Cultural differences in how weight/fitness level is perceive

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  • bethgames
    bethgames Posts: 534 Member
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    My husband is half Panamanian and half German. He is 6'1" and built thick with lots of muscle. I love it. I, on the other hand, am short (5'4") and 200lbs. He likes me a bit thinner (although he would never say so :flowerforyou: ) but not so as to lose my curves. I am Irish and English. Fair as the day is long. My first husband was also Irish and fair, but I was thin back then. Then came the weight and then came my son's father. He was African American and then my current husband who has to have some curves. I could care less about my own weight, but I am 45 years old and am feeling the strain of too much weight on too little a frame. Time to get serious to feel good! So if I look at the pattern.....yep, Black and Latino like 'em thicker.
  • ewells2420
    ewells2420 Posts: 75
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    Culturial differences. Nothing more.
  • alexandria412
    alexandria412 Posts: 177 Member
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    So glad other Asians chimed in on this. I may have a BMI of 20, a RHR of 64, and a BF% of 18...but I'm still outta luck when it comes to clothes shopping. womp womp.

    Also, thanks to love4fitness for posting that article. Was stoked to see that the author had (what I'm guessing to be) a Korean name ...was bummed to see folks broken down into white/black/hispanic.
  • ChitownFoodie
    ChitownFoodie Posts: 1,562 Member
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    For an Asian, I am considered fat. To the rest of the world, I am either fit, healthy or too skinny. I will never meet the expectations of society and honestly, I don't really care to. I actually recently went on a mission to gain weight starting at 94.5 pounds. To most of my Asian friends, I looked okay or I could lose a pound or two. Everyone else, on the other hand, said I looked creepishly skinny. So, instead of listening to everyone else, I picked a happy weight that I could live with.

    Yeah, it's crazy. There was a thread about asian perception of skinny/fat. It was ridiculous. When I'm in Japan, I look obese! Even though I'm 19% BF. All the women there are like a rail. Not really that great looking to me.

    My cousins that are full Filipino think I need to lose weight. When I go to the Philippines or any part of Asia, I feel HUGE. I wear a XS in the US, but when I bought a shirt in Taiwan, I ended up having to get a medium. My Japanese sister in law is an inch taller than me and weighs 10 pounds less than me. She even thinks she is fat. I will never win this battle, so I just try to be happy in my own skin.
  • catshark209
    catshark209 Posts: 1,133 Member
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    I'm so envious of those of you with big ol booties!!!!!
  • mnwalkingqueen
    mnwalkingqueen Posts: 1,299 Member
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    I agree that there are differences due to the difference in genetic make up ...but most of the instances you described just seem to me to be stereotypes of what different races PERCIEVE to be standard or "normal"

    I would agree with her comment so much. Having a bi-racial family my Africian American teenage son said "why are all white girls so thin it's gross." I think different cultures accept different looks as normal but I will say whiteand asian men never hit on me but all other races ask me out constantly.
  • catshark209
    catshark209 Posts: 1,133 Member
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    i think the percentage of fit girls i see is higher on white females
    and it sucks that i see no lean mean hispanic girls at the gym i go to..only whities..and there's nothing wrong with that :D

    I'm a lean mean Hispanic woman!
  • SlimSammy2012
    SlimSammy2012 Posts: 893
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    That is a great question! When I was younger I always went for the Very Thin and petite look on women. When I was married :explode: My wife had everything in the right places and wasn't petite or very thin. From that perspective it was something that was beautiful to me! Today, I look at the person in the Body suit not the Body suit, to a degree. I am a man you know! :bigsmile:

    If you have the eyes, then that's the most important thing for me today.

    I am Middle Eastern by Decent....
  • mznisaelaine
    mznisaelaine Posts: 2,262 Member
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    Guys of all race have hit on me at my smallest but not all at my heaviest. So I'm not too sure on that, but as I have experienced it seems most guys of all cultures/race were attracted to me when I was small (aroun 135)... At 175-195lbs.. Not really anyone
  • catshark209
    catshark209 Posts: 1,133 Member
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    That's it, I'm moving to Asia
  • SlimSammy2012
    SlimSammy2012 Posts: 893
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    That's it, I'm moving to Asia

    Funny!!!!
  • k8blujay2
    k8blujay2 Posts: 4,941 Member
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    I'm not Latina...I'm German and Polish....but I got those nice German birthin' hips. And a butt to match. I get SO many comments about my butt it's ridiculous. When I was bartending, we'd get a lot of Native Americans that would come in (a reservation is very close to this area) and I used to be told "Damn! Ain't never seen a butt like that on a white woman before! It must be the jeans!". I also got a LOT of comments from African American males about my butt. However....no matter how many stares or glances I got from white guys....my husband has been the ONLY one to ever comment on it.

    I definately think it's a cultural thing. I used to HATE my butt because of the comments I'd get (because cynically...I used to think they were making fun of me), but now I love it. Good thing it seems to be the "in" thing to have a curvy behind!!!

    Yeah, I've got the German birthin' hips (and butt to match too)... and I would get the comments too... it was usually kinda funny...
  • k8blujay2
    k8blujay2 Posts: 4,941 Member
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    I'm so envious of those of you with big ol booties!!!!!

    I'll give you some of mine... it's such a pain in the *kitten* (pun intended) to buy decent pants... :-/ I wish I got the tall skinny gene that my brother and all my cousins got... :-/
  • Farfourah
    Farfourah Posts: 899 Member
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    For certain! "hella bony" made me laugh, you must live in CA.
  • ChitownFoodie
    ChitownFoodie Posts: 1,562 Member
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    That's it, I'm moving to Asia

    LMAO! Everytime I am there I end up coming home 10 pounds lighter and with a "fat girl" complex.
  • catshark209
    catshark209 Posts: 1,133 Member
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    For certain! "hella bony" made me laugh, you must live in CA.

    Northern California lol.
  • chrissismone
    chrissismone Posts: 116 Member
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    Never been hit on by a white guy guess I don't fit their physical make up norm. I have been hit on by hispanic and black men. I try to notice the person that hits on me. Are they fit ? I do this because if they are then I take the hit more in a positive manner than someone who isn't because I look at them and think are you settling by trying to talk to me or maybe that is your preference. I feel all races should strieve for health which always looks good.
  • RunChinni
    RunChinni Posts: 149 Member
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    Yep.

    I'm Indian and well, you will see a massive difference in opinions across the country, from North to South. I am skinny when I visit my family in southern India and fat when I visit my family in Northern India. And Indians don't mince their words when it comes to calling you fat or skinny.

    "you are too fat. Lose some weight". "you are too thin, don't you get food in America? Here, eat some more" and they will plop a huge dollop of rice or whatever it is that's on the menu on that day.

    Ive been hit on by white, hispanic and african american men.I like the way I am and my husband does too. The rest don't count :-)
  • MrsGoHard
    MrsGoHard Posts: 150 Member
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    I just think it's interesting how much our different cultures really influence how we want to look!

    It sometimes is the attitude around us too. I remember being a toned size 14 in high school but thinking I was a WHALE because mostly everyone else was between a size 0-6. It wasn't until the first year of college that I thought I looked even half normal. lol

    great topic OP
  • JanineHarrison
    JanineHarrison Posts: 164 Member
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    I've always been curvy and have noticed some differences when being hit on, but I think even white guys are learning to love a booty now.

    When I used to work at a women's clothing/retail store I noticed that women make a lot of these distinctions too. Hearing different types of people comment when trying on clothes (it's amazing the things we say about our bodies to strangers), I could see how you may fit comments to certain sterotypes, though there are always exceptions to those.

    I also got one compliment (or at least i think it was) more often than I could count, which was "you got a really nice shape for a white girl". It had even gone so far a couple times that the commentor would have to confirm with friend with "hey so-and-so, come here...."

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