Charles Davis Feb 17, 2016:

More Look at this example:

"Leigh Ablett, 21, from Finedon, wants to lose 3 stone 11 pounds within 7 months - just in time for his holiday. [...]
Saturday, 24th May, 2003
Didn't loose any weight last week, but have lost a pound this week. So total of 13 pounds now. Getting there slowly. Getting hard now, but nearly at the stone mark. [...]
Expert advice by Sheila Merriman, Dietitian, St Andrew's Hospital, Northampton:
Your weight started at 18 stone 11 pounds. So you could aim to lose 26 pounds, which is almost 2 stone, in a year."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/northamptonshire/features/weight/weight...

Note the "which is almost 2 stone", acknowledging that if you say 26 pounds anyone is going to be thinking "how many stone is that"?

Charles Davis Feb 17, 2016:

And it would be 2 stone, NOT 2 stones, by the way.

Charles Davis Feb 17, 2016:

As for your 12 kilos, given that it's 26.5 pounds and 2 stone is 28 pounds, I think a British publication would almost certainly say "up to 2 stone", or possibly "nearly 2 stone". There's a preference for stone over pounds in British weight-loss circles, in my opinion. People love to think about losing half a stone, a stone, etc.

Charles Davis Feb 17, 2016:

Young people are probably better than us over-50s at using kilos for other things, but I don't think they usually think in kilos for body weight.

You probably recall Bridget Jones's Diary, the protagonist of which is obsessed with her weight. It's written primarily for a young British readership. Bridget always talks about stones and pounds, never kilos.

Charles Davis Feb 17, 2016:

@Jonathan I don't believe there's any generational divide. I think young British people still talk about body weight in stones and pounds. We're supposed to be using kilos but in practice people still think in imperial. Bear in mind that Andrew's reference is to an NHS page; it doesn't necessarily reflect how people really talk.

Here's a discussion of weight loss on a UK site intended for students. The discussion starter is a British female, presumably of student age:

"I'm 5 ft 2 and 8 stone 7 and I want to to lose a stone."
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1884529

Jonathan MacKerron (asker) Feb 17, 2016:

Thanks for the suggestion So would the word "stone" be used at all nowadays in such publications?
@Andrew: please submit your suggestion as an answer

philgoddard Feb 17, 2016:

Sorry, I didn't read your question properly. You said middle aged and elderly, in which case you can get away with just pounds. Twelve kilos is 26 pounds, so that's what I'd put, rather than 1 stone 12 pounds.
I'm British, by the way :-)

philgoddard Feb 17, 2016:

If you use imperial with a metric conversion in brackets, or vice versa, as Andrew's link does, you can't go wrong.

Jonathan MacKerron (asker) Feb 17, 2016:

@Phil No, was just interested in finding out whether or not there is a significant enough generational divide here that might warrant different terms for different target groups?

philgoddard Feb 17, 2016:

Does your question below imply that you're writing for under-20s? Otherwise, I would definitely use pounds. Just look at any UK women's magazine.

Andrew Mason Feb 17, 2016:

Jonathan This link probably gives the game away........http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/weight-loss-guide/Pages/weight-lo...

Jonathan MacKerron (asker) Feb 17, 2016:

BTW Would persons of the British ilk under the age of say 20 still know exactly what a stone denotes in 2016?