Body Image

[Naamah D.]

When your health is at risk it's a whole different story. I weigh over 200 pounds and am perfectly healthy, except for getting over strep throat.

[Lozzie]

I myself am also a vegetarian; I think meat is pretty gross too. I don't think that being a vegetarian makes a person unhealthy at all, so long as you get protein from other sources. I also think your friends are wrong by telling you you should eat meat to be healthier, but I do think you could benefit from getting more calories from healthy, nutritional foods, and less from junk food. I apologize if I'm out of line for saying that. Like many have said, weight is only one indicator of overall health.

Being a fully fledged carnivore (I couldn't live without meat, and I am fully aware where that meat comes from. That doesn't bother me one bit), I have to also add that yes - you can be a vegetarian and be healthy. I believe that the vitamins you recieve from meat are also available in certain plant produce, nuts and seeds? Anyone who says otherwise is wrong - whether you eat meat or don't, that is a personal lifestyle decision and doesn't affect your health in any way.

It is being Vegan which is unhealthy, as you simply cannot obtain the necessary vitamins etcetera from your food and vegans need to take suppliments supplied to them by the doctor in order to sustain a healthy diet.

I do agree that less junk food may be a healthier alternative but anything's okay in small amounts! ^_^ Like, as a treat. As long as you're not living off of McDonalds or something, haha. Anyway back on topic;

 

But realistically, I can see over weight people having more of a backlash then skinnier people.

Whilst I agree with this, I'd like to point out that the possible reason for this is the simple fact that skinny people are portrayed as being 'better' by the media; thus most already naturally skinny girls will feel happier with their bodies than bigger girls are.

This is not always the case, but I believe that because of the media, in a lot of cases this is the reason.

[Baixinha]

Thank you guys. I take diabetes very seriously. Remind your diabetic relatives to monitor themselves - one bad fall could cause complications!

 

Nahemah, I'm so very sorry that there you have to be exposed to people like that. I hope you know that many of us disagree and frown upon such behaviour! I can see why you'd feel that way.

 

I heard vegetarian being mentioned in this topic and I strongly want to point out: if you are truly too skinny and don't feel healthy on a vegetarian diet, chances are, you are doing it incorrectly. It's important to ensure you substitute what you're missing from meat properly. I strongly advise you to study up on your meat alternatives. If you feel you are obtaining everything essential, then check with your doctor because again, your friends aren't doctors. I have a few vegetarian friends who are quite unhealthy; there's more to being vegetarian then simply avoiding meat products! Many nuts can provide some good essentials!

 

I've heard over weight people be sarcastic too "overly" skinny people too. This isn't a war. There are cruel people on both sides technically. But realistically, I can see over weight people having more of a backlash then skinnier people.

 

As for the question surrounding personal health, it goes full circle. Mental health is influenced by physical health in the same manner physical health is influenced by mental health. Trust me guys, I know about mental health. I suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, specifically harm based. I don't drive because of OCD. I get frustrated easily because little things may bug me more. And most of my mental health problems are actually genetic. I'm pretty sure my tendency to have OCD was carried over by my father, who, although not diagnosed with OCD, displays plenty of physical traits.

 

But when it comes to the over weight or the under weight stating say, "I don't care what society thinks of me! I'm going to be skinny/fat because that's who I am regardless of my overall health" I can't agree with it, unless their weight is actually healthy.

 

Keep in mind genetics plays a role too. Some people will be over weight/ very skinny for most of their lives and seemingly not experience health problems. But why take that risk?

 

If you feel you need to get your mental health issues sorted out firstly, by all means, take that step first. Gaining weight / losing weight takes a lot of time.

I am not vegetarian for my own health. Actually, I have been vegetarian since birth and will happily keep being vegetarian for the health of our planet and our wonderful friends and equals, animals.

vegetarianism has very little to do with your health. If you want to be vegetarian, that's great! And if you don't, that's none of my business and I will continue the subject on the Animal Rights topic.

[GlitteryCupcake]

I do agree that less junk food may be a healthier alternative but anything's okay in small amounts! ^_^ Like, as a treat. As long as you're not living off of McDonalds or something, haha. Anyway back on topic;

 

Whilst I agree with this, I'd like to point out that the possible reason for this is the simple fact that skinny people are portrayed as being 'better' by the media; thus most already naturally skinny girls will feel happier with their bodies than bigger girls are.

This is not always the case, but I believe that because of the media, in a lot of cases this is the reason.

 

I totally agree with you on both of these points. It doesn't take depriving yourself of yummy treats to be healthy! Everything in moderation.

 

That's also a really insightful comment you made on the media's portrayal of skinny girls. That's why it's also so wrong for society to maintain this notion that there is one ideal of beauty. Perfectly healthy girls that are neither thin nor overweight may still feel like they're not thin enough.

[linsta]

I think the debate here is more about being healthy than anything. I'm sure people here are generally very understanding when it comes to body image. If anything, people are shooting down the "too skinny" image than the heavier types. Obviously both have serious health risks and either extreme. If you don't have enough body fat, it can get to the point where it affects and permanently damages your nervous system, and if you are extremely obese, you will be sure to experience health issues rather quickly.

 

But actual body image is mostly just an issue of self-confidence. If you feel confident about yourself, then it usually comes across. I think if you're fully comfortable with your body and you show it, no one will be treating you like you're trying to overcome some huge problem in your life.

 

I live in Vancouver so I usually become a little self conscious about my body when I go to school (the girls here are all sticks). Not that I'd ever want to be unhealthily skinny. I'm 5'2" and 125 lbs and that is still considered slightly overweight according to doctors. I'd like to drop 10-15 lbs but I eat too much like a pig to bother. It doesn't help that I am sort of a "competitive eater," as in I always feel the need to eat more than my friends or boyfriend when we eat together. I don't know why I have this urge. I wish I could figure it out, considering I live with my boyfriend and he's double my weight and I usually eat more than him =/.

 

But I think regarding health issues, if you have too much body fat, you will most likely run into them. It's one thing to be overweight or obese and feel healthy when you are young, but it is much different if you're looking into the future. Things like diabetes and high blood pressure don't just happen to unlucky people. If you lead a certain lifestyle, these things build up over time and it becomes harder to reverse as you age. Obviously not all these issues are directly related to body fat. They're more based on eating habits, so if you eat healthy, that's the most important thing. Some people naturally put on more fat, and it's not necessarily unhealthy, as long as you're in a reasonable range, so I think diet is the key factor in health.

 

And some people can't help being skinny. If anything, for those people with extremely fast metabolism, it's probably harder for them to put on weight than for an obese person to lose some weight. I have a friend who needs to eat 5000 calories or he loses weight, and I'm talking like, losing 15 lbs in 2 weeks when you only weigh 125 to begin with. So your weight definitely isn't always an indication of your lifestyle or mental state.

 

I don't think the media wants us to all be unhealthily skinny either. After all, they're constantly posting pictures of celebs who are skeleton-thin for us to gasp in horror at (which I think is terrible).

 

Sorry for rambling =/

[Jacky]

Actually 125 doesn't sound like overweight at all to me..? It is hard for me to estimate, being as tall as I am, LOL. I feel really heavy when I read your guys's weight. Anyway, like said before, it also depends on your body type and genetics.

Anyway, I found this and find it quite interesting. It is sort of like a BMI but it also takes your frame into consideration. Sadly, I'm off the chart. XD

 

http://www.healthche...ge/page__st__20

[Baixinha]

I weigh 95 pounds. I'm almost 13. I am 5"4 feet high. My doctor is freaking out. But people forget that being thin does not mean you are a stuck up prat, nor does being fat mean that you are kind and misunderstood. I fit into neither of those categories. I am an emo and I stick to myself mostly. I don't need 10 or more "friends" following me around to feel confident. who needs friends? all they do is tell me about how skinny I am and how I should be shopping here and not there and so on. So stupid. I don't care if I'm thin. If I'm not obviously dying I will never try to gain weight.

[linsta]

Actually 125 doesn't sound like overweight at all to me..? It is hard for me to estimate, being as tall as I am, LOL. I feel really heavy when I read your guys's weight. Anyway, like said before, it also depends on your body type and genetics.

Anyway, I found this and find it quite interesting. It is sort of like a BMI but it also takes your frame into consideration. Sadly, I'm off the chart. XD

 

http://www.healthche...ge/page__st__20

 

Yea it totally depends on your body type. For example I am 125 and that may not be a lot but I am asian and have a really small frame, less bone mass, etc. Lean body mass like muscle and bone weigh a lot more than fat. I don't look overweight at all but my body fat is still pretty high. My parents are both really active and especially my dad is obsessed with being fit and he likes to rub it in our faces that he's more fit than us and the "ideal" weight. So sometimes my motivation to become more fit and go to the gym is because I want to beat my dad or keep up with him at running or something =/. I know that sounds weird haha.

[Lauren_x]

Forgive me for bumping a topic that is (I think) older than I'm meant to bump but I really do feel quite strongly about this so I'd like to add my two pennies without making a whole new thread for them (they're not that valuable ;) )

 

Last year I lost 80lbs and went from being very obese to a normal weight and honestly? It's changed so much. I'm not saying that being bigger necessarily affects anyone's life in a negative way, it had just mine has been made so much better by being a healthier weight and having a healthier relationship with food and exercise. At this, smaller size I can enjoy things I never would have done before, like surfing and going shopping with my mates in normal shops and not worrying that clothes won't fit me.

 

Now here comes the bit that I find hard to admit. I do still want to lose weight. I don't like admitting this because I'm a 'healthy' size now and it makes me feel stupid saying it because I know deep, deep down that losing more weight won't really change anything apart from the way I look. But I want to look slimmer. I look around me and all the actresses and models and singers (well, most) and my friends and girls my age are generally really tiny and they look amazing.

 

And all the best clothes are made for very thin people in my opinion. So yes, I would say my body image is shaped by the media and yes I would say it's affected me in a negative way and yep I am still trying to lose weight because of it.

[youngrace]

^ i agree that the best-looking clothes are tailored to skinnier people. i used to intern at a model agency, and even there, size 2 girls had more clothes to choose from than size 4, but hey, size 0 was the best of all. even girls who were EXTREMELY skinny felt pressure to be even skinnier since high-end designers keep churning out stuff that should logically only fit 13-year-olds. it's gotten a /bit/ better in recent years with the awareness and whatnot, but still, there's this constant pressure to be skinny and attractive and beautiful and perfect. even though i know some lovely people in the industry, i really do feel that this constant daily bombardment of beautiful (ntm airbrushed / photoshopped) people everywhere you look at least subconsciously affects us to try and continuously "improve" ourselves aesthetically, even when we don't need to. could go on and on, but i'll stop for now since dinner calls. :)

[Trig]

The Body Mass index takes into consideration only a person's height and weight. There are so many factors on top of that, making the BMI void, or at least much more complicated.

 

For example, muscle weighs just as much as fat. This alone will imply that a muscular individual could in fact weigh the same as an unfit individual with little muscle. An athlete could very well come out on the BMI chart as overweight or obese when they have little fat on their body.

Different people also have different frame sizes, and BMI does not take this into consideration, making it inacurate and hardly factual for many people.

 

I agree with this. I believe my BMI says I am...(wait...I'm now checking it) overweight. Not by much, but slightly. However, I would call myself "average" as would many people I talk to. I wear about an american size 8 or 10, and that's just the way I'm built. My hips are there, and not really covered by much fat (other than what I would call 'normal') and genetics has caused me to have a decently large behind ;) But it's weird because based on what I eat, how much I exercise, and my lifestyle, I should be skinnier than most of my super skinny friends. Muscle DEFINITELY weighs more than fat and I can easily vouch for this. I weigh about 160lbs (more or less depending) and am 5' 6" tall. However, I run a mile at least 3 times a week and do some pretty 'intense' weight lifting as well as swimming. I eat fairly healthy, and would call myself healthy. Body fat percentage, or lean body mass is a much more accurate assessment of your health.

 

2) Not just beauty, but HEALTH comes in several sizes too! You can be thin, plump, or anything in between and be healthy. You can also be thin, plump, or anything in between and be unhealthy. Thin does not always equal healthy, and neither does fat. The skinny girl who only eats junk food and never exercises is probably not as healthy as the girl who weighs 25 lbs more, eats nutritious food, and exercises regularly.

 

5) Mental health: Whatever size you are, I firmly believe that self-acceptance and self-love are crucial. Even if you're obese, love the body you have, and love all of the wonderful things about yourself. Just because you're not at your ideal weight doesn't mean you need to mope about it! Accept whatever size you are, but always pursue better health. I think that if you truly love yourself and your body, you'll want it to be the healthiest body it can be!

 

Your point #2 is exactly what I was talking about above with regards for myself. I'm bigger than most of my friends, but I eat healthier and exercise much more than some of the others, who will openly admit they have a fast metabolism and are screwed once they get older. I'm happy with the fact that I eat healthy and exercise and I feel like I'm in a good position for when I'm older!

 

 

Your post also got me thinking a lot about mental health vs. physical health, particularly when you wrote, "Body image falls second to your overall health; if you're dangerously overweight, yes, you need to love yourself but you also need to change for your own health." I absolutely agree with the second part of your statement, but I'm starting to wonder about the first part. Of course, I certainly think we should all strive to achieve both physical and mental health (like having a positive body image), but is one really more important than the other? I don't know...what does everyone think? Is physical health more or less important than mental health, or are they equally important?

 

I think they go hand in hand, as a few others have mentioned. When you are mentally healthy, you are physically healthy and vice versa. For example, for the past week or two I've been pretty depressed because we found out my dog had cancer and on Monday my parents had to go put him down (I was very upset because I couldn't go because of a school exam); this has definitely affected my physical health because I'm not exercising as much, and I'm not really eating (although I'm trying, because I know it's an issue). Erego, they are interconnected!

 

Whilst I agree with this, I'd like to point out that the possible reason for this is the simple fact that skinny people are portrayed as being 'better' by the media; thus most already naturally skinny girls will feel happier with their bodies than bigger girls are.

This is not always the case, but I believe that because of the media, in a lot of cases this is the reason.

 

I agree with this to some extent, but also disagree. I'm not going to lie, I would still like to loose some weight, even though I know I don't necessarily need to to be 'healthier'. Why do I want to loose weight? A small portion of it is that yes, a lot of clothing for my age group (17-20 year olds ;)) looks better on smaller frames and I do see a lot of celebrities that look really good at a smaller weight. However, I'm going to argue back on this that the main reason I want to loose weight is because I find people look down upon me, and I was bullied in grade school for being 'bigger' than the other kids. So I guess some of that is deep rooted self-esteem issues and never quite feeling good with myself, but I'm getting better. I understand I'm at a healthy weight for my size, and I'm never going to be super small, it's just not in my genetics.

 

Okay, sorry for the ginormous rant. I'm done (for now).

[billpika_x8]

Weight? I'm underweight >.< That sucks when you're male. But the truth is I've gotten to the pointwhere I hardly recognize myself in the mirror.

[dankesque]

For example, muscle weighs just as much as fat. This alone will imply that a muscular individual could in fact weigh the same as an unfit individual with little muscle. An athlete could very well come out on the BMI chart as overweight or obese when they have little fat on their body.

 

I had a friend in high school who would run five miles EVERY MORNING with her mom; she was an athlete and the skinniest person ever. And yet she weighed more than I did because she was 150% muscle, and would constantly obsess over her weight. Had a 5'11" roommate who was also heavy yet extremely thin because there was so much height to spread it over.

 

I kept telling them to look in the friggin' mirror instead of on the scale, but they'd been so conditioned to that societally-enforced 'perfect weight range' that they wouldn't listen. It was sad because they were perfectly healthy and beautiful and yet they still beat themselves up.

 

What galls me is that, from my perspective, a LOT of the cultural prejudices we have about body weight have gotten as bad as they have because clothing, makeup, and weight-loss salespeople actively encourage them in order to sell more of their product. I'm really glad people are calling out companies on this more and more, and it makes me love places like Torrid, who are actively fighting against weight and body image stereotypes in their modeling choices.

[Sweetdang]

I kept telling them to look in the friggin' mirror instead of on the scale, but they'd been so conditioned to that societally-enforced 'perfect weight range' that they wouldn't listen. It was sad because they were perfectly healthy and beautiful and yet they still beat themselves up.

Correct. I don't care about weight, I care about how HEALTHY I look.

[chibi_chibi_tsukino]

I believe while being healthy and fit is very important, being very thin is more of a personal choice. I used to be a lot bigger than I am now. These days I'm happy being (roughly) an American size 0/2. Personally I think I look a lot better when I'm slim, but I also realize that a lot of people like themselves a bit bigger. Both is ok as long as you aren't anorexic or obese. BMIs of 17 are just as bad as BMIs of 30. Therefore I disagree with how the media sometimes represent extremely thin women as idols. I think being at the lower end of the healthy weight range looks great on a lot of women, but going lower than that is really not advisable.

 

Because I'm interested in this topic I've done some research in the past on the correlation between attractiveness and BMI. There are heaps of scientific studies on google scholar, take a look if you want. Most studies find that on average men find woman with a BMI between 18 and 22 the most attractive. The peak is somewhere around BMI 19/20. All these results vary slightly from study to study but you get the general idea. Interestingly (or shockingly?) I found a study that came to the conclusion that BMI accounts for about 75% of the attractiveness of a female body shape and for around 25% of attractiveness if you include all other facts such as face, hair, etc. According to that study it's the single most important factor, probably cause BMI is related to fertility.

[neoskulltula]

While the idea is to look healthy, it's not actually that bad to only pay attention to weight so long as your diet is healthy. It really is a matter of poundage where your chances of heart disease and other ailments increase dramatically at a certain weight.

[Kaana]

And all the best clothes are made for very thin people in my opinion.

^ i agree that the best-looking clothes are tailored to skinnier people.

 

Just want to stick my two cents in again and say I usually wander into the "larger body size" or whatever they call it sections of clothing stores and feel very jealous XD Most of the clothes in the "skinny people" stores (as another of my friends dubbs them) are either very tarty imho, or just generally not very nice for my body shape, or I just don't like them. Not saying your opinion's wrong, just this is what it's like for me.

[Welcome Back Apathy]

I hate my body for its disabilities, but I'm pretty proud of the way my body looks right now.

 

I have a BMI of 17. Yes, I know, I'm underweight. I've come a long way, though. In high school, I had a BMI of 13. Yes, 13. Unhealthy? Yes. Disgusting? Yes, according to the hundreds of people who took it upon themselves to call me disgusting and actually physically bully me for it. Overweight girls, take note: when you're overweight, you're in general better equipped to defend yourself in battle. Skinny girls get made fun of too, but I couldn't defend myself because I had no weight or muscle, and I was disabled. I also couldn't get it to stop because when I reported it, I got referred to psychologists about my supposed "anorexia", and bullies never got punished because it was supposedly my problem, not theirs. I also got accused of bullying THEM about THEIR weight--which is BS. I never once called anyone fat or even mentioned their weight in the least. A lot of adults are sensitive about their body weight, so when they see a skinny girl, they assume she can't possibly have problems, and she's just trying to get bigger people in trouble because she has an inherent bias against fat people. True story.

 

(My point right there is, please don't pretend skinny girls are the mean ones. It is entirely based on personality. Anyone who makes fun of someone for any reason needs to stop.)

 

Was it on purpose? Absolutely not. I tried to gain weight for years. It did not work. In college, as I got older, I managed to get up to 90 lbs, a BMI of 15. I was very happy about that, but it still wasn't enough. I realized, though, that I was trying so hard to gain weight that I wasn't even thinking about my health. I was JUST thinking about my weight. Yes, I had an eating disorder in the opposite direction of anorexia.

 

I started taking birth control pills at the end of college. Holy crap. Anyone who's against birth control, please don't be against birth control PILLS, because they are pretty much the healthiest thing a woman can do for her body. The ones I take regulate my hormones in a way that helps my metabolism be healthier. I'm up to 103 lbs. at a height of 5'5", and I've never felt healthier.

 

Except, you know, for the disabilities that keep me bedridden some days. Like today. I can't get out of bed.

 

I lack the upper torso area, but I have some pretty spectacular hips. Yeah, I said it. My hips are SEXY. My hips don't lie. They tell you, "This girl has sexy hips." My butt has a bit of cellulite, and I am proud of it. My body's not perfect for a variety of reasons, but I think it looks just fine. I think I am at the healthiest weight possible for my body, even if it's still technically underweight, because my body is not built to have weight. So while I'm still trying to put on weight, it's just so I can donate blood rather than to try to be healthier.

 

My body is at the right weight for me. And I'm guessing that most people in here are at the right weight for them, even if BMI pretends they're not. I personally find most body types to be attractive, as long as someone finds the right clothes to flatter them. I gave up on finding pants that fit properly, though, so I pretty much just wear skirts.

[Trig]

Just want to stick my two cents in again and say I usually wander into the "larger body size" or whatever they call it sections of clothing stores and feel very jealous XD Most of the clothes in the "skinny people" stores (as another of my friends dubbs them) are either very tarty imho, or just generally not very nice for my body shape, or I just don't like them. Not saying your opinion's wrong, just this is what it's like for me.

 

Personally I find that girls my age who are thin look so much better in the clothing that is designed for people my age. I try and flatter my curves- and accentuate my butt but the fact is my body is that of someone usually 5-10 years older than me. That being said, I do not generally like the clothing that these stores are advertising for 'super skinny' girls my age. I'm not into extremely flowy tops, and I don't like the floral that seems to be so hip right now. Because of years of bullying though, I can't help but feel like I'm just not good enough.

 

I hate my body for its disabilities, but I'm pretty proud of the way my body looks right now.

 

I have a BMI of 17. Yes, I know, I'm underweight. I've come a long way, though...

 

(My point right there is, please don't pretend skinny girls are the mean ones. It is entirely based on personality. Anyone who makes fun of someone for any reason needs to stop.)

 

Was it on purpose? Absolutely not. I tried to gain weight for years. It did not work. In college, as I got older, I managed to get up to 90 lbs, a BMI of 15. I was very happy about that, but it still wasn't enough. I realized, though, that I was trying so hard to gain weight that I wasn't even thinking about my health. I was JUST thinking about my weight. Yes, I had an eating disorder in the opposite direction of anorexia.

 

I lack the upper torso area, but I have some pretty spectacular hips. Yeah, I said it. My hips are SEXY. My hips don't lie. They tell you, "This girl has sexy hips." My butt has a bit of cellulite, and I am proud of it. My body's not perfect for a variety of reasons, but I think it looks just fine. I think I am at the healthiest weight possible for my body, even if it's still technically underweight, because my body is not built to have weight. So while I'm still trying to put on weight, it's just so I can donate blood rather than to try to be healthier.

 

My body is at the right weight for me. And I'm guessing that most people in here are at the right weight for them, even if BMI pretends they're not. I personally find most body types to be attractive, as long as someone finds the right clothes to flatter them. I gave up on finding pants that fit properly, though, so I pretty much just wear skirts.

 

I agree with you when you say it's all about personality. I'm not going to lie- I'm usually a little bit jealous of those who are extremely skinny, and I'm not a fan of skinny popular girls because I have bad experiences with them teasing me. However, some of my best friends are the tiniest people in the world who will openly admit they really don't have any muscle, and don't even understand why they are so small- and I love them. It's so much about personality, and not about weight; and it always should be like that, no matter which end of the spectrum.

 

I think you've made a really good point as well. You're pointing out the parts you love about your body. Sure everyone doesn't like some stuff about themselves, but it's learning to find the parts that you do love and emphasizing those and using those to build yourself up. Society shouldn't dictate how much you weigh- it's whatever weight you're HEALTHY at. Some people are heavier than others, and some are much lighter than others, that's just the way the world works.

[Naamah D.]

If you ask me plus size womens clothes are much more attractive than "average" womens clothes.

 

My mom and I were sitting at the doctors office and had obesity taken out of my medical records because of how happy and healthy I am. My mom said "My daughter is very happy and active." I exercise frequently and try my very best to eat healthy. I'll pig out every once in awhile but it was my friends graduation party, it would've been very awkward not too :)

[kristinaapril]

I feel like body image in society today is linked with your weight. What I find unhealthy is the set of ideals that society puts on us. My self worth as a human is not dependent on if I can fit into a size zero. I think that many girls are insecure due to the media and if the media wasn't present they would have a positive body image.

 

With that being said, my weight always fluctuates. I have PCOS and my peak weight was 220 at the age of 15. In short, PCOS is short for Polycystic ovarian syndrome where you are insulin resident, ie: you hold onto weight. Now, I'm quite short (5' 2) and while that's just a number I know that I was leaving an unhealthy lifestyle due to depression. I'm a large boned girl and the weight that I look the best at and feel the best at is around 150. I'm currently around 130-135 because of a pretty nasty sickness at the end of last year but I plan to healthy reach my goal weight, even if I'm considered obese!

 

I think BBW are luscious!

[jadorablack]

I myself am also a vegetarian; I think meat is pretty gross too. I don't think that being a vegetarian makes a person unhealthy at all, so long as you get protein from other sources. I also think your friends are wrong by telling you you should eat meat to be healthier, but I do think you could benefit from getting more calories from healthy, nutritional foods, and less from junk food. I apologize if I'm out of line for saying that. Like many have said, weight is only one indicator of overall health.

 

Veggies for the win :) I think everyone who says that models who walk the runway are anorexic are being unfair. Yes, being overly thin and being overly fat is unhealthy. But what may be too thin for another is perfectly fine for someone else. That said, our media does glamorize being thin. So much so that many people have eating disorders because of it. Myself included. Thankfully I'm getting better, but media should do a better job of promoting different kinds of body shapes and skin color and face types etc.

[Cassia]

I agree with most of what has been posted, but I just want to add my own story:

 

Ever since I was younger, I did ballet, where there is often pressure to be skinny. I naturally inherited a high metabolism from my father, so even though I eat A LOT, I don't really gain weight. The highest my BMI has been (which is now) is 18.2. Before the last couple of years, my BMI mostly fluctuated between 15.5-17. Many people at school teased me about it, calling me, unhealthy, a skeleton, or a stick, and accusing me of having an eating disorder (which I find really disrespectful to those who really ARE struggling with an eating disorder). I regularly had people calling me skinny, and adults telling my parents that they should feed me more, even though I was completely healthy. I hated it, and wanted desperately to gain weight. For a while, I stuffed myself with way more food than would be considered healthy (I once ate 8 large slices of pizza at lunch in an attempt to gain weight), before I realized that by doing so, I was actually making myself more unhealthy.

 

Strangely enough, my weight didn't help me fit in with people in ballet class either. While many of them controlled their meal portions meticulously, I ate whatever I wanted. However, that didn’t mean that I had the ideal body type. While the others aspired to be thinner, I wanted more muscle. Even though I worked just as hard as them, I never seemed to be able to gain much muscle. It alienated me from most of my classmates, who instantly assumed that I was a stuck-up snob whenever I made a comment about my body.

 

Whenever I told anyone about my insecurities, they would just stare and laugh at me, or accuse me of trying to fish for compliments. What really bothers me is that while calling someone fat is considered a taboo, and politically incorrect, apparently calling someone a stick is perfectly fine, because of the way society glamorizes thinness. Just like being too thin is unhealthy, being too heavy is too. However, it is important to realize that what may be healthy for one person, may be unhealthy for the next. While my BMI of 18.2 may be considered slightly underweight, for me, it is healthy, and the weight where I look and feel the best. While some people may consider a BMI of 25 to be overweight, it may be healthy for others. The importance here is health. I think that we should work to educate everyone about eating healthy, and exercising. If some people choose not to, I don’t think that society should look down at them for it, because it was their own choice. However, I think that when a person is putting their health in jeopardy because of an eating disorder, others SHOULD intervene, but we should remember that just because a person is thin does not mean that they are anorexic or bulimic, just as being overweight does not indicate a binge eating problem.

 

My own struggles with my weight are past now, and I hope to see the day when society stops putting so much emphasis on body image correlating with “beauty”.

 

Sorry about the huge rant, because this is something that I feel strongly about :P

[Venka]

There's also a psychological aspect, in addition to what our culture demands of girls and women. To many people, being thin, or small gives them security in that no one would find them threatening. By making themselves weak and harmless, they give themselves a false attitude that nothing can hurt them if they remain passive and float through the waves that the cultural expectations send at them. Unfortunately, this is the same thing that leads to self-harm, cutting, etc., so by passive-aggressively defying culture, they ultimately end up hurting themselves and those around them not only physically, through anorexia and bulimia, but in their mental state as well.

 

I wish that I could say that I shared this experience, and could fully empathize. Since I'm homeschooled, any doubts about my weight that I had were never reinforced by a large peer group, so they never reached the intensity that some of you have had. Even if I can't empathize completely, I want to say that I do care about people who went though this, and I hope that they will find support whenever they need it.

[passiflora]

I went to an eating disorder symposium a while back and a few ladies shared their stores - it was very interesting. I think one of the biggest surprises was that they didn't personally believe that all the media influence causes eating disorders (as some people believe); it simply may exacerbate a problem that already exists.

 

 

I think a healthy lifestyle can work wonders on body image - if I don't exercise for a while I might start feeling down about myself, but then I go for a run for a few days in a row and I'm suddenly proud of my body again, even though I probably didn't change at all.

 

 

I also noticed the muscle vs fat thing mentioned a few times throughout the topic and thought I'd clear it up: muscle is denser than fat (it doesn't "weigh more"), i.e., 10 lbs of muscle will look smaller than 10 lbs of fat. So two people at the same weight could look very different depending on their body composition. Weight is only one measure of health!

 

Now here comes the bit that I find hard to admit. I do still want to lose weight. I don't like admitting this because I'm a 'healthy' size now and it makes me feel stupid saying it because I know deep, deep down that losing more weight won't really change anything apart from the way I look. But I want to look slimmer. I look around me and all the actresses and models and singers (well, most) and my friends and girls my age are generally really tiny and they look amazing.

This is the most interesting phenomenon. My weight has never fluctuated drastically in my lifetime, but if someone says "hey, have you lost weight?", it's astonishing how gratifying it is, and makes you want to do it more. I know how you feel!