When did healthy become skinny?

Pirate1974

This morning I read an email that my mother sent me. She asked, "what size shirt do you wear now skinny man?". I have been working on losing weight and living healthier for over a year now. She has seen me sweaty after Insanity workouts and knows I am trying to eat better on a consistent basis. I only see her about twice a year but she is one of my biggest supporters and is always complimenting me on my dedication to exercise and eating right so I was not offended by any means when she said this. However, as I was thinking about the comment, I began thinking about skinny, healthy, overweight. I was overweight before. I weighed probably 40 pounds more than I should have. Now, I am getting very close to a healthy BMI and she sees me as "skinny". I am not sure why I am composing this post other than her comment really made me think....I have lost the weight, am healthier than I have been and in a better target weight range and she (and others) thinks I am now skinny. Is healthy now skinny and overweight now seen as healthy?

Good luck to everyone as you continue to work towards your goals, whatever they are.

aoede

How big is your mother, if you don't mind me asking? I had a phone conversation with my sister the other day and told her I was exercising, and she wanted to know why. She said I did not need to lose weight. I have put on about 9 kilos in the past 2 years and don't feel or look as good as I used to, plus I am pretty unfit and a few months back could not even play an hour of badminton without being exhausted, so she is plain wrong. I thought perhaps it is because she is on the heavier side herself, and this might help her solve her cognitive dissonance over not doing anything about her own weight.

I only ever use skinny to mean unhealthy if I say 'too skinny'. I would not see it as an insult or that she means unhealthy...it might just be to contrast you now (skinny) to what you were before (overweight). I definitely do not think overweight is healthy and don't believe society does either.

pandabear_

I think skinny in this instance has been used as an ego boost.

But I understand what you mean, people see models as healthy and role models when their "skinny" is dangerous!

McKayMachina

She probably doesn't mean "skinny" like you mean it. I'll call people "skinny" as a compliment. But a friend of mine is very thin and he hears "skinny" as a jab, as he's sensitive about it. Seems everyone has their own definition.

Sounds like she's using it as a term of endearment.

Congrats!

moushtie

Don't overthink it. It was probably meant as a compliment, to make you smile.

Also, she may not share your perception that skinny is thinner than healthy. Maybe they mean the same thing to her.

gritgirl

healthy can be any size. i was 135 pounds at 5'4" tall for many years and frankly i was too skinny. 150 or 160 would be better for me. it's all about have good levels of cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar and other things, not how much you weigh. my yoga instructor is physically bigger than me but she sure can twist and she's healthy.

i've never wanted to be a size 2 (thank God). i only want to be healthy.

Kristhin

I think most people have a skewed vision of skinny and healthy because they don't realize how overweight they are and they see others as normal sized since most of America suffers from obesity.

dsjohndrow

Healthy is eating right, and exercising. If skinny is a byproduct, than great! A reasonable amount of nutritious food, and 90 minutes of cardio a week is enough; more is not a problem.

It is a fact that our culture exercises less, eats more, and eats more junk than most others. The normal diet is not sugar, fat, salt and preservatives. I am concerned about all the processed low-cal foods. Many of them are no healthier than their high-cal counterparts.

Just keep on working at it. If you are pushing harder to lose weight, just make sure you can maintain it after you reach your goal.

For me, I want to get off my BP meds, and keep my heart healthy and with a 60 lb loss I am half way there. I suffered congestive heart failure, and the fact that I had been exercising for 2 months, and was down about 20 lbs, saved my life.

Good luck!

donbet69

Interesting POV. My doctor has been very impressed with my dedication and my loss of 50+ lbs to date. However, he did say I should lose maybe 10 more and stop. That would bring me to about 195. All these crazy sites estimate my goal weight to be anywhere from 125 to 169 which I think is ridiculous.

Does even the medical profession accept overweight as a "normal" condition now?

bry_all01

for me skinny does not equate to being healthy, but that is how I've heard the word used toward me in my smaller days, which was in a negative connotation. It was often followed with "I want to force-feed you a sandwich."

These days, I am happily healthy and because of my past never want to be called "skinny" again.

In this instance, I completely think your mom meant it in the nicest, most sincere and positive possible way.

bcattoes

You certainly know your mother better than I, but maybe she thought she was paying you a compliment in a silly way?? "skinny" can mean a lot of different things. I see posts on here all the time from people saying "I don't want to be skinny", but when I was young (many, many moons ago), skinny was what we strived for. Not emaciated, of course, but if someone said you looked skinny, you said 'thanks!".

My question would be, when did skinny start being considered unhealthy? So many people seem to think that if you don't spend hours in the gym developing muscles you need for nothing other than lifting stuff in the gym, you aren't healthy.

Pnewt

I guess "skinny" became healthy when we became at risk for diabetes, heart disease, stroke, joint problems, respiratory problems...?

MThurs

I agree with the comment that stated that she probably was meaning it as a term of endearment for you.

I also totally understand what you are talking about in general. I have a friend who had set out to get into a healthy weight range and take control of his bad eating habits - he joined Weight Watchers and really lost weight and began looking wonderful. However, many family and friends began to pick at him saying, "You're too thin", and "Are you sick".

I also find that alot of times it's my heavier friends and family who start that slightly negative jab of sarcasm and it's more of a reflection of their failure than your success.

In your case your mama was being sweet - skinny!
Marni

27strange

"Skinny" sure does have a lot of different connotations. It can be a compliment, it can be an insult. All in the eyes of the beholder and the receiver and how it is stated. If someone says, "wow! you are looking skinny" then I would take this as a compliment. I don't want to be skinny, I want to be fit. I think Trim, Fit, Thin are better descriptive words than Skinny.

darsh11

I love when my mom calls me skinny. She sees where I was and just how far I come and I am not even close to my goal yet. As far as BMI it does not factor in a persons muscle mass, family history, or bone structure. I talked with my doctor about BMI and he said this is just a range. It is an average, but some people will be below the average and some people will be above the average and still be healthy.

skinnyinnotime

I think most people have a skewed vision of skinny and healthy because they don't realize how overweight they are and they see others as normal sized since most of America suffers from obesity.

Exactly what I was thinking...it's getting like this in the UK now too.

wickedcricket

It's scary. We've become a nation of large people. If you look at pics of a crowd in 1940 or 1950 most everyone was average size. Not large, not small. You'll of course see some large and very thin ppl in the crowd but the biggest thing I've noticed is that very heavy ppl stand out in old pics. We used to be a country of hard working, healthy people. Not anymore. Now everybody just wants to sit around and eat.
Now thin ppl are in the minority. I'd like to see this reversed

Silverkittycat

I think most people have a skewed vision of skinny and healthy because they don't realize how overweight they are and they see others as normal sized since most of America suffers from obesity.

I agree.

Bankman1989

I went to my doctor and mentioned I wanted to lose about 50 pounds. I was at 237 at the time and my goal was to get down to 187 or so pounds. At 5'10 that would still be overweight for my size. She told me that I am extremely healthy and she didn't see how it was even possible for me to do that unless I lost muscle.

I weigh about 210-215 with goals of getting my body fat down to 5-7% to start competing in bodybuilding again. I eat healthy and workout almost every day. I have never been nor will I ever be skinny.

It seems like your mom was giving you a compliment. I have two brothers that are "skinny'. They are extremely unhealthy. One has kidney failure the other has a pacemaker and is only 41.

Skinny doesn't mean healthy. Healthy means healthy. I don't own a scale and could care less about how much I weigh. I know if I eat bad or don't exercise I feel bad. I also know when I get compliments I need to work even harder.

Keep up the GREAT work!

foxxybrown

I posted almost the same exact thing the other week as a status. I asked was skinny the new average like thick is the new fat. My niece told me I was skinny as a rail at 150 lbs. Ummm, I don't think so.

Pancake86

I had the same problem when i lost weight, people calling me skinny, and saying i was to skinny, i think its just there so used to seeing you a certain way. But i always say when i was bigger you didnt go around calling me fatty so what right do you have calling me skinny. Like you can't win.