"I'm naturally this thin."

[ladyfreckles]

I hate that. I just need to rant here about these girls. There are some girls I know that are borderline underweight on the BMI scale. Obviously body fat is more important than BMI, but these girls don't look healthy. Recently I seem to be running into a lot of them. I don't know if it's the result of girls trying to stay skinny through the years of cheap college food, or girls fighting the fact that they're not 16 anymore and their metabolism is slowing down, but it's so common.

One of the people who does this, a friend of mine, is 5'3, 100-105lbs and she always talks about how people are jealous of her because of how naturally skinny she is. She brags about how she never works out. This isn't true however, because she runs on the treadmill and walks 6 miles to work. Oh, and she talks about how she just "doesn't have a big appetite" and she eats 600 calories a day.

You need at least 1200 calories a day to maintain adequate body function. Your cognitive abilities and health start to go downhill when you eat less than that for extended periods of time. She's been doing this for over a year.

A youtube vlogger I watch is extremely skinny, claiming to be 5'8 and 115lbs. She too has said she doesn't eat much and only eats about 500 calories a day. Another one of my friends eats a thousand a day "on a binge day" and she's 5'2 and 80lbs. I'm seeing it everywhere. And I'm tired of it.

The bottom line is: if you are not even meeting your minimum caloric requirements, you are not naturally that weight. Take this from someone who has been there, tried that. I used to suffer from anorexia when I was a very young teen. When I was thirteen I starved my 5'5 frame down to 88lbs. So it bothers me a lot when I see these girls doing exactly what I was doing and claiming that they're "healthy" and "natural". It also bothers me that I'm seeing it at such a disturbing rate. Almost every single girl I know who is on the super slim side does this. I only know two exceptions and they eat so much food it's kind of sickening (very fast metabolism).

I'm naturally pretty slim (I was a size 2 for years while eating almost 2000 calories a day until I recently put on a ton of weight, thanks holidays) and this bothers me. I know it bothers my friends who are at "normal" weights even more. There shouldn't be such a pressure to be super thin that all these girls are starving themselves. You know what ends up happening, right? Later on in life, they face the facts, and they have to start eating normally, and they have a desk job, and then surprise surprise they end up excessively overweight because they were no longer able to deprive themselves.

Sigh. End of my rant.

Does this bother any of you? I'd be interested in hearing that the older members of this forum have to say. The women who are more secure in their bodies.

[amaris]

Meh

There's the other end of the scale. I'm 5'7" and 93lbs....yes i know i'm terribly underweight. I have guy friends who will swear up and down that i eat more than them and i do.

my weight rant is people assuming I'm anorexic or bulimic when really, it's genetics and i CANNOT GAIN WEIGHT.

I'm on a 3000 calorie diet right now, have been since mid-november, and i've gained ONE...ONE kg. Sucks. Oh and when i say i don't work out, i don't....i do 30 mins of cardio when i remember and well, now that i have a 9mth pup, walks/jogs.

So no, i don't get the whole being thin obsession, i'm literally model thin (europe size 2, US size 0) and I HATE IT. People should be comfortable in their bodies, and people shouldn't ever be made to feel uncomfortable in their bodies, regardless of what shape they're in. Rail thin naturally or chubby naturally, as long as you eat right and exercise well, typically your body just sort of falls into the state it's supposed to be in. And no one should be made uncomfortable of their body at that stage.

meh, just my 2 cents, girls wanting to be rail thin by starving themselves annoy me, on the other end of the scale, girls who order 2 big mac meals, upsize the meals thn get diet coke (cause they're on a diet) also bug me. People should just eat healthy, eat right and work out.

[Syaoransbear]

I've got a friend that is 5'7 and freaks out when her weight gets into the triple digits. She says her biggest fear in life is getting fat, and her second biggest fear is getting pregnant because that means she will have a pregnancy belly and will gain weight. She eats practically nothing all day and brags about how naturally thin she is. When she says that, I just feel like telling her that being controlled by fear isn't natural or genetics.

[Susnelda]

Sounds like your friend has an eating disorder and is in denial about it. You must know it as a former anorexic. Yes, there is a lot of pressure from the media on women to be excessively thin. It seems that women can't win--you're either too thin, but when you reach a normal body weight, you are suddenly overweight.
Maybe you're at a more healthy weight now than before the holidays, and that's what's most important.
I have a chronic digestive disease, and for years was very underweight because of my inability to absorb nutrients. Now, having figured out a proper diet and with the help of medication, I have reached a normal weight. I feel so much better than when I was "fashionably" skinny, and that's all that counts!

[ladyfreckles]

Originally Posted by amaris

Meh

There's the other end of the scale. I'm 5'7" and 93lbs....yes i know i'm terribly underweight. I have guy friends who will swear up and down that i eat more than them and i do.

my weight rant is people assuming I'm anorexic or bulimic when really, it's genetics and i CANNOT GAIN WEIGHT.

I'm on a 3000 calorie diet right now, have been since mid-november, and i've gained ONE...ONE kg. Sucks. Oh and when i say i don't work out, i don't....i do 30 mins of cardio when i remember and well, now that i have a 9mth pup, walks/jogs.

So no, i don't get the whole being thin obsession, i'm literally model thin (europe size 2, US size 0) and I HATE IT. People should be comfortable in their bodies, and people shouldn't ever be made to feel uncomfortable in their bodies, regardless of what shape they're in. Rail thin naturally or chubby naturally, as long as you eat right and exercise well, typically your body just sort of falls into the state it's supposed to be in. And no one should be made uncomfortable of their body at that stage.

meh, just my 2 cents, girls wanting to be rail thin by starving themselves annoy me, on the other end of the scale, girls who order 2 big mac meals, upsize the meals thn get diet coke (cause they're on a diet) also bug me. People should just eat healthy, eat right and work out.

People from both ends of the scale bother me. I can't stand overweight people who eat tons of food all the time and then claim genetics screwed them over and I can't stand girls (ESPECIALLY actresses/role models) who starve themselves and then claim they're naturally thin.

Naturally very thin people don't bug me especially when it's obvious how much they eat (I mean, if you're eating 3000 calories that's pretty blatant. It's almost twice as much as I eat right now). They're not setting an unrealistic standard. They're aware that they got handed an interesting genetic card and they accept it. I wish everyone could accept their genetics. Starving yourself and then telling everybody else that that's what "natural" is is just setting up a horrible role model for young girls. When I had an eating disorder I looked to women who did that and it made me think I was normal. I wasn't. I was extremely sick and I almost died of heart failure.

[hunterisgreat]

I'm notorious for eating more than anyone else. I'm 5'8 138 and male. Technically underweight. At checkin to boot camp at 18 I was 115lb 6oz. Not by choice. Not ideal for a tee age guy. I was 155 upon leaving PI 98 days later, however the maintenance to keep that OB is impractical, so 14 years later I've plateaued here. Point is, for some it's that way. My mon is 5'4", 100lbs. She doesnt exercise or diet

[MountainGSDs]

Originally Posted by amaris

Meh

There's the other end of the scale. I'm 5'7" and 93lbs....yes i know i'm terribly underweight. I have guy friends who will swear up and down that i eat more than them and i do.

My wife is 57 years old and never weighed more then 110 at 5 foot 4 inches. After our kids were born she wore her pre pregnant jeans home.

She eats like a horse. 3 good meals a day and not an hour after supper she'll have a bowl of buttered popcorn and then an edy's grape popsicle.
If I ate like her I would be the half ton man. Due to age ad some back injury except for walking she doesn't workout.

You know now that I see this in print she's starting to p**s me off. LOL

[Danielle609]

What a lot of "skinny" women don't understand is that skinny is not beautiful...maybe in clothes but that is about it. I saw a quote yesterday "Skinny women look good in clothes, fit women look good naked" . Made me LOL. Now I am still fat. Have lost 47 pounds and still have at least 50 to go. But I know why I got fat, and now I am doing what I need to to get it off. My metabolism may not be as great as others, but that is not an excuse. It just means I need to work harder and have better PHM (pie hole management )

[jetscarbie]

My 15yr old daughter is 5-8 and wears a size 0. She weighs 125 pds. She really does look super skinny but that girl is a garbage disposal. She probably eats atleast 10x a day.

My 19 yr old daughter is 5-4 and wears a size 6. She weight 128 pds. Only 3 pds of differance between them. Her boobs are also DD, which sometimes, will make a woman look heavy even though they are not. A size 6 in pants in NOT heavy by any means. ( I wish I was a 6)

Now me.....I basically eat a diabetes diet (with my hubby) I try to run 2-3 miles a day. I do a little p90x. For some reason....I can't seem to lose any weight. I am pretty stuck at 160. I'm not really heavy....I'm about 5-7, but I'd love to be back down to 145.

But talking about body image.......just researching, Some people say Marilyn Monroe would wear a size 16 in todays sizes (but there is a lot of debate about that.)

[Good_Karma]

Boy, do I wish that age had gifted me with acceptance of my body shape. I'm 35 and I still struggle with my self image and weight. It gets worse when I am upset. I'm pretty hard on myself and I try very hard to be perfect (which anyone knows is a losing battle) and when I fall short I often take it out on myself. I'm not a cutter or a bulimic, so instead I tell myself that I don't deserve to eat for whatever reason. And somehow that lets me cope with whatever has gone wrong in my life. I don't pretend to be normal or well-adjusted. I know that it's messed up. My saving grace is running. I love to run above all else in life, and if I have not eaten enough I don't have the energy to run. So I eat to run. One other thing that has helped me, surprisingly is doing some other workouts too. I like being stronger. For now, the joy of strength is outpacing the negative voices in my head.

I'm 35 years old, 5'6" and currently 105 pounds. I prefer to weight 100 pounds. At my lowest, two years ago, I was 91 pounds. A healthy weight for me is probably 115 pounds. I try to eat as little as possible while still having the energy for my workouts. Dinner is my main meal of the day, and I always drink a fiber shake during the day. I try to eat normally in front of people. I don't lie about what I eat or don't eat, but I try to avoid any discussion of my eating habits because I get angry when people (my mother, lol) bring it up. When I do feel like eating (I get ravenously hungry), I often will do it in secret. I don't know why.

I cut skinny people lots of slack. I cut heavy people lots of slack too. Food is a hugely emotional thing. I refuse to judge other people for their weaknesses, whether it be eating too much or too little or purging.