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Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
....or rather, what is a healthy dress size, as of course weight will vary according to height. I've recently been on a diet and gone down around one dress size (from 16-14) and as such I've been pondering about this alot recently. It seems that people's perception of what is thin/fat or heathy/unhealthy is radically different. Whenever I read all those womens meagazines like heat and closer (oh, the shame!) they always seem to refer to people who are anything over a size 8 as curvy....which I think is just ridiculous really. To me, I'd definately think of someone that sort of size as slim. And then, at the other end of the scale, is the people who I work with....who ask me if I've been eating enough and say that I've lost weight and apparently don't look as healthy as I used to! Which isn't right at all....according to my BMI I was verging on obese before.....so now I've lost weight I'm not healthy?! :rollseyes_ani:
Anyway I'm not really sure the point I'm trying to make....just wondering what everyone else's views are on this! :)
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
I think British people are generally getting bigger and so people are perceiving heavier people as "normal" sized. I can still usually fit into a size 12 and I am about 2 stone heavier than I used to be when I was a size 12 so I think they are making clothes sizes bigger for vanity reasons.
I used to read Heat/ Now but I find them offensive now, they are always commenting on the weight of so-called celebrities and it's annoying and dull.:mad: (I probably would still read one of those magazines if I saw one on a train or something though!:D)
I don't think you should really worry about your weight unless your health is involved anyway.
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
Yeah, apparently the UK average is now a size 16....but that doesn't mean it's a healthy weight! But I think people just think, well I'm the same as the Uk average....so it's alright!
Part of the reason I am losing weight though is that I know it was definately damaging my health. I have problems with my knees anyway and I'm sure the extra weight is/was making it worse...!
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
Quote:
BlackCats
I don't think you should really worry about your weight unless your health is involved anyway.
Yep, and a healthy weight is different for everyone. I think it depends on more than just height.
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
Modern western society, through the media and beauty industry has set an "ideal" for what is seen as a healthy weight. This doesn't take into consideration a persons height, fitness, and genetics.
Very often these "ideals" are unobtainable for the majority of people and as result, people feel they have failed, feel or are seen as lazy and/or lacking in will power. This is not the case, but our own unique bodies tellings us when we are at OUR ideal weight and size/shape.
Some people are naturally prone to weight gain and find it hard to lose it. But then as women, our hormones have a say in the fat that is laid down on our curves for child bearing.
During times of recession, the fuller figure is seen as more desirable and in times of abundance the slimmer figure is desired. It's the psychology of mating.
I accept what is MY ideal weight, despite the opinions of others. As I've said in a previous related post, I'm active and healthy for my size.
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
Weight is a weird thing - i am VERY heavy right now :amazed_ani: and yet in pictures i look about the same as when i weighed 2 stones less, the only difference is that i do exercise more now :bigsmile:.
I think that magazines have a very warped idea of 'normality' - to me an 'average' size woman in the U.K today is probably a 12 for younger women, 14-16 for more middle aged (e.g my age!) mum types :D. A size 8-10 is most definitely very slim in my book, a lovely size to be but unattainable for some of us heftier types.
I really want to lose weight/drop several dress sizes for the sake of my health. However, i have recently realised that i am generally too hard on myself. When i was a size 14-16 i constantly berated myself for being 'fat', and now i look back at pictures i can see i actually looked fine, healthy, and in proportion and that was probably a 'normal' size for me once i got past my teens/early 20s (when i was always size 12).
Annoyingly, if i'd have only loved myself for what i was, and maybe just concentrated on my fitness level, i have no doubt i could have stayed at a size 14-16. What i did though was try loads of radical diets, yo-yoing in the classic fashion, losing weight then putting it back on + more. I'm annoyed with myself for having done that, i'm annoyed with my husband for giving me stick about my weight, and i'm annoyed with those damned magazines (i avoid them now) :mad:.
So i am now retrying the Paul McKenna approach of loving myself, eating only what i really want to eat (whilst keeping it balanced and healthy), and i have warned my husband DO NOT COMMENT ON WHAT I EAT!!!!.
Oops sorry for long ranty post, it's been on my mind a lot lately though :o.
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
Thats alright, it wasn't a ranty post!!
Like you cobweb I used to be smaller but still thought I was fat then....even though I was a size 10-12!! Looking back though I was an ideal size (I think) and would love to be able to get back to that.....I just wish I'd realised at the time! Ah the benefit of hindsight.....tsch!!
As for your husband commenting on your weight/eating habits, in my experience that's just not helpful at all....if anything it'll make your issues worse and then drive you to comfort eating! Atleast that's what always seems to happen to me.
As for being heavier but looking the same, don't forget that muscle does weigh more than fat, so you've probably not gained fat but gained more muscle, what with all the extra excercise!!
x
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
When I was growing up a size 12 was seen as the norm - meaning you would look slim and healthy. My mum was a size 12 and she always appeared slim to me, yet I'm a size 8 and I don't feel slim :( However I think that has more to do with my negative body image than anything else.
I've been anything from a size 14 to an 8, depending on how many weights I'd been lifting, and although I think I'm naturally meant to be the size I am now I don't think I'll ever be happy about it.
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
Quote:
BlackCats
I can still usually fit into a size 12 and I am about 2 stone heavier than I used to be when I was a size 12 so I think they are making clothes sizes bigger for vanity reasons.
Same here but as a size 14.
Clothes are definitely being made bigger than they were years ago - which makes it really hard to discuss these issues by talking about dress size I think. Because I don't know what everyone means when they talk about an 'average size 16' and a 'healthy size 12' - do you mean size 12 now (which I reckon is an old 14) or size 12 ten or so years ago (which would be labelled a size 10 now). :umm_ani:
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
And not only that, but someone who is a size 14 in one shop could be a size 12 or 16 in another!!! /sigh
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
I don't think there exists 'a healthy weight' or 'a healthy dress size'.
It all depends on each individual - how nutritious is their diet, what physical exercise they take, their genetics, pre-existing medical conditions, state of mind, companionship ...
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
Exactly Marrers, I would say my size 12 today is more like a size 16 even. I remember what my measurements were when I was a 17 year old size 12 and they are nowhere close to what they are today. My waist is about 6 inches bigger now! :amazed_ani: :o I used to think I was fat back then as well.:rollseyes_ani: I also find it annoying when I have to buy size 14 or 16's in different shops because it's irritating when you order stuff online.
I do think some people just gain weight easier than others as well and some people need/ want food more often than others. I've said before that my husband just eats one meal a day and never really gets hungry and he is thin but not what you would consider underweight looking.
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
I think it is what suits you. I am only 5 foot 3 so if i put i weigh i look strange, i suit being 8/10 but i know people that are slightly taller who are size 14/16 and they look wonderful. I dont think weight is important, it is how you feel and if you think you look good.
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
Did anyone else see that really interesting Horizon programme on a few weeks back 'Why Are Thin People Not Fat'. I think it is still on BBCiplayer here.
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(quote from
http://primetime.unrealitytv.co.uk/h...eople-not-fat/)
Horizon – the BBC’s flagship science strand – sets out to discover what is keeping these people thin. Are some people really able to consume as much as they like without becoming obese? If so, how do they do it?
Ten volunteers have agreed to eat double their normal intake of calories over four weeks to see how their bodies cope with a month-long chocolate, cake and fast-food frenzy.
The test is based on a 1967 experiment on Vermont State Prison inmates, in which medical researcher Ethan Simms recruited a group of prisoners to eat as much as they could until they had gained an extra 25 per cent of their original body weight. The reward was early release. Despite eating up to 10,000 calories per day, only six of the nine who took part succeeded. The experiment seemed to show that, however available and calorie-rich food is, not everyone will become overweight.
More than 40 years on, Horizon, with the help of Swedish scientist Fredrik Nystrom from the University of Linkoping, follows the volunteers over the course of the month to find out what is happening to the extra calories they are consuming, and why their bodies respond in such different ways.
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
^ Yes I think I saw it. It was interesting.:)
There was a part with an experiment with a class of schoolchildren and they had just eaten a big meal so they were all full up and they were all given a plate of chocolate/ junk food and it showed how some of them ignored it and some just carried on eating. My husband looked at me at that bit and said that I would be like the kids that keep on eating for no reason which is totally true!:o:rollseyes_ani:
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
I don't recall that bit, or any kids being in it - maybe it was a different programme? (Or I glazed over part-way through?)
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
It was definitely Horizon and something to do with people being thin/ overweight. I was telling my friend about it, maybe it's a series of programmes. (I clicked on your link and it was the same one I saw.)
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
Must have glazed over then! :o
eta actually I may have skim watched it and fast forwarded to the end.
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
I think perceptions of weight have been greatly skewed - health has been conflated with aesthetics.
For example, the government is running a campaign to warn people about the possible link between waist circumference/amount of fat stored in the abdomen, and potential health risks. Some have twisted this idea and taken it to mean that anyone (mostly referring to women of course:rolleyes::mad:) with a stomach that is not "hard," or with a stomach that is noticeably convex = unhealthy.
Similarly, the term "skinny fat," which some medical types use to describe people who are not fat, but not actually healthy, has been adopted to again to refer to any...bugger it...any WOMAN who isn't a "fattie," but isn't sufficiently "toned."
/rant. The things you learn from the vogue forums and women's magazines...:D
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
I have no idea what my "ideal" weight is. I've never known. I made the sad realization today during yoga that I've never been happy with my appearance- ever. Isn't that pathetic? I nearly burst into tears. Thankfully I was doing yoga alone in my tiny apartment. I don't know what to do anymore. Regardless of how little I eat or how much I exercise my weight just does not budge. I don't want to live a life of hating myself. I don't look at the magazines with the thin women on every page, but I simply cannot escape society's views on what is beautiful, healthy, or acceptable. I can't help but compare myself to others. While I don't give a F what people think of me, I cannot help but wonder if they say to themselves "wow, she's really let herself go" when they see recent photos of me. I'm totally lost at this point. Out of ideas, out of optimism, and out of energy.
:sad:
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
When I was your age TAB I felt pretty much the same - I'd kill for that figure now though! I wish I hadn't wasted so much of my life being unhappy about my weight. It's easier said than done though to put these ingrained feelings aside.
The Horizon programme concluded that each persons body has an idea of what its ideal weight should be and will battle to keep it at that, so if you are trying to be under or over that weight it will be a struggle. I think there is some truth to it as I've been sort of 'stuck' at certain weights regardless of how good or bad I've been with my food intake. But overeating consistently has made that weight creep up gradually til the next 'stuck' weight - for me that seems to be whatever stone plus two pounds (ie 9st2, 10st2, 11st2 (my current weight) etc. I've never been much above 14st2 . . . yet.
One thing everyone will tell you though - yoyo dieting makes you fatter in the long term. It may seem like a worthwhile price to pay for the figure you want now but it's surprising how quickly 20 years will pass and you'll still want to look good!
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
well I'm 5ft 5 (nearly) and I'm aiming for a weight of 8.5stone. that's the bottom weight supposedly recommended for my height. i've not been that size since 1996!
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
Quote:
cobweb
So i am now retrying the Paul McKenna approach of loving myself,
Ah, I always thought he was a bit of a w@nker..
x
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
:eek: @ Daffodil.
I know everyone is different but I'm 5ft3 and the lowest weight I ever was (since I was 15 and started getting on the scales) is 9 stone - and that was after lots of dieting (anyone recall the Beverly Hills diet?!)
I've given up any hope of attaining that sort of weight again unless I'm dying or dead! :D
By the way when I was 9 stone (in the mid-eighties) I was delighted to fit into a size 14! Now at 11ish stone I am wearing what is labelled a size 14 (skirts at least) again. I hadn't bought any new skirts for ages so it was a huge shock to have size 16 falling off me in the changing room.
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
Marrers that is because the sizes are getting bigger but the number on them is staying the same. My mum when she was my age 30 years ago wore a size 12. She had 35 inch hips, 27 inch waist and a 35 inch bust. I am a size 8 mainly sometimes a 6 or 10 HOWEVER I have 35 inch hips, 27 inch waist and 39 inch bust (I rarely wear tops with buttons but if I do I usually get away with a 10 anyway sometimes need a 12). So the sizes have gotten stupid. Vanity sizing is getting stupid. I have a top from ASDA that is supposed to be an 8 (my mum bought it knowing I’m an 8) and it’s too big even with my big boobs! I’m at a very healthy weight for my height and not a stick. The only reason I ever have to buy a size 6 is if they make the clothes too damn big to be the correct size.
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
Quote:
buttons
I think perceptions of weight have been greatly skewed - health has been conflated with aesthetics.
As sad as this sentiment is, I completely agree with you.
Honestly, I think only you can judge what is a healthy weight for yourself. Everyone is different and, as long as you're eating well and exercising at least somewhat regularly, I think that's all you need to be worried about. Don't judge by what it says on the scale, but rather by how healthy you are/feel.
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
My ideal weight... Well, after I dropped a ton of weight I was about 120 for a couple year. Then last summer I gained 10 pounds and haven't been able to lose it since. Half of me likes this weight and the other half wants to lose it around. I feel like my body wants to stay here, but I really want to get back into all those great clothes I bought!
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
Like most of the women in my family, I find it difficult to get clothes to fit as I'm 2 different sizes for my top and bottom. This is made more of a challenge because I have an hour glass waist and 60 inch circumference hips. Only Two inches of that is fat. I make most of my clothes to fit my shape. I'm just over 5'8" tall, yet when I've been asked how fat I percieve myself, I feel slender. But then I've been big all my life, so I have nothing else to compare it too.
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
Quote:
1gentlemaorispirit
Like most of the women in my family, I find it difficult to get clothes to fit as I'm 2 different sizes for my top and bottom. This is made more of a challenge because I have an hour glass waist and 60 inch circumference hips. Only Two inches of that is fat. I make most of my clothes to fit my shape. I'm just over 5'8" tall, yet when I've been asked how fat I percieve myself, I feel slender. But then I've been big all my life, so I have nothing else to compare it too.
And I thought it was hard for me to find clothes that fit since my bottom half's 2 or 3 sizes bigger than my top. At least you know how to make clothes! I wish I did. :) It's annoying how clothes are standardised to fit the 'average' body shape, yet for so many people they don't fit right becuse our bodies aren't that exact shape. :mad:
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
Even if you can't sew you can always get clothes altered mariana. If it is something of good quality which you really like it is probably worth the cost of getting a larger size taken in where needed.
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
Quote:
mariana
And I thought it was hard for me to find clothes that fit since my bottom half's 2 or 3 sizes bigger than my top. At least you know how to make clothes! I wish I did. :) It's annoying how clothes are standardised to fit the 'average' body shape, yet for so many people they don't fit right becuse our bodies aren't that exact shape. :mad:
In the news recently, clothes manufacturers are now making "in between" sizes, givng us sizes 12, 13, 14, 15 and so on.
I'm a size 20/22 on my top and 30/32 on my bottom half. When I've tried to but a matching skirts and tops in the past, with my appropriate sizes, I was told I'd have to buy the 20/22 as a set and the same for the 30/32, as they didn't sell them as individuals. So frustrating!
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
Quote:
Marrers
Even if you can't sew you can always get clothes altered mariana. If it is something of good quality which you really like it is probably worth the cost of getting a larger size taken in where needed.
I really should. My mom's always suggesting that. Most of the time it doesn't matter to much but it's always annoying when there's a huge gap at the waist (especially in jeans).
Quote:
1gentlemaorispirit
In the news recently, clothes manufacturers are now making "in between" sizes, givng us sizes 12, 13, 14, 15 and so on.
I'm a size 20/22 on my top and 30/32 on my bottom half. When I've tried to but a matching skirts and tops in the past, with my appropriate sizes, I was told I'd have to buy the 20/22 as a set and the same for the 30/32, as they didn't sell them as individuals. So frustrating!
Interesting on the in between sizes. Though that still probably wouldn't solve the different shapes problem.
Wow, that sounds frustrating, 1gms. It is annoying that they won't sell them separately.
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
Yeah, in my family we all have big hips, even my thinner sisters who would have a size 8 or 10 waist but have to wear size 13 because of the hips. My legs are quite tall and so I usually wear size 14-16, and can stretch the waist out in front of me by several inches, so I have no idea what my waist size is. LOL! My other sister has this problem too.
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
I've seen an xray of my hips and I know even my skeleton wouldn't achieve a size 0 :D
I managed to get down to 8.5 stone for 5'5" once and looked like I'd been in a concentration camp, other people look ok at that weight.
Women's magazines and dress sizes mean nothing to me - the only half way accurate scale is a weighing machine and a healthy weight chart then decide whether you look better at the top or bottom range of the healthy weight chart. My optimum look is 10 stone which might be too big for another person my height.
http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/healthydie...htweightchart/
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
Oh that chart i am over weight :dizzy: I am suppose to be 8 stone 2 ish and i weigh 8 stone 12. That is never gonna happen :D
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
Quote:
puffin
Oh that chart i am over weight :dizzy: I am suppose to be 8 stone 2 ish and i weigh 8 stone 12. That is never gonna happen :D
10 stone isn't going to happen either - not without several litres of lipo :D
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
Quote:
Hemlock
yep 5ft 5 and 8.5 stones is just on the OK border :)
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
Quote:
Hemlock
10 stone isn't going to happen either - not without several litres of lipo :D
Think i might lose a arm :D
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
according to that website 9st is my ideal weight, which is what my body was always happiest at, but last year i put on another stone or so and i haven't been able to get rid of it, i feel too heavy.
shame (but not surprising) that Food Standards Agency website pushes the usual myths about veg*n diets...
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Re: Perceptions of what is a healthy weight...
According to the chart, I'm in the healthy range. My BMI is like 20 or something. My sizes vary depending on where I buy clothes. But I've gained a couple stone in the past two years. Combination of a meal plan and two meds that cause weight gain... Grrrrrr. But I have always seen myself as overweight, though. Even with an underweight or normal BMI. :o
Right now, I'd like to lose a stone. To wear a US size 2/4 again. I do recognize that I have a very distorted view of my body and what's a healthy weight. :satisfied: I can't help but think that I used to be thin and now I obsess about how fat I am... I wonder why I just can't cope with being this size and weight. :rolleyes: