You're doing it wrong if you're thinking "how skinny feels"

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Replies

  • jen10st
    jen10st Posts: 325 Member
    I never want to be considered to be skinny. slim, healthy, fit, toned, petite, strong, even dinky or cute. But I love my food and the only way I'm going to get to be any of those things is by eating healthily and exercising lots to make sure my physique is any of the above and not bony and weak looking. For me nothing tastes as good as feeling like I can fly when I'm running :)
  • AnneC77
    AnneC77 Posts: 284
    Agreed OP!
  • toomuchbootyindapants
    toomuchbootyindapants Posts: 811 Member
    This post is SOOO full of WIN! *muah*
  • Kurls4Daze
    Kurls4Daze Posts: 125 Member
    congrats nice!!!
  • jetscreaminagain
    jetscreaminagain Posts: 1,130 Member
    I feel the need to point out that one of my newest friends jut reached her real goal today. She just climbed 88 floors of a tall building and got down to 88 kg in order to do and got fast enough to do it in a half hour.

    All that ^^^ HAS to feel better than starving oneself into size 0.

    YAY badass accomplishment!!

    What have you done that should be on that list of goals? That feels WAY better than mere skinniness?

    Mine was Tough Mudder. Best experience of my life other than being done with giving birth.
  • Kurls4Daze
    Kurls4Daze Posts: 125 Member
    Really great post!!!! I believe sometimes we put too much pressure on our selves!!! Just exercise and have fun with it don't be so serious what ever change comes embrace it!!!
  • victorious27
    victorious27 Posts: 250 Member
    I used to have the mindset of "I just want to be thin", though I've never liked the quote "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels". If that were true, no one would be fat. Ever.

    Only recently have I realized that it isn't "thin" that I've wanted, it's "in shape", "toned", "strong"....whatever word you can use to describe the type of girl that can take care of herself if she got into a fight with a 6'2 dude. (Okay...probably never gonna happen...but you get my point.)

    I read a comment from another poster on here that said, "Being thin is just being a smaller marshmallow...but you're still a marshmallow." And I fell in love with that, because it's true. There are personal preferences on that idea, but mine is that I don't want to be "skinny fat". I want to be able to take up for myself if I ever needed to.

    I mean, how many times has it been said that the world is gonna end? One time it just might be true, and I'd like it if I could live through it all. :blushing: :laugh:
  • victorious27
    victorious27 Posts: 250 Member
    I feel the need to point out that one of my newest friends jut reached her real goal today. She just climbed 88 floors of a tall building and got down to 88 kg in order to do and got fast enough to do it in a half hour.

    All that ^^^ HAS to feel better than starving oneself into size 0.

    YAY badass accomplishment!!

    What have you done that should be on that list of goals? That feels WAY better than mere skinniness?

    Mine was Tough Mudder. Best experience of my life other than being done with giving birth.

    What I bolded ^

    I want to do Tough Mudder really badly. Like, I get anxious watching the videos I want to participate so badly (sounds creepy, right). I'm starting small-ish. I'm running in a "zombie run, obstacle course" that's a 5k. Not sure how I'll make my way up to a TM, but I want to here in the next few years :love:
  • Lee716
    Lee716 Posts: 150 Member
    This thread is so full of win!!
  • kimberliiw
    kimberliiw Posts: 242 Member
    My DD was always in the 95th percentile height and 75% weight growing up. Her pediatrician used to say she's not skinny, she's slender and healthy.

    I never did understand the motivation behind that phrase. There are a heck of a lot of things that taste better than skinny feels, bacon being one of them.
  • amybg1
    amybg1 Posts: 631 Member
    Amen,great post! Couldn't have worded it any better
  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
    Nothing tastes as good as food shared.

    My issue with that other saying is that it is intended as some lever of food denial. It's a mental binding useful for anorexic wannabes; I have no use for food denial. If I eat in moderation and with observation and move my body, all is well.

    The OP and many other get it.
  • slkehl
    slkehl Posts: 3,801 Member
    I suppose I would agree with this, given the definition of skinny that was posted earlier.

    Just wondering, do you guys think that it's bad for your primary motivation to be simply getting slim? I know getting fit is the more laudable goal. But, to be completely honest, I'm already at a healthy weight and just like how I look at 10 lbs lighter than I am now. I do like to work out, but what keeps me going is knowing that building muscle and burning calories keeps the weight off. Do you think vanity weight loss is "wrong" and is there is something off about my perspective, in your opinion?
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    I suppose I would agree with this, given the definition of skinny that was posted earlier.

    Just wondering, do you guys think that it's bad for your primary motivation to be simply getting slim? I know getting fit is the more laudable goal. But, to be completely honest, I'm already at a healthy weight and just like how I look at 10 lbs lighter than I am now. I do like to work out, but what keeps me going is knowing that building muscle and burning calories keeps the weight off. Do you think vanity weight loss is "wrong" and is there is something off about my perspective, in your opinion?

    I am totally with you regarding the 'vanity' pounds. I am at a healthy BF% - but I still want to lose those last few pounds for pure aesthetics - and I personally do not think there is anything wrong with it.

    Edited for typos
  • SairahRose
    SairahRose Posts: 412 Member
    I totally agree with the OP. I object to the use of the word skinny in that phrase. I personally use, "Nothing tastes as good as fit & healthy feels." Skinny is not healthy. I think the people defending the word really mean slender.

    From www.dictionary.com:

    skin·ny   [skin-ee] Show IPA adjective, skin·ni·er, skin·ni·est, noun
    adjective
    1. very lean or thin; emaciated: a skinny little kitten.
    2. of or like skin.
    3. unusually low or reduced; meager; minimal: skinny profits.
    4. (of an object) narrow or slender: a skinny bed.

    Synonyms
    1. lank, gaunt, scrawny.

    slen·der   [slen-der] Show IPA
    adjective, slen·der·er, slen·der·est.
    1. having a circumference that is small in proportion to the height or length: a slender post.
    2. thin or slight; light and graceful: slender youths.
    3. small in size, amount, extent, etc.; meager: a slender income.
    4. having little value, force, or justification: slender prospects.
    5. thin or weak, as sound.

    Synonyms
    2. Slender, slight, slim imply a tendency toward thinness. As applied to the human body, slender implies a generally attractive and pleasing thinness: slender hands. Slight often adds the idea of frailness to that of thinness: a slight, almost fragile, figure. Slim implies a lithe or delicate thinness: a slim and athletic figure. 4. trivial, trifling. 5. fragile, feeble, fine, delicate, flimsy.

    This, and the OP.

    Brilliant posts.
  • vmekash
    vmekash Posts: 422 Member
    OP, very nicely put, and I couldn't agree more.:happy:

    But, there is another reason I don't like the old "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels." It implies that you should give up something delicious to reach whatever that goal is (in lieu of "skinny"). I absolutely refuse to give up any delicious food, even if it is totally processed and bad for you regardless of whether you're trying to lose weight. Sometimes I eat healthy food. Sometimes I eat nutritionally crappy food. I do try to have more healthy than crappy, though. But whatever I eat, I just stay close to my daily net calorie goal.

    If I actually had to give up altogether any foods I enjoy, I'd fail at losing weight. When I crave something "bad," like ice cream, but in an effort to avoid it, have something "healthy" instead, I eventually start eating everything in site, trying to satisfy that craving w/o eating that which I am craving. I'm better off having a nice serving (or even two) of what I crave. And then, I'm done.

    Oops. Didn't mean to go on and on. I'm just not an advocate for eliminating any foods I love. Esp. since I plan to live this way the rest of my days. :bigsmile:
  • victorious27
    victorious27 Posts: 250 Member
    I suppose I would agree with this, given the definition of skinny that was posted earlier.

    Just wondering, do you guys think that it's bad for your primary motivation to be simply getting slim? I know getting fit is the more laudable goal. But, to be completely honest, I'm already at a healthy weight and just like how I look at 10 lbs lighter than I am now. I do like to work out, but what keeps me going is knowing that building muscle and burning calories keeps the weight off. Do you think vanity weight loss is "wrong" and is there is something off about my perspective, in your opinion?

    I see nothing wrong with it. Everyone is different. A lot of people just want to look healthy, a lot of people want to look ripped, a lot of people would rather be heavier.

    I think what everyone here is getting at is that when someone thinks "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels" they're usually heading towards an eating disorder. Because at that point, they're no longer striving to be healthy and to look good. They associate being "skinny" or "thin" with being beautiful.

    ETA: Personally, the number on a scale doesn't mean a lot to me simply because I've seen a family member barely grazing the "healthy" range on the BMI (being very close to the "overweight"), and she looked nothing but malnourished. I see it as more of an indication on where I am. Yeah, I had a "goal weight" but after a while, I'll probably stop fretting over it once I get away from the 160s that I haven't seen since '08.
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
    Bump for awesomeness...
  • pwittek10
    pwittek10 Posts: 723 Member
    Skinny was NEVER my goal!
    Healthy, fit, and to have energy WAS my goal
    Skinny and loving it is just a side dish bonus!
  • jetscreaminagain
    jetscreaminagain Posts: 1,130 Member
    "vanity" weight loss is fine. And even if I didn't judge that to be so, that would only apply to me and the folks who want to run their own bodies are totally free to disregard anyone else's opinions. This steps on the other thing that is making me crazy these days: the way people feel free to apply their opinions to other women's bodies.

    And let's be serious, as much as I LOVE all the other things I'm getting out of my goals (Tough Mudder, etc), I do have a picture of my back up because I love how it looks and I want it to look better. And I do have a dress size I'd like to be.

    And I also want to be lighter as I've decided my ideal weight is 5 pull ups. I can't do 5 pull ups and my weight is one of the things that stops that. And I know 5 pull ups will be smokin hot on me.

    And my user name is all about the vanity of this all: my husband, when we were dating used to grab me and declare that I was "jet screamin" as in "jet screamin hot" with one of those 1970's Owww!'s. Then he didn't say it so much. Then I lost some weight and I heard it 3 times in about 2 days and I realized one of my goals was being defined.

    Vanity goals ARE FINE. The two of you I'm responding to I'm pretty sure I know from the threads and friends' walls are pretty darned substantive and accomplished and smart and capable AND hot.

    Vanity goals are fine. They aren't the be all end all, but they are part of being a whole, well rounded capable and accomplished human being.

    Yay you!
  • Lady_Senie
    Lady_Senie Posts: 100 Member
    Well said! Thank you fr the inspiration ^_^
  • prairiewalker
    prairiewalker Posts: 184 Member
    I currently have this "phrase" as my profile pic NOT because:
    I want to be skinny ...and just so you know...I don't nor have I ever had an eating disorder ...(other than occasionally losing track of the quantity in relation to my exercise..which is why I'm here now)

    but because:

    the holidays are approaching and I can easily lose sight of my long term goals of getting fit, toned and "thinner" than I am now....because a lot of butter, flour, sugar and mayonnaisse are in sooo many of the beloved traditional recipes that I grew up on and LOVED...so... as I'm balancing the holidays with some traditional treats and many new recipe treats....

    REMINDING myself that giving in to an unhealthy, momentary love of something will keep me from reaching my long term goals...I personally find the phrase to be helpful to see the big, long term picture...

    It's short, sweet and catchy...

    even though the substitutions for switching out "skinny" for "healthy" or "toned" or "whatever" are logistically proper and correct..it poetically doesn't roll off the tongue as smoothly..

    so..when you hear or see someone posting or quoting this phrase...please realize it's not necessarily someone depriving themselves of healthy food & exercise ..it could just be someone like me, exercising my own brain to realize that showing a little restraint in immediate gratification is a whole lot healthier when I keep my eyes on the bigger picture...

    Good wishes to everyone..on our shared goals of living and enjoying life to the best of our abilities...
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member

    Vanity goals are fine. They aren't the be all end all, but they are part of being a whole, well rounded capable and accomplished human being.


    Absolutely agree.

    I actually get as much out of pulling a certain weight deadlifting, not having back troubles, etc etc etc as the weight loss itself. It's all part of the package - getting fitter, getting stronger, getting healthier and looking hotter - they can be done at the same time and are inter-related. But imo, will not be if you just focus on the 'getting skinny' part.

    ETA: :flowerforyou:
  • HaleyAlli
    HaleyAlli Posts: 911 Member
    "How healthy feels" are the words I substitute :) Great post
  • CellophaneFlowers
    CellophaneFlowers Posts: 1
    My personal mantra recently is "There is nothing that doesn't taste better when you eat less of it."

    I'm not about deprivation or restrictive diets. If I want to eat something, I'll eat it. The trick is in reminding myself that no matter how badly I want it, 95% of the enjoyment will ALWAYS be derived from the first bite. Anything after one or two bites is only worth it if I'm eating it for nutrition and not just enjoyment. When I have just one piece of chocolate, one cookie, one piece of bacon, etc., every bite I take is a rich, vibrant experience. It does taste as good as being healthy feels, and compromises nothing.
  • slkehl
    slkehl Posts: 3,801 Member
    It's all part of the package - getting fitter, getting stronger, getting healthier and looking hotter - they can be done at the same time and are inter-related. But imo, will not be if you just focus on the 'getting skinny' part.

    That is true. Even if my goal is to get slim, I am getting stronger and healthier in the process. And I'm thankful for all of those added benefits that come along with the territory. I'd still like to eventually be in a place where health is my ultimate goal, but that's just not where I'm at right now. Thanks for the feedback, everyone :flowerforyou:
  • acidosaur
    acidosaur Posts: 295 Member
    My personal mantra recently is "There is nothing that doesn't taste better when you eat less of it."

    I'm not about deprivation or restrictive diets. If I want to eat something, I'll eat it. The trick is in reminding myself that no matter how badly I want it, 95% of the enjoyment will ALWAYS be derived from the first bite. Anything after one or two bites is only worth it if I'm eating it for nutrition and not just enjoyment. When I have just one piece of chocolate, one cookie, one piece of bacon, etc., every bite I take is a rich, vibrant experience. It does taste as good as being healthy feels, and compromises nothing.

    Yes very true! If I want chocolate, I have a small square of really nice Green and Blacks. It's all about moderation.
  • slkehl
    slkehl Posts: 3,801 Member
    ^I love Green and Blacks! Hooray for fair trade chocolate :)
  • wolvesmom52
    wolvesmom52 Posts: 6 Member
    Well said!:happy:
  • norcal_yogi
    norcal_yogi Posts: 675 Member
    I agree for the most part. But there's nothing to say that "skinny" is unhealthy for everyone, or that it was achieved in an unhealthy manner.

    agreed...^ and it's hard to separate out the likeliness of just a little subtle resentment of those who are naturally skinny (and i am meaning naturally able to keep their bodies physically looking 'good' without having to go to extreme measures).

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