Healthy vs Skinny

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  • turbojanem
    turbojanem Posts: 285
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    LOVE this topic. i chose health. to me, health means eating a well balanced, colorful eating plan. colorful fruits and veggies, whole grains, lean meats, no processed foods (foods out of bags and boxes...except brown pasta and rice). i've given up the sodas, sugar free and fat free foods. again, colorful and well balanced. i have been doing this pretty consistently since the end of April. i have dropped 25 pounds since then.

    i also consider my purposeful movement (exercise) as part of my healthy lifestyle plan. purposeful movements from my Turbo Jam DVD's that i started on July 12th (and have lost 20 pounds and over 20 inches!) and soon my ChaLEAN Extreme DVD's. as well as my new walk to run program. in addition to my exercising, i have purposefully added other things to my daily life. i park away from everything i am doing. this gives me more steps in my daily life. if i can walk through the mall, i can walk through the parking lot too. more steps equals better health. i also started using the bathroom on the second floor of our home. working from home, this gives me many times up and down the steps each day.

    i chose a healthy lifestyle. the scales have been hanging out around 145 +/- since October 5th. i'm okay with that. my goal back in July was 135. here's the scoop. i continue to eat well balanced meals. i continue to exercise 4-6 times a week for 45-75 minutes. the scales aren't moving. BUT as of today, my size 10 jeans that i got 2 weeks ago, are almost on the loose side. definitely fitting better than when i got them TWO weeks ago! TWO weeks. its a mind game...the scales aren't moving, but i go to put on my pants/skirts, and they are loose!

    i'm okay with my weight where it is. i feel GREAT, have energy, shinny hair, strong nails, clear skin.... all signs of good health from the inside out.

    a healthy lifestyle is body mind and soul. life feels better now that it has in most of my adult life. and i'm 43! i pray that all will choose health and not skinny.

    cheering everyone on to a healthy lifestyle!
    Jane
  • emott84
    emott84 Posts: 108
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    I think it's all about mindsets. We have been conditioned to think that "Skinny" = Healthy/Desirable/Attractive. But I think there's are better words to use. Slender, slim, toned, athletic. All those words carry much more positive connotations to me in comparison to "skinny".

    If you asked me this question 5 or 10 years ago, I would have said - I WANT TO BE SKINNY! But I didn't have a clear understanding then of what my body was, and what healthy was. I still have my moments where I imagine myself wanting to be incredibly thin, and often times (especially when trying on clothes, lol) I still have very unhealthy thoughts about my body image. But it's better than it used to be, which is all I can ask for.

    Two years ago, I had moved to the UK to teach. I returned home for Christmas four months later and was nearly 20-25 pounds lighter. Everyone said that I looked so skinny, so healthy, so good. I was the opposite of healthy. My immune system had taken a huge hit, and had been fighting chest infections for several months and hadn't been eating properly. What a message to get: I was skinnier, but completely in ill-health. But people still equated my slimness with "looking good".

    I will never be stereotypically "skinny". But I know I can be healthier. I can't make excuses for my body anymore. I don't know where my healthy lifestyle will take me, weight-wise. But I learned a valuable lesson two years ago: Two weeks of being told I was "skinny and pretty" was not worth the three months of illness to get to that point.

    I choose healthy. If healthy-me turns out to be quite slender, awesome. But if I feel healthy and toned at size 10/12, that may be just what my body is meant to be! We'll see!

    Great post topic, btw!
  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
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    Like everyone else said, things vary a lot.

    Back in my serious weight lifting days, I was pretty healthy "looking" very muscular and fairly low body fat %. BUT I didnt have that great a cardio base at all. I could still go out and run a few miles, but I woud feel it. I ate everything and anything in sight.

    Now I haven't touched a weight seriously in 5 years, but I run a ton so my cardio base is great, and probably still have the same body fat %(maybe a hair lower). I eat much more healthy and still do some bodyweight exercises to keep some strength, but I would certainly say I am more healthy now than before.
  • HealthyChanges2010
    HealthyChanges2010 Posts: 5,831 Member
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    bump to read later
  • Niveous
    Niveous Posts: 294 Member
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    My ultimate goal is to be healthy and feel healthy. Along the same lines, being healthier does mean that I will be slimmer (considering I am overweight now and that is not healthy for me), but it is not my main focus in the least. Ultimately, most of my focus is on purposeful exercise, feeding my body high quality nutritious food, getting plenty of rest, and taking care of myself.
  • jnthnlee
    jnthnlee Posts: 5
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    I've been SUPER skinny my whole like up until about 2 years ago i was 5'9 and 105lbs.. i couldn't gain weight and ate anything and everthing.. well turning 23 changed that i guess i gained almost 40lbs in those two years.. which wouldn't have been a problem if it wasn't all fat .. on my belly!!! so i'm about 133 now trying to get the fat off then put the muscle on.. so i'm not really worried about how much i weigh i just can't stand this fat on my stomach.. it was never there before and i knew i had to do something about it or it'd keep going bigger.. so yeah i know i'm already thin.. but i need to lose this fat.. and yeah i'm a thin person even now but i don't think its unhealthy to try and lose the fat.. because thats just what it is.. losing fat.. not weight.. i'm going to be skinny and healthy.. cause there IS a such thing.. when i was about 17 i was about 5'7 and 95lbs.. my mom took me to the doctor to see why.. he said it was all in my genes that i was perfectly healthy
  • HealthyChanges2010
    HealthyChanges2010 Posts: 5,831 Member
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    I've been SUPER skinny my whole like up until about 2 years ago i was 5'9 and 105lbs.. i couldn't gain weight and ate anything and everthing.. well turning 23 changed that i guess i gained almost 40lbs in those two years.. which wouldn't have been a problem if it wasn't all fat .. on my belly!!! so i'm about 133 now trying to get the fat off then put the muscle on.. so i'm not really worried about how much i weigh i just can't stand this fat on my stomach.. it was never there before and i knew i had to do something about it or it'd keep going bigger.. so yeah i know i'm already thin.. but i need to lose this fat.. and yeah i'm a thin person even now but i don't think its unhealthy to try and lose the fat.. because thats just what it is.. losing fat.. not weight.. i'm going to be skinny and healthy.. cause there IS a such thing.. when i was about 17 i was about 5'7 and 95lbs.. my mom took me to the doctor to see why.. he said it was all in my genes that i was perfectly healthy
    Nothing wrong with getting rid of body fat, Kudos to you for wanting to be healthy and fitter! Perhaps strength training might help you gain definition if that's what you're looking for.

    Some ppl are simply 'particularly skinny' naturally, they can't gain weight no matter what they eat or how hard they try. I think for some of those ppl it's as tough a battle as it is for us that have dealt with being overweight.
  • HealthyChanges2010
    HealthyChanges2010 Posts: 5,831 Member
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    My ultimate goal is to be healthy and feel healthy. Along the same lines, being healthier does mean that I will be slimmer (considering I am overweight now and that is not healthy for me), but it is not my main focus in the least. Ultimately, most of my focus is on purposeful exercise, feeding my body high quality nutritious food, getting plenty of rest, and taking care of myself.

    I was going to make a post but I like yours and it fits me nearly to a T:drinker: :flowerforyou: :wink:

    Though I've lost the weight I was looking to lose to be back at a more normal/healthy weight it's always been my goal to get healthy again, not 'skinny' but to get to that place I feel my body is healthy at. To not be so tired and worn out & sad but feel strong and have tons of energy.:wink:

    Now this is simply my own head that has these terms in it but in my mind the word 'skinny' has always equated with weakness, I imagine that got in my head from school or something growing up? (I'm not sure where we gather our beliefs from, could be any source I suppose). Just as for some they might equate overweight with lazy. I've never thought of overweight ppl as lazy perhaps because I never saw myself as lazy when overweight merely using the weight to cover pain and create that invisibility factor. (yea right! But strangely one does become invisible to others in stores and such when reaching a certain point)
  • Delicate
    Delicate Posts: 625 Member
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    I just associate skinny with the negative connotation of being underweight or looking unhealthy.

    I would rather be told i look healthy rather than skinny.

    My Goal has always been to get within a healthy weight range for my hormones to regulate especially with pcos.
  • edorice
    edorice Posts: 4,519 Member
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    I prefer to be healthy and fit. I'm never going to be Taylor Swift skinny and I really don't want to be. I just want to be the best me that I can be.
  • GiGi76
    GiGi76 Posts: 876 Member
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    Bump!
  • wyze
    wyze Posts: 248
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    I really love the honesty on this post. Thanks guys. I started this topic out of curiosity cos i kept stumbling on skinny posts, and hearing people say lets get skinny. I mean honestly we all want to be slim and have hot bodies, but those posts just made me curious as to what people really felt about the issue. Thanks again for being honest

    I just want to say that whatever your goal is, kudos for trying. Ours is not to judge, but to encourage.
  • Kate_UK
    Kate_UK Posts: 1,299 Member
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    I'll never be conventionally skinny. I'm a 5ft 9.5 female, with what my grandmother would call 'good child bearing hips' I'm 154lbs (11stone) with a BMI of 22 and I'm physically fitter than I've even been (although not very fit at all compared to some of the hard core gym bunnies).
    Skinny means so many different things to different people. When I say I'd love to be skinny, I mean I'd love to have a tiny waist, it doesn't mean that I don't want my curves to counter balance that though! Of course theres skinny, and there's skinny, but in reality most of us know the difference between wanting to look skinny and wanting to look annarexic. So when I say I want to be skinny I actually mean I want to be lean, toned and healthy. Of course if I had a wasp waist I wouldnt complain either:wink: ......but with my frame thats not physically possible
  • BoresEasily
    BoresEasily Posts: 582
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    LOVE this topic. i chose health. to me, health means eating a well balanced, colorful eating plan. colorful fruits and veggies, whole grains, lean meats, no processed foods (foods out of bags and boxes...except brown pasta and rice). i've given up the sodas, sugar free and fat free foods. again, colorful and well balanced. i have been doing this pretty consistently since the end of April. i have dropped 25 pounds since then.

    i also consider my purposeful movement (exercise) as part of my healthy lifestyle plan. purposeful movements from my Turbo Jam DVD's that i started on July 12th (and have lost 20 pounds and over 20 inches!) and soon my ChaLEAN Extreme DVD's. as well as my new walk to run program. in addition to my exercising, i have purposefully added other things to my daily life. i park away from everything i am doing. this gives me more steps in my daily life. if i can walk through the mall, i can walk through the parking lot too. more steps equals better health. i also started using the bathroom on the second floor of our home. working from home, this gives me many times up and down the steps each day.

    i chose a healthy lifestyle. the scales have been hanging out around 145 +/- since October 5th. i'm okay with that. my goal back in July was 135. here's the scoop. i continue to eat well balanced meals. i continue to exercise 4-6 times a week for 45-75 minutes. the scales aren't moving. BUT as of today, my size 10 jeans that i got 2 weeks ago, are almost on the loose side. definitely fitting better than when i got them TWO weeks ago! TWO weeks. its a mind game...the scales aren't moving, but i go to put on my pants/skirts, and they are loose!

    i'm okay with my weight where it is. i feel GREAT, have energy, shinny hair, strong nails, clear skin.... all signs of good health from the inside out.

    a healthy lifestyle is body mind and soul. life feels better now that it has in most of my adult life. and i'm 43! i pray that all will choose health and not skinny.

    cheering everyone on to a healthy lifestyle!
    Jane

    Hear hear! Everything you said is bang on the mark as far as I'm concerned.

    For me someone said this in a forum a little while back and it's exactly what I want as well. I want my body to do what I tell it to do when I tell it to do it. If I need to jump, my body jumps, if I need to run my body breaks into a run, If I need to climb I naturally start climbing. I don't want to be limited. I want to do what I want/need to do whenever I want/need to do it.
  • BoresEasily
    BoresEasily Posts: 582
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    Also I would much rather use body fat % than weight or BMI. I'm at a healthy everything but I could definitely lose 5-10% body fat for sure, but I won't kill myself to do it.
  • ironmule2042
    ironmule2042 Posts: 103
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    I am definitely more concerned with being healthy over being skinny. That being said losing weight is part of being healthy but I also want to improve my strength and endurance as well. Both of which have gotten better since I started this lifestyle.

    I'll also admit there is a little bit of vanity involved as well. I want to look good and part of that is keeping the weight off. The other part will be muscle tone and such but that part I have yet to achieve. :-)
  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
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    This kind of confusion came up in the “guys prefer heavier girls” thread.

    When I hear the word “skinny” I think of a healthy thin build. I don’t think of an overly thin, bones showing build. That’s “too skinny”.

    That said I think a person can have a “skinny” build and look normal & healthy but not have any cardio stamina or anything. And you could have a person with a heavier build be in great cardio condition. So there’s really no one description to fit everyone.
  • yanicka
    yanicka Posts: 1,004 Member
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    Before my last pregnancy, I would have said I didn't care all that much about the healthy part, I wanted to look hot. Now after having to deal with high blood pressure and diabetes induced by pregnancy, knowing that I have a strong family pre dispositon, it made me really know what it is to be sick. Having to test your blood sugar 4 times a day, inject insuline and feel really awfull because of high blood pressure ... I really do not want to deal with that again.

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