively, any woman who reached clinical early obesity status or a body fat mass index of 30%.
GeeseHoward
Active Member
This varies depending on body shape and height... I'd say 200 can make a BBW quite easily and 350 for an ssbbw (this is plucking numbers from thin air though)
Tad
Dimensions' loiterer
Once upon a time BBW was generally taken as 'has to shop in plus-sized shops (sizes 16-26), SSBBW was 'too big to shop in plus-sized shops (over a size 26). But since then sizes have become much less consistent, stores have varied a lot in what sizes they carry, and the internet has taken the terms and run with them. So I suspect that if you ask a dozen people you will get at least 10 answers.
littlefairywren
Wren
I had a wee visit with my knee specialist two weeks ago and he told me that I am classed as super obese (the supposed new medical term past morbid), but he also said that has a lot to do with my height at 5ft.
I agree with Tad. Everyone seems to have their own idea as to what constitutes a BBW/SSBBW.
I agree with Tad. Everyone seems to have their own idea as to what constitutes a BBW/SSBBW.
andycarter
Active Member
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2018
- Messages
- 28
I think of women as fat at about 230 pounds. Less than that can be curvy, attractive, "thicc", whatever, but 230 is more than just chubby. BBW.
At 300 pounds your pants may come from ordinary retailers but you're wearing them tight. "Plus size" sometimes doesn't cut it. You wear out chairs you sit in a lot if they aren't particularly sturdy. You haven't nearly topped out the underwear that ordinary retailers sell. You make hardly any adjustments in life, and there are lots of people your size everywhere, but almost nobody considers you normal size.
At 400, you require a high capacity scale. You pants come from specialty retailers. You have to be careful about sitting in some chairs, and you may have broken a few. Your underwear is still garden variety, but sexy underwear comes from specialty retailers. SSBBW. Lots of people this size on the streets, but people think you are uncommonly large.
At 500 chairs that aren't particularly sturdy will complain even when you're careful. You've certainly broken a few. You don't fit in some. Jeans are hard to find but they're still available to you. Your stretch pants come from just a few retailers. Your sexy underwear comes from specialty retailers, but granny panties are still available everywhere. We don't see a lot of people like you, but there are a lot of you who just don't get out much.
At 600 you have to be careful about what chairs you'll sit in, and you'll wear out just about any chair eventually. You don't wear jeans. You're wearing the largest sizes from even the specialty retailers. You are truly uncommon, but there is still a market for your clothes. USSBBW.
The heaviest woman I see regularly weighs almost 700. She's still able to buy underwear and dresses, but she's twenty inches bigger around than the size charts, so these things don't fit the way the manufacturer intends. Shirts are still no problem, but her favorite "shirts" are actually short dresses that she pulls down over her hips and belly and fit like a long shirt. She wears them with stretch pants that she has made for her, because there are no leggings in her size. She can still get "sweat pants" though she's twenty inches bigger than the size charts for them. She sits on two chairs and walks through doorways sideways. We almost never sees other people her size. We know how much she weighs only because of freight scales, as even her doctor can't weigh her.
The heaviest woman I've ever seen is about 800 pounds. She, too, gets into "sweat pants" and off-the-shelf underwear, but they fit funny and require constant effort to pull up over her behind. It looks like she's going to burst out of them, all the way down to her ankles, but they do make clothes this big. It takes a small team of people, a motorized scooter, and a van to get her out of the house. I've seen her sit on single chairs and damage them, and I've seen her just about sink a two-person pool float. A rare delight to see her.
At 300 pounds your pants may come from ordinary retailers but you're wearing them tight. "Plus size" sometimes doesn't cut it. You wear out chairs you sit in a lot if they aren't particularly sturdy. You haven't nearly topped out the underwear that ordinary retailers sell. You make hardly any adjustments in life, and there are lots of people your size everywhere, but almost nobody considers you normal size.
At 400, you require a high capacity scale. You pants come from specialty retailers. You have to be careful about sitting in some chairs, and you may have broken a few. Your underwear is still garden variety, but sexy underwear comes from specialty retailers. SSBBW. Lots of people this size on the streets, but people think you are uncommonly large.
At 500 chairs that aren't particularly sturdy will complain even when you're careful. You've certainly broken a few. You don't fit in some. Jeans are hard to find but they're still available to you. Your stretch pants come from just a few retailers. Your sexy underwear comes from specialty retailers, but granny panties are still available everywhere. We don't see a lot of people like you, but there are a lot of you who just don't get out much.
At 600 you have to be careful about what chairs you'll sit in, and you'll wear out just about any chair eventually. You don't wear jeans. You're wearing the largest sizes from even the specialty retailers. You are truly uncommon, but there is still a market for your clothes. USSBBW.
The heaviest woman I see regularly weighs almost 700. She's still able to buy underwear and dresses, but she's twenty inches bigger around than the size charts, so these things don't fit the way the manufacturer intends. Shirts are still no problem, but her favorite "shirts" are actually short dresses that she pulls down over her hips and belly and fit like a long shirt. She wears them with stretch pants that she has made for her, because there are no leggings in her size. She can still get "sweat pants" though she's twenty inches bigger than the size charts for them. She sits on two chairs and walks through doorways sideways. We almost never sees other people her size. We know how much she weighs only because of freight scales, as even her doctor can't weigh her.
The heaviest woman I've ever seen is about 800 pounds. She, too, gets into "sweat pants" and off-the-shelf underwear, but they fit funny and require constant effort to pull up over her behind. It looks like she's going to burst out of them, all the way down to her ankles, but they do make clothes this big. It takes a small team of people, a motorized scooter, and a van to get her out of the house. I've seen her sit on single chairs and damage them, and I've seen her just about sink a two-person pool float. A rare delight to see her.
This is such an interesting discussion, and as everyone says the answers are bound to be relative and imprecise. It's not clear, nor can it be, just how BBW/SSBBW/USBBW maps onto BMI categories, clothing sizes, and, perhaps least helpfully, strict weight boundaries.
I think for me these terms correspond best to the "fat spectrums" categories that folks like BC Ash of the Fat Lip pod make use of:
fluffykittenparty.com
Maybe it's no surprise that a fetish model who used to spend a lot of time on Dims prefers a system that seems to line up pretty well with the "BBW." But what I like about these is that they defined relative to access and accessibility--with clothing, physical accommodations, etc. Of course, that's all relative to the environment, so it's possible that a more "objective" measure would correspond to BMI labels or percentage body fat, as others suggested.
I think for me these terms correspond best to the "fat spectrums" categories that folks like BC Ash of the Fat Lip pod make use of:
Fategories – Understanding “Smallfat Fragility” & the Fat Spectrum
Like a lot of people, I spend a lot of time on The Internetz™. And much of my time there is spent in online groups and communities for other fat people. There are a lot of them! And these groups co…
fluffykittenparty.com
Maybe it's no surprise that a fetish model who used to spend a lot of time on Dims prefers a system that seems to line up pretty well with the "BBW." But what I like about these is that they defined relative to access and accessibility--with clothing, physical accommodations, etc. Of course, that's all relative to the environment, so it's possible that a more "objective" measure would correspond to BMI labels or percentage body fat, as others suggested.
Definitions relative to access are largely dependent on self-categorization, which is quite subjective according to the person's perception.
Consider someone whose worldview is that normal people can shop at Abercrombie & Fitch, and has been able to do so herself her entire life. Imagine she puts on some covid quarantine weight, and now fits an A&F XL. "XL" literally stands for Extra Large, therefore she considers herself quite fat. What we would call BBW. But an A&F XL is equivalent to a size 16, and is as large as they go. So if she lets herself go and gains a little more, she will no longer fit in anything carried by A&F. To her, her fatness is now outside of the known universe. One might say Super Sized. Yet to the BC Ash sized people out there, our hypothetical self-categorized SSBBW is barely a smallfat.
My personal preferred objective metric is to use BMI as its very purpose is to normalize size relative to height. I consider over 30 (i.e. "obese") to be BBW, and over 60 to be SSBBW. It seems to line up relatively well with how most models self-categorize. The cutoff also has the neat feature of an SSBBW being able to lose literally half their weight (god forbid) and still be considered fat. To continue the progression, an USSBBW (or infinifat) would then have a BMI over 90.
Consider someone whose worldview is that normal people can shop at Abercrombie & Fitch, and has been able to do so herself her entire life. Imagine she puts on some covid quarantine weight, and now fits an A&F XL. "XL" literally stands for Extra Large, therefore she considers herself quite fat. What we would call BBW. But an A&F XL is equivalent to a size 16, and is as large as they go. So if she lets herself go and gains a little more, she will no longer fit in anything carried by A&F. To her, her fatness is now outside of the known universe. One might say Super Sized. Yet to the BC Ash sized people out there, our hypothetical self-categorized SSBBW is barely a smallfat.
My personal preferred objective metric is to use BMI as its very purpose is to normalize size relative to height. I consider over 30 (i.e. "obese") to be BBW, and over 60 to be SSBBW. It seems to line up relatively well with how most models self-categorize. The cutoff also has the neat feature of an SSBBW being able to lose literally half their weight (god forbid) and still be considered fat. To continue the progression, an USSBBW (or infinifat) would then have a BMI over 90.
Makes a lot of sense! It would be interesting, in theory, to plot the BMIs of BBW models for whom we have this information and see where they fall relative to your proposed cutoffs, and whether our intuitions about whether each is a BBW/SSBBW/USBBW lined up with where the model puts them. I'm sure there would always be boundary cases because of how subjective this is and how it's all a matter of degree, but it would be interesting to see if there were any real outliers.
