is being skinny worth it?

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Replies

  • RobynMWilson
    RobynMWilson Posts: 1,540 Member
    #1....I sure as h*ll don't eat diet foods!
    #2...Sometimes I don't feel like working out, but I give it 10 minutes and ALWAYS feel better afterward!
    #3...I love that I can do things that kids half my age can't!
    #4...I love that I don't look my age!
    #5...I prefer eating real food than chemical slop. I don't know what's enjoyable about feeling sick and lethargic all the time!
    #6...I love that I have less aches and pains and less medical issues than your average 40 year old.
    #7...I'm strong and healthy, NOT skinny.

    AND IT'S SOOOOOO WORTH IT!!
  • Sul3i
    Sul3i Posts: 553 Member
    Is changing your life to be fit and feel beautiful, worth it?

    this is from nerdfitness and its the best go to there ever was.

    Read the whole thing or prove you already dont care enough to follow through.



    It will require commitment and dedication.

    It will require you to say “no” sometimes.

    It will require sacrifice.

    It won’t be quick.

    It won’t be easy.

    It won’t be fun all of the time

    Your friends will laugh at you for doing things differently.

    Your coworkers will gawk and poke fun at your new eating habits.

    Your loved ones will call you crazy and ask you to “be normal.”

    You will have to change some habits.

    You will want to give up.

    You will want to go back to bed.

    You will want to say “eh, good enough.”

    And you will ask yourself: “is it really worth it?”


    You’re damn right is is.

    You will feel great when you set a new record for push ups.

    You will let out a rebel yell when doing your first pull up.

    You will feel awesome running faster this week than last week.

    You will be amazed at how far you’ve come when looking at old pictures.

    You will feel good when people ask “have you been working out?”

    You will smile when your kids say “I want to be strong like you!”

    You will be surprised when people come to you for fitness advice.

    You will feel pride when you look at yourself in the mirror.

    You will go to sleep knowing that you’re a better person today than you were yesterday.

    It is worth it.

    Loved that! Soo true!
  • taylorwaylor
    taylorwaylor Posts: 417 Member
    Ohh yes...society has a terrible perseption of how a woman needs to look...I hate it! But we were born into it...I hate it, because i feel like the only way i can be happy is to be skinny....However, i do not restrict myself, i just changed my eating habits to eat healthier and it stuck, and i love it. I also lift now! I love it, and i have seen good results...So "starving yourself" is not worth it...but eating more to weight less is! And i do wish that i could eat whatever and have the perfect body! But exersizing is my new hobby and i do like it lots....even if i cant convince myself to get off my butt some days:)
  • honeysprinkles
    honeysprinkles Posts: 1,757 Member
    I see a lot of people saying it's not worth it just to be skinny but it is to be healthy, I think that mindset can really depend on where you're at or your starting point. I'm already healthy, there probably won't be a lot of benefits health-wise to me losing another 20lb. but it wouldn't be unhealthy either. Healthy is so subjective anyways, what does it even mean? being able to do a certain amount of push ups, run a mile, good blood work, clean diet, etc? (that's a rhetorical question, not actually looking for an answer).

    I think a lot of people feel the need to justify wanting to lose weight by saying they're doing it to be healthier because they feel that it's not okay to admit that it's for vanity reasons. I know that's not the case with everyone who says that, but I have a suspicion that it applies to more than want to admit it.

    I think you are looking at it incorrectly. Of course people want to lose weight to feel great about themselves. But no one loses 100+ pounds for vanity. They do it for health. They do it because the doctor says if they don't then they will die early. A doctor doesn't say, Oh, lose 100 pounds so you look banging in those jeans. Most people aren't on MFP to lose vanity pounds. A majority of people are doing it for health or future health.

    Like I said in my reply, I would be lying if I didn't say I didn't care about the way I will look 100 pounds lighter, but I'm not striving to fit into a pair of skinny jeans. I'm striving to not have a heart attack before 30 (and it's happened to 1 classmate already and we just celebrated our 10 year high school reunion) or have diabetes (I have friends 28-32 that have diabetes) or heart disease (a friends sister died of heart disease at 37) I don't want to become so out of control that I have to use a wheelchair at the stores or become immobile.
    That's exactly why I mentioned that it depends on where you're at or you're starting point... I'm sure most people losing large amounts of weight are doing it to become healthier and not skinny.
  • Trechechus
    Trechechus Posts: 2,819 Member
    I don't eat diet foods and I'm not "skinny." I'm healthy and physically fit, and yes, I prefer it to my days of eating **** and being fat and having no energy. I am now more suited for my plans of taking over the world.
  • Cranktastic
    Cranktastic Posts: 1,517 Member
    No
  • n0ob
    n0ob Posts: 2,390 Member
    I will have failed at all my aesthetic goals for fitness if I get classified as skinny (hit me with the sarcasm friends).
  • arlenem1974
    arlenem1974 Posts: 437 Member
    I think, if I were eating foods I didn't like, or if I were doing exercises I didn't like, then I would feel a lot more bitter about it all. But I am making sure that I am doing this in a way that I DO like, so that I'm not overwhelmed with feeling like I'm just trying to fit a number that society says I should be.

    I couldent agree more
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    Honestly, I DO want to be skinny. I want that delicate, waify look that the woman who plays Mary on Downton Abby has. I'll never have such a small chest, but I love her arms and shoulders and waist and collarbones. I don't want to be unhealthy-skinny, but I want to be skinny.

    But still, I know I can get there without starving myself or eating things I don't like or being generally miserable.
  • arlenem1974
    arlenem1974 Posts: 437 Member
    really, is it worth all the time and effort that women put into eating foods they don't really love, exercising when they'd rather not, and just not being truly happy to be "skinny?"

    I believe you can lose weight eating foods you like and do the exercises you want to do.

    Thats what I do and I have lost 26 LBS in 3 months.
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
    I will have failed at all my aesthetic goals for fitness if I get classified as skinny (hit me with the sarcasm friends).


    Great job with your efforts not to be classified as skinny!! I wish you nothing but success in all your fitness and health goals.*

    *(c) DrMerc 2012. All rights reserved. Use of this phrase without express permission of DrMerc is prohibited. (PS: DrMerc is remarkably encouraging and supportive. You should send him a PM and a FR. You're welcome.)


    Edit: to eliminate likely strike bait.
  • mfpcopine
    mfpcopine Posts: 3,093 Member
    So, we're still joking about one of the worst atrocities to ever occur in human history?



    Good to know.

    Google "Godwin's Law." It's Web 101-level information.
  • mfpcopine
    mfpcopine Posts: 3,093 Member

    :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:


    ETA:

    Wait! Wouldn't that mean end thread? :laugh:

    das ist richtig...

    18. Please Post In English On The Main Forums

    Because we need to ensure that our English-speaking moderator team can properly understand and evaluate all posts, we request that all posts on the Main Forums are made in English. If you wish to post in a different language, we encourage you to join a language-specific group.


    My Sarkasmus detector is down. That was a joke right? "Das ist richtig." means "That's right."
  • n0ob
    n0ob Posts: 2,390 Member
    I will have failed at all my aesthetic goals for fitness if I get classified as skinny (hit me with the sarcasm friends).


    Great job with your efforts not to be classified as skinny!! I wish you nothing but success in all your fitness and health goals.*

    *(c) DrMerc 2012. All rights reserved. Use of this phrase without express permission of DrMerc is prohibited. (PS: DrMerc is remarkably encouraging and supportive. You should send him a PM and a FR. You're welcome.)


    Edit: to eliminate likely strike bait.

    Dr. Merc refused to be my friend (runs away sobbing )...
  • Heck yeah it's worth it! I used to be 200 pounds, down to 134 now. I NEVER, EVER want to be overweight or obese again. I could hardly walk up hills and I always felt crappy about myself.
    You don't have to eat foods you don't like and you don't have to work yourself to death. Eat foods you enjoy. If there is a dish you love, but know it's calorie death, then fix up the recipe so it works. I eat pizza, pasta, cookies...whatever I want and I make it work. Eat the veggies you like, eat the fruits that you like. No reason to punish yourself with foods you find yucky.

    Is it worth it to stay fat? Is it worth it to get a host of diseases associated with being at an unhealthy weight? Is it worth it to shorten your lifespan and leave you family behind because you were lazy and fat? I don't think so.
  • mnmomto4
    mnmomto4 Posts: 97 Member
    The first time I did my weight loss journey I lost over 80 lbs. I did it to be skinny and to find a man. I found a wonderful one and have been happily married for 5 years. Well marriage and two kids later I gained a good portion of that back. I think it may have been because I wanted to be skinny and attractive, the wrong reasons for doing it. Now it is the 2nd time around and I am doing it to be healthy and to be around for my childrens weddings, my future grand kids, and hopefully maybe even great grand kids. Maybe this will be enough motivation to keep it off this time around.
  • JustineMarie21
    JustineMarie21 Posts: 437 Member
    I used to always want to be thin, when I was a teenager I was influenced by other kids at school and all the fashion magazines. It led to me being unhappy and doing the starve/binge/purge thing. I put on a tonne of weight when I was 15 and stopped throwing up. After that I always wanted to be thin, and kept on trying crazy diets and fasts intermittently until I was 20 (they never worked). Then at that point I stopped caring about my weight and started going out every weekend, and picked up some bad habits which led me become underweight without me trying. It's a bit odd because all the female friends were giving compliments, saying they were jealous, but all the males that I knew were saying I was unattractive. I thought I looked amazing wearing clothes, but then when I had just hopped out of the shower and looking in the mirror I would think I needed maybe a bigger butt or bigger boobs. I never felt 100% happy with how I was. Especially when at my lowest weight and I could see my ribs too easily. When I sucked in my stomach and stood sideways to the mirror it just looked grim. I slowly put weight back on once I had stopped partying every weekend and got a desk job, then I decided to get into health, and finally I have felt like I have broken away from the feeling of having to eat a certain amount and be a certain size. Food is now fuel, it is not the enemy. I no longer feel jealous of people who say they have dieted to be smaller then me as I feel there is more importance to strength and fitness rather than size.
    So to summarize - I believe there will always be a pressure on people to conform to the current fashion, but it is possible to break out from this.
    This is exactly what Im going through as of now.
  • emtjmac
    emtjmac Posts: 1,320 Member
    Without reading your post at all, yes.
  • Sherylmarlee
    Sherylmarlee Posts: 224 Member
    skinny is never worth it!!!! ever!! Being strong is worth it. Being fit is worth it. Being healthy is worth it. Being lean is worth it. Adding muscle and losing fat is worth it. Pushing yourself further than you ever thought you could is worth it. Being a better you than you were the day before is worth it. But, striving for "skinny" is just never worth it!
  • I'm not to be "skinny" I want to be smaller but not skinny. I also want to live a long healthy life. A lot of health problems run in my family and this is to prevent that. I rarely if ever eat 'diet' foods. I eat what I want, just watch my calories and I eat some good food. If I don't like it I don't eat it. Also I feel so much better after I exercise. It can be a lot of fun!
  • Gimpdogg
    Gimpdogg Posts: 163 Member
    Why do I always have to be that guy...but screw it here I go. Im calling bull**** on all the people who say all they care about is being healthy not skinny. Let's be honest everyone wants to look good naked and atractive to the opposite sex. This isn't superficial or wrong it's in our DNA our very being and that fine. Don't get me wrong I do wanna be healthy and live a long life for me and my kids. But when I take my shirt off now and I catch my wife checking me out and staring at these fancy new muscles, hell yeah its worth it!
  • SoDamnHungry
    SoDamnHungry Posts: 6,998 Member
    It's not about being skinny if you're doing it right. That said, it's very convenient to be thin. When I gain weight, clothes don't fit as well and I don't feel as comfortable.
  • onyxgirl17
    onyxgirl17 Posts: 1,722 Member
    Hmm skinny itself, no. If you are talking abut the aesthetics. However, the heath benefits of weight loss are tremendous. I have so much more energy now than I did when I was overweight.
  • vbrent07
    vbrent07 Posts: 115
    I started watching what I eat and exercising more because I lost my grandma to congestive heart failure on one side and my grandpa to the same thing on the other side of my family. I also can end up getting Cardiomyapathy at any time because I am a carrier for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy so I try to do what is best for my body. I am not at a healthy BMI but once I am, I'm not going to worry about if I look skinny enough or not, I just want to be healthy for myself and my family. If I end up looking skinny though I can't say that I wouldn't enjoy it. But, with my body type and height I don't think I could ever be in a size 0-5, but I am happy as long as I am healthy. With that being said, I don't deny myself of foods I love I just try to eat a smaller portion and eat more low cholesterol and heart healthy foods while making sure I work out for at least 20 minutes 4/5 times a week.

  • I do think that being fit, healthy, confident, strong and more emotionally balanced is definitely worth it.

    You nailed it on the head!! I don't care about fitting society's standards of being skinny. What I want is to be the most fit and capable version of me. I do this for myself AND for my family. Being a healthy role model for my beautiful son is way more important than fitting into a certain size jeans. :)
  • lauries3
    lauries3 Posts: 68 Member
    I want my confidence back and if that means that I will make sacrafices to get there then so be it it will be worth it to me in the long run. Skinny, no I am a mixed chick and will always keep my hips and thighs so skinny is not in it for me what is is a healthy strong toned body that exudes confidence!
  • LovetheNewMe
    LovetheNewMe Posts: 29 Member
    Being skinny no, being healthy yes! People now refer to me as skinny! I have to laugh, if I had neer been fat I would just be normal..........
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    It's not about society seeing me as attractive and it's not about being skinny. It's about being healthy and fit.(Being attractive is a good bonus, though) And yes it's worth it. I don't deprive myself. I eat anything that I want. I believe everything in moderation. I made pizza for dinner last night and I just had some hershey's dark chocolate.

    Also, I work out because I like to work out. I don't have to "make" myself go. i would rather be at the gym than sitting on the couch watching TV.
  • Why do I always have to be that guy...but screw it here I go. Im calling bull**** on all the people who say all they care about is being healthy not skinny. Let's be honest everyone wants to look good naked and atractive to the opposite sex. This isn't superficial or wrong it's in our DNA our very being and that fine. Don't get me wrong I do wanna be healthy and live a long life for me and my kids. But when I take my shirt off now and I catch my wife checking me out and staring at these fancy new muscles, hell yeah its worth it!

    amen! Spouses appreciate a good looking partner.
  • iplayoutside19
    iplayoutside19 Posts: 2,304 Member
    Why do I always have to be that guy...but screw it here I go. Im calling bull**** on all the people who say all they care about is being healthy not skinny. Let's be honest everyone wants to look good naked and atractive to the opposite sex. This isn't superficial or wrong it's in our DNA our very being and that fine. Don't get me wrong I do wanna be healthy and live a long life for me and my kids. But when I take my shirt off now and I catch my wife checking me out and staring at these fancy new muscles, hell yeah its worth it!

    When I hear the term "skinny" I get visions of starvation and famine. I think people want to be attractive & healthy and that's perfectly normal. IMO