Differences (thin, toned, and skinny)

michellevaldez733

What is the difference when someone tells you your body looks "thinner and toned" compared to just looking "skinny".

mkakids

Thinner and toned, IMO, is when you can see some muscle definition. Skinny is small, but squishy.

michellevaldez733

Would you say thinner and toned is better? I've had so many people say I look a lot thinner and toned. However, I had ton of people tell I was skinny 6 months prior. Just confused and wanted some feed back.

mkakids

Personal preference. I like women with a good amount of muscle definintion and am working towards getting there myself. I like men who are strong, but honestly, i like a decent layer of fat over the muscle. I dont like the 'ripped' look on men.

lorrpb

It's just the way that person talks and says things.

arditarose

I hate the word toned, but I would prefer that someone thought I was that-yes. I'm really proud of my muscle definition.

middlehaitch

Ha! I am so glad you posted @arditarose as I was admiring your avatar in another thread and thinking as I read this we would make a good comparison.

@michellevaldez733 if you compare the avatars of arditarose and me, Arditarose is 'thinner and toned' (sorry) I am 'skinny'. She has visible muscle definition, I don't - I try really hard though.

Cheers, h.

tomteboda

It's difficult to analyze what any particular person means by using any particular word. "Skinny" might mean many things. I've heard it used to mean all of the following in no particular order:

1. You look quite slender
2. D*** you're hot!
3. You remind me of my favorite celebrity
4. I wish I weighed what you weigh
5. You are RIPPED!
6. I can see your muscles and bones!
7. I'm insanely jealous of you
8. You've clearly lost weight.
9. You look like a 10 year old boy
10. I'm a little worried you aren't well

Obviously some of those are positive, some are negative and knowing what some particular person means would require context of how they speak in general, how they think about appearance and weight, and their history with you. I REALLY wouldn't want to try to guess why someone uses the word "skinny" instead of "toned". Especially since outside of fitness circles "toned" often has no meaning at all.

Now being told you're "thinner and toned" is probably a lot less oblique. It's definitely a compliment and not ambiguous like "skinny" (doesn't carry the positive or negative emotional baggage) and would generally be used by someone who holds at least some value for physical fitness.

Either way, my rule of thumb is that one should generally accept compliments, however awkwardly given.

Orphia

Dang, that was a great post, @tomteboda !