So tell us...is being skinny worth it?

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Replies

  • atfirstblush
    atfirstblush Posts: 88 Member
    As someone who was thin and fit for 42 years then gained weight my last 8 years. Yes it is worth it. Just losing 35 pounds in the last 2 months I am more fit, the pain in my joints is gone and I have so much more energy. I stopped eating processed food and I just feel so much better. I am also in a great mood all the time.
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,048 Member
    It's worth it to be healthy and a healthy relationship with food. As a recovering emotional eater with a huge sweet tooth, learning to eat less and enjoy food more was definitely worth it. When you don't absolutely love foods you used to crave, it does kind of feel like losing an old friend, but you know, I have better friends now!

    About being a free spirit, there is an old monastic wisdom that, paradoxically, freedom is only truly found within the context of limitations. They mean it in terms of spiritual discipline, but a physical analogy would be only a person who regularly runs a few miles a day is "free" to enjoy a 10k race tomorrow. If you're not in shape, some options are just not on the table. More discipline puts more options on the table, i.e. more freedom. While eating whatever you want may feel like freedom in the moment, you aren't really free of the consequences later. Immediate gratification is sort of a prison of its own. If you have a healthy maintenance diet you enjoy, you are truly free to splurge once in a while and really enjoy yourself without the guilt or yo-yo effect. I hope that wasn't abstruse.
  • heatherloveslifting
    heatherloveslifting Posts: 1,428 Member
    Yes! Yes, yes, yes!
  • George_Baileys_Ghost
    George_Baileys_Ghost Posts: 1,524 Member
    I would think it depends on what you do with it.

    Merely being "skinny".....probably not. If you approach fitness and nutrition with the attitude that once you get there, you're left wondering "now what" then it's probably not.

    If you approach it with performance oriented goals in mind, and intend to keep challenging yourself, then I would think it's definitely going to be worth it.
  • Victoria2448
    Victoria2448 Posts: 559 Member
    I eat healthy most of the time and do not feel deprived or less of a free spirit at all. Healthy food is delicious! If you have a handle on your eating you can still indulge without sacrificing your health. Changing your mindset is the first step. If you go into this thinking you have to give this up or miss out on that...you won't succeed.
  • _Terrapin_
    _Terrapin_ Posts: 4,302 Member
    I would think it depends on what you do with it.

    Merely being "skinny".....probably not. If you approach fitness and nutrition with the attitude that once you get there, you're left wondering "now what" then it's probably not.

    If you approach it with performance oriented goals in mind, and intend to keep challenging yourself, then I would think it's definitely going to be worth it.

    Ah yes, the voice of reason.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    I don't think being "skinny" was really my goal, I wanted to be healthier and improve my fitness.

    Being able to go for a six mile run when I'm stressed out has improved my coping skills.

    Being able to regulate my food intake and being conscious of what I eat has allowed me to feel control over my eating and body that I lacked at 240+lbs.

    Being able to be naked and not feel uncomfortable with my body has made me more relaxed and happy in my relationship.

    Being able to fit in clothes where I live (Asia) instead of having to import them from the UK or US has saved my bank-book.

    Being able to quit smoking and drinking in order to help me meet my fitness goals has lengthened my life.

    Being able to eat and drink what I like but exercising MODERATION has meant none of this has felt like a chore.

    So, although I am happier with what I see in the mirror, my life has changed in many more ways than just being "skinny". So IMHO, yes. Totally and utterly worth it. You couldn't PAY me to go back.

    I hear you there! I'm not quite where I want to be yet but when - for the first time - I was able to shop locally, that feeling alone was worth every single day I worked for this.

    Two days ago I was at an event, and for the first time in a very long time I was not the biggest person in the room!

    Go back to being out of breath after 30 seconds of walking? NEVER!

    That person may have his own reasons, or probably he was restricting himself too much to enjoy life. Even now when I'm still dieting I allow myself to have "naughty things" whenever I want. It really comes down to what weight loss brings. To me it brought so many enjoyable things that I can't imagine my life without them now.
  • ladyofbugglake
    ladyofbugglake Posts: 37 Member
    I'd say "no" if your goal is being skinny. I'd say "yes" if your goal is being healthy. Often, the two come in the same package, but not always.

    I've been skinny (like really skinny: 130 pds @ 5'10") and people treated me so much better better than they do when I am fat. I was more successful professionally. But I wasn't healthy and I wasn't happy.

    It wasn't until I was skinny and healthy (150pds) that I started to realize happiness. That is where I want to get back to.
  • liz89118
    liz89118 Posts: 20 Member
    People always ask me how DO YOU FEEL now that you lost 115 pounds and I know they are waiting for me to say AMAZING!! To be honest I don't think I ever realized how big I was because I still went to the gym, I still went hiking, I still went out and to concerts and bars etc...nothing really changed was it harder to hike YES, did I get stares sometimes at the bars or at the concerts YES. I think what blows my mind more than anything is not scanning the room to wonder if I fit in a chair or a booth, getting on an airplane and not worrying about buckling the seatbelt or driving in my car and the steering wheel being so tight.

    But I really thought losing weight would solve my being single status and it hasn't...I sort of thought I was going to be fairy tail you lose the weight and you find the man. Nothing has been further from the truth so I think what I realized now more is working on yourself not just in terms of a scale on the number but the bigger picture. I have problems mentally recognizing my weight loss I pass by a mirror and go oh that's me. It's a lot more mental then I thought this journey was going to be and not running to food when I have a bad day or to celebrate a milestone...that's what hard to focus on. Sometimes I wish I had less guilt about food and eating.
  • HWeatherholt
    HWeatherholt Posts: 283 Member
    Not quite the same thing, but when my grandma was living with us - advance stages of alzemierz/deminta, and in her 80s, she wouldn't remember what she ate 5 minutes before, even if we were still sitting at the dinner table and everyone else still had food on their plates and/or still in serving bowls. We got to the point were yes, we should have (and did to a certian extent limit the number of pieces of cake/pizza/etc, she had, but at the same time we figured she has lead a good life and if she wants another piece, she can have another piece.

    I think the key is finding a balance.
  • jorda13456
    jorda13456 Posts: 62 Member
    I feel the skinnier you are is the more eaiser it is to build confidence at least for me, I'm not toothpick skinny but I would have more confidence if I was skinnier.
  • sk_pirate
    sk_pirate Posts: 282 Member
    I did a search for something else and this thread came up. It's the only thread that I have enjoyed reading and actually spoke to me. For that reason I am bumping it back to the top; I feel others may want to read this too.

    Cheers :flowerforyou:
  • airplanes00
    airplanes00 Posts: 62 Member
    Personally, I think that if it is that much "work" to lose weight or maintain your lighter weight, you are doing it wrong.

    Thanks for that! I think you are definitely right. I think that when people really go off the rails with weight loss, it's because something is wrong. I will think of that lots from now on when my mindset is that it's too hard for me to keep going.


    Losing is hard and for me it personally sucks, but I know maintaining is great and easy and really not that limiting, especially if you find something that you enjoy doing for exercise. I hate counting calories and I hate not cheating as much as I would like. But it is motivating to me because I know if I am strict now, I can get it off in 6 or 7 months rather then a year (I have about 30lbs to lose) So I do the work I count the calories, instead of cheat days or weekends I have a cheat meal twice a month. Once I get to maintain again I can just chill out more. Good Luck :)
  • Of course it's worth it !!!
    Apart from the massive increase in confidence, improved mobility and the health issues !
    I wish I had had the motivation to do it ten years ago ! But can't dwell on past - look forward to a better future !
    And of course getting "skinny" doesn't cure all the problems in your life but for sure it'll mean a better quality of life and, hopefully, a longer one too ?
  • TminusFitnessN321
    TminusFitnessN321 Posts: 58 Member
    Eating satisfaction is temporary compared to long lasting results.
  • UnicornAmanda
    UnicornAmanda Posts: 294 Member
    In my experience, when i was lighter.. I had more confidence. And that to me, is worth more than overeating and not watching my cal intake. :-)

    This**

    And also, when I was heavier I felt like crap about myself, hated going out, hated being around people, felt so lazy and disgusting. So the more I lose, the better I feel. To me, living life to the fullest isn't just eating whatever and over indulging; but instead, will be about all of the activities I can be involved in, whether in my community, or in my family.. and if I was the same weight I was when I first started, and had no intention of making any changes, I would not have the motivation or the energy to even partake in anything, really.
  • 0somuchbetter0
    0somuchbetter0 Posts: 1,335 Member
    I don't think the only choices are "fat" or "thin." I still want to lose about 47 lbs and then reassess, but even at my goal weight I won't be skinny. I love good food good wine and cooking for friends and going out to restaurants...I don't want to sacrifice all that to be a size 0. But a size 6 sure would be preferable (for appearance AND health reasons) to my current size 14/16...and definitely way way better than me 73 lbs ago in a size 24!
  • mayfrayy
    mayfrayy Posts: 198 Member
    as long as you can still eat pizza, anythings worth it.
  • summertime_girl
    summertime_girl Posts: 3,945 Member
    I enjoy life much more.
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