In today's society, to be thin is a goal most people want to achieve. But no one wonders why. No one wonders why people strive to be 5"7, 98lbs like the 1960 character twiggy.

First, for women, it is unnatural! A woman is suppose to have to have plumpness in the thighs, behinds, hips and the bosom. Women who starve or excercise to meet the skinny goal are fighting against nature!

Then, sadley enough, people are being taught that food is not nourishing, but deadly! They are taught to think that permanant dieting and chronic hunger are healthy, if we find ourselves with an unbridled appetite, there must be something wrong with us, or food is addictive. When in truth, the well nourished, not the undernourished are the ones who become strong, healthy, and productive. Poor appetite is a sign of depression and being ill. Heck, last time I was sick I didn't eat for two days.

Fatophobia, as the scare of being fat is called by some, is not natural. In the wild the animals do not eat a little here, a little there, but eat to keep themselves plump, healthy. The United Nations World Health Orginization has established a daily intake of 1000 calories as the border of semistarvation, but many diets require less.

The "ideal weight" is a hoax. Someone can be 5"7 and 150lbs without being fat. Muscle builders can weight far more than that, but that is muscle. But say the person is 5"7, 150lbs, and looks fat, yet has none of the problems some say a "fat" person will have. 5"7 150lbs is actually what the person should weigh, if the weight is in the right spot. Yes, if the person has little muscle and is mostly fat, this can be a problem. But if the person has some muscle and some fat, this is not a problem, this is how it should be. You see two people on the street, same height, same weight. One is panting, breathing hard, the other is smiling, talking, having fun. What is the difference? Fat should not go and stay in the stomach. The fat, if spread out, will make the person more healthy than if they just starved themselves according to some diet. But if the fat goes and stays in the stomach area, this can cause the problems most people see. Back trouble, breathing problems, heart problems, so forth.

The culture of slimming as we know it is really a post-WWII phenomenon. The health industry, convinced by insurance companies, launched a massive campaign to persuade Americans to lose weight. They convinced people that fat of any kind was bad for you. The American people began to believe that eating was a disease, unhealthy, even though they enjoyed the best health and greatest longevity ever known in American society.

Now yes, some cases being fat is unhealthy, but as said, it depends on where the fat is. A kid who eats McD's every day(most fat lawsuits are that) and never excercises will become fat. But where does the fat go? To the stomach. If it were to spread out the the thighs, behind, hips, so forth, it would not be bad. To make that happen one must get some excercise. I don't mean go to a fitness club and use machines, I mean walk down to the park, walk around the block, sit ups at home, things like that. I eat food, alot, and I enjoy it. I also do sit-ups, push-ups, and either walk or ride my bike on weekends. So instead of having one huge bulging belly, I have some in my belly, some in my thighs, hips, so forth. I can bike over 10 miles and not get tired. I can do 200 sit-ups in a row and only stop due to my broken back making weird noises. Yet someone who is a little taller than me, and weighs about 20lbs less than me gets tired going to the third floor of the school.

Anyways, just my own little thing about America and the ways it sees being thin and being fat. Say what you want.

true, in societies eyes its silly blah blah blah

but many people (including myself) have a liable reason for eating disorders, etc.

one wod- ballet. yeah yeah laugh whatever, but if you're over 100 pounds in ballet (they dont care if its "muscle weight") you can say goodbye to getting good parts. you want skinny EVERYTHING, and i highly doubt youll ever meet a dancer who wants big boobs. bony bony bony, thats what companies look for. simply because thats how tradition has always placed ballerinas, super white, super skinny.

many companies now have expanded their borders, and short, muscular female dancers are on the rise, including a huge rise in ballerinas that arent just super white. black, asian, anything. but with most traditional companies......its 100 pounds, or you're standing in the back waving a rose.

Ballet dancers are unnaturally thin & are paying for this unhealthy way of living in their later years if it is not too late to repair the damage.

There's nothing wrong with ballet dancers. I'm sure most of them are gifted with a very fast matabolism. It's not inconceivable that woman can be skinny.

[Edited on 2-3-2004 by ktprktpr]

I'm thin & my bones don't stick out like some of those dancers. I hear they also have the ugliest looking feet.

[Edited on 2-3-2004 by Questor]

Originally posted by Scat
true, in societies eyes its silly blah blah blah

but many people (including myself) have a liable reason for eating disorders, etc.

one wod- ballet. yeah yeah laugh whatever, but if you're over 100 pounds in ballet (they dont care if its "muscle weight") you can say goodbye to getting good parts. you want skinny EVERYTHING, and i highly doubt youll ever meet a dancer who wants big boobs. bony bony bony, thats what companies look for. simply because thats how tradition has always placed ballerinas, super white, super skinny.

many companies now have expanded their borders, and short, muscular female dancers are on the rise, including a huge rise in ballerinas that arent just super white. black, asian, anything. but with most traditional companies......its 100 pounds, or you're standing in the back waving a rose.

My sister had an eating disorder due to her ballet classes. The instructor constantly put down her students telling them they had to lose weight if they ever wanted to do anything professionally. My sister was thin to begin with, she didn't need to lose any weight but hearing that over and over i guess did something to her. That was a hard few years for our entire family but she overcame it.

Personally i love a girl with curves, thick thighs and a nice round butt i don't care for the twiggy look at all. Its the media more than anything that prefers this image. A lot of people buy into it as well, sadly. Some ppl are easily influenced i guess.

[Edited on 2-3-2004 by Vietnow]

Never believed in diets, never plan on going one.

I'm 5'2, 140 lbs currently(no shame in my game) usually my weight is between 135 and 145.
so I am considered thick.
I have tummy, I blame that on 2 kids, but I can still belly dance. I am healthy and I exercise often, practice yoga and I am more flexible and have more endurance than my younger skinnier counterparts.

Diets are just another way for someone to make money off of you. Eat what you want, but exercise..that's all. doesn't matter if you are considered fat in today's society. My eating disorder is that I eat whatever I want, whenever I want, including lots of chocolate, cookies and chips

but as some have mentioned, eating disorders are real and very often overlooked...many people have eating disorders in order to fit into certain cliques in societies who tell them they have to look a certain way to become what they want to be in their personal and professional lives.....ex the ballet dancers, models, even flight attendants.

thank god for men with taste!!

First, for women, it is unnatural! A woman is suppose to have to have plumpness in the thighs, behinds, hips and the bosom. Women who starve or excercise to meet the skinny goal are fighting against nature!

i dont think that at all , i think we are designed to go hunting for food , to be active , to not eat total #e meals all day and basically when the time that we where like that , it was survival of the fittest and over weight people would be grizzly and man eating penguin food.

you get someone and get them to do about a few miles of running (on rough terrain ,not roads) then drag a carcass of a dead animal back (try like a dear) on a wooden pole between a couple of people , then make your own clothes , build your own fires etc without using modern technology and then see how fat they become - they wont , they will be burning off more calories than they eat therefore they will have no bodyfat

I'm with you there, WW. I've never been on a diet, nor do I ever wish to go on one.

I'm about 5'6 and 150 pounds. My weight fluctuates, but it's normally between 145-155. I exercise daily, at least a 45 minute walk each day, among other things.

I eat what I want, when I want. I love food, and I'm not going to deprive myself of it in an attempt to be extremely thin. It's a matter of comfort, for me, and a matter of appetite, that my weight is dependent upon

I hate those really thin super models in victoria secret, i saw the fashion show and i thought it was going to be good but all i saw on tv where a bunch of stick people walkin around.

Speaking of Ballet, a ballet dancer was suing her company(they represented her) for giving her # jobs. Why did they do that? She weighed 112lbs. They said the male dancers couldn't lift her. Yeah, sorry, but food, as said, is not to kill but to nourish. The male dancers need to eat more so they are healthy enough to pick a 112lbs woman up. Hell, I can pick a 160lbs person up, and I would be considered fat while these 5"9 100lbs guys who are suppose to be healthy can't life a 112lbs woman? Who is in shape/healthy now!

partially hydrogenated vegtable oil is the biggest problem
lifestyles today are more laid back
jobs involve more desk work than in days of yore when people were skinnier
look at pictures of people in world war 2 era and before ...very few fat people
im 230 and 6feet 2 and considered obese by those standards that the health spas use
they say i could be as small as 140 pounds and be healthy ....ridiculous......and that if i weigh more than 180 im overweight...
they dont take into consideration body types or musculature
if i weighed 140 id be dead
at last check i had a blood pressure of 110 over 67 and that was when i was sick
i need to lose at least 20
but you know what
i swim bookoo laps and have overall great health
if i weighed 140 id be dead

Originally posted by James the Lesser
Speaking of Ballet, a ballet dancer was suing her company(they represented her) for giving her # jobs. Why did they do that? She weighed 112lbs. They said the male dancers couldn't lift her. Yeah, sorry, but food, as said, is not to kill but to nourish. The male dancers need to eat more so they are healthy enough to pick a 112lbs woman up. Hell, I can pick a 160lbs person up, and I would be considered fat while these 5"9 100lbs guys who are suppose to be healthy can't life a 112lbs woman? Who is in shape/healthy now!

wowa! some week guys! they should get some more mussle mass!

Originally posted by James the Lesser
Speaking of Ballet, a ballet dancer was suing her company(they represented her) for giving her # jobs. Why did they do that? She weighed 112lbs. They said the male dancers couldn't lift her. Yeah, sorry, but food, as said, is not to kill but to nourish. The male dancers need to eat more so they are healthy enough to pick a 112lbs woman up. Hell, I can pick a 160lbs person up, and I would be considered fat while these 5"9 100lbs guys who are suppose to be healthy can't life a 112lbs woman? Who is in shape/healthy now!

this is not what happened.

i knew this chick (not personally but mutually)

she was taken out of the lead, replaced, because she weighed too much. it was either kirov or bolshoi....

kirov. she weighed 110, 10 too heavy.

this was blown up all over the news in america and such. i know this is sick and silly, but this happens EVERY DAY! ballet teachers are messed up, but so are ballerinas! they know what they are getting into.

questor- unfortunately, sometimes it is WAY to late to be saved. it becomes natural.

and yes, we DO have the ugliest feet in the world. ill send you pic maybe! hahahahh!

and the bones are actually called "ballerina bones" and in the ballet world, are thought of as beautiful. hahahhahaha! crazy huh?

I'm fat. Who wants some?

But I was "blessed" in youth with one of those athletic bodies that couldn't get fat. Competitive gymnast and weight trainer and all around diet nazi. Had every eating disorder in the book at one time.

All that crap (including excessive excercise) ruins you for later. I went years as a vegan, then when I stopped it was like looking at cheese added 100 pounds overnight.

Not much cause to work it off on the rings or horse when you sit behind at computer all day for work. And there's no metabolism for meat once you've given it up for a while. Tried everything. I will be fat til I die now... which is fine, except when you still think you're supposed to be skinny and have a taste for hot babes. Oh well...

But I do think the diet and sports culture in high school is doing more harm than good. Fat kids can at least lose weight when they get older. The reverse have nowhere to go but down.... (or up) as the case may be.

It looks like I'm ten to twenty pounds underweight. Nuts.

(6'4, 135-145 lbs, 18, male)

I should be 156, about. I blame my unnaturally fast metabolism, and the swiss.

No, I don't diet, I eat whatever I want, and I barely move. I also have a total absence of muscle mass. Call this "be careful what you wish for", because I'm skele-riffic and it's not doing a damn thing for me.

DE

According to the calculator I'm at my ideal weight.

Weight has never been an issue for me. As a youth I stayed active with gymnastics and dancing. I've been inactive for several years without any significant weight change. I'm 5'3, 107 lbs and happy with those measurements. Size should only be important to one's self. If you're happy with your weight, then what else can you ask for?

I can lose 2 kg's in 1 night. ;P

And that aint water weight either.

[Edited on 3-3-2004 by DaRAGE]