"But you're tall...."

amarie35

I'm 35 years old, 5'9" and I have 3 kids. According to my BMI, I've never weighed enough to be considered overweight (except when I was pregnant), but a few years ago, I was laid off from a high calorie burning job (creeling) of 10 years & got accustomed to a sedentary lifestyle. I gained almost 25 pounds. Although, I was still @ a healthy weight for my height, I didn't like the extra baggage I was carrying around.

Most times, when I would complain about my weight, I heard it all: 1. Well, you look great to have had 3 kids. 2. You don't look like you would weigh that much. 3. It must be because you are so tall. 4. You hide your weight well. 5. I hope I look as good as you do when I am your age.

Yes, I can get by with extra weight because of my height and I do have 3 kids but I don't want to be known for the person who looks good for their height or for having 3 kids or for even being 35. I want to look for me PERIOD! :happy:

ColeyCannoli

I'm with you! Though I'm only about 5'7" to 5'8" I get this too. I honestly don't like it... I think, as a girl at least, that being chunky and short is less noticeable cause they can still be considered "small" while I'm just a walking refrigerator But that's me.

This is why we do it for ourselves and our health and no one else! Cause it doesn't matter if they don't see it, we deserve to strive for our best too.

ColeyCannoli

happens to us guys too lol. at 6'2 i was at my fattest 292 i usually stayed around 280 and i'd hear oh well your tall like its acceptable to be fat because youre tall.. now at 255 i hear i'm getting skinny and i'm like i still have another 35 to lose

You know what I hear the most about guys? I hear that it's OK for you to be overweight because you are in fact, a guy. Huh? So...it's wrong for women to be overweight, but not men?

But back to the OP, my mom used to get something similar to that. She's 6 feet tall, and what people would tell her was that her goal weight was too low because her daughter (me) was her goal weight. Well, here's the thing. Her goal weight is 150. Yeah, I used to weigh 150, but I am 5'5" and at 150 I was FAAAAAAAAAT. I had no muscle tone at all, so I was wearing a size 16/18. They were just saying she didn't want to be 150 because someone shorter than she was 150, but in reality, I was clinically obese at the time.

I think when it comes to people's goals, others should just seriously mind their business. Anyone can reach any goal they have, regardless of anything else. Shoot, when I was at my heaviest of 191, people told me I would never even get below 150 pounds. And here I am at 138.

Congratulations! You look great!

itzamos

I don't get this - I've often thought of shorter rounder women as cute-looking, but when I myself am overweight I'm just... large. Like she-hulk or something.

Limeinthecoconut

I don't get this - I've often thought of shorter rounder women as cute-looking, but when I myself am overweight I'm just... large. Like she-hulk or something.

Agreed. I do catch myself thinking that if I was shorter, I would be able to fit into smaller jeans and that my height was the reason I had to wear the bigger sizes. Not so! Im 5'10. I was pushing size 14 (American size 10) and can now fit into a 9 (5). I never thought my "big hips" would let me wear anything smaller than a 12! So it's not about how tall you are.

ybba12490

YESS UGHH!!! I'm 5'11'' and so my weight is pretty stretched out. I weigh about 210 now and everyone guesses I weight about 140-170... uhh NO! Whenever I mention I'm chunky they just say, "no, you're tall"

Glad you posted this and that I'm not the only one!

123nikki123

I'm a tall one too! Standing at 5'11 and whenever I mention to my friends that I want to lose weight they laugh at me and tell me that I'll be a stick...wouldn't they be shocked to find out! Perhaps my whole problem with my weight loss is thinking that I don't need to when in fact I know I do...I'm believing what I'm hearing...I better start listening to myself.

SuperStorm

OMG Y'all are killing me! LOL
I LOVE reading all of these responses! I could not stop laughing because I totally feel the same way! So glad I'm not alone in the world!
All y'all tall folks are a-okay in my book

EmpressOfJudgment

So let me get this straight. You tall people are complaining that you look a lot thinner than you actually are? Oh, boo hoo. I feel SO SORRY for you! What a rough life. :P

blobby10

At 5ft 9" I feel quite short after reading some of these posts! But I had the same only last week. And yes, we might look slimmer because we are tall, but it doesn't stop the health worries if our waist is too big to fit in our jeans, or if our hips are too big to fit in the same jeans we could wear only 6 months ago!

After 20 years of feeling a failure because I couldn't get down to 10 stones (154lbs) I decided I was happy at 11st as I was a sporty build and quite muscly. Now I've had 3 children (youngest is nearly 11) I'm not happy being 12 stones and much less sporty/muscly, especially as I got back down to 11 in the 2 years after the youngest was born! :ohwell:

So whilst I agree that those taller people among us are lucky not to show any weight gain as quickly as someone less tall, it doesn't mean we don't deserve to try and lose any excesses we have built up! And we still deserve to be proud of our successes just as anyone else should be!!

B x

juliecat1

I have always been thankful for my height - 5 11 - since it did spread the fat around nicely. But, kind of what someone else said - sometimes I feel like she woman! I see stats on football players or fighters and they look HUGE but theyre my size. Or, my old size anyways. Makes me shudder. But, well all be tall, skinny and rockin tall lean bodies!