What counts as thin?
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DeborahKilpatrick
Posts: 80 Member
What do you think of as thin? I've lost a stone in the last year and only have half a stone to go. My mum told me the other day when we were wedding dress shopping (yay!) that I'm "on the thin side of slim" which to be honest I find hard to believe.
I asked my other half last night what he thought. In fact we had a slight argument - I know, I picked a tricky subject and he couldn't win really. I had responded to something he'd said with 'do you mean I'm fat'? I was kind of joking but he then said 'you're not fat, you're cuddly'. I told him what my mum had said and he said 'you're not a thin person'. I'm nearly at my goal weight and have a BMI of 21. Can I be classed as thin or slim?
I asked my other half last night what he thought. In fact we had a slight argument - I know, I picked a tricky subject and he couldn't win really. I had responded to something he'd said with 'do you mean I'm fat'? I was kind of joking but he then said 'you're not fat, you're cuddly'. I told him what my mum had said and he said 'you're not a thin person'. I'm nearly at my goal weight and have a BMI of 21. Can I be classed as thin or slim?
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Replies
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It is not very easy to define thin. It is not just a number. It could be also about how you are built, how much body fat you have, but also how much muscle you have. And there is no official definition, so it is more about what you have in mind? A certain size? A certain look?0
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What do YOU classify yourself as is the question.0
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"Can you pinch an inch" as a TV advert used to say0
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Thin to me would be wearing the pants I've kept folded on the top shelf in my closet for too long.0
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It sounds like, in your world, thin means "getting close to underweight."
I feel like there is no right answer here.0 -
The thing is a lot of my friends and people I meet at races, sociable things etc are very good runners and many of them are extremely thin compared to most people, almost certainly underweight. I think I'm comparing myself to them. I can pinch a lot more than an inch lol!0
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Ask the doctor. How you look is something you cannot get a straight answer on from friends and family. They will always use nice words because they love/like you and it would seem mean to answer straight up. If they have any manners at all, they'll try not to answer the question and will then say something nice. I do it with my friends, too. Everyone does it.
Sme people get ridiculous with it and start saying you're thin/skinny long before you are. I just became a Normal BMI and as soon as I mentioned it, people went overboard with words like "skinny." I'm still fat and they're saying "skinny."
You can love them, but can't trust them, lol.
The doctor's job is to tell when you're too fat or too thin. So, ask next time you're there. You'll get an honest answer about whether you're weight is healthy or not. He isn't going to tell you how you look because that's creepy and he doesn't care about how you look. But he will tell you if you should or shouldn't lose more weight, He won't lie because doesn't care and it's his job to tell the truth.
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I'd say you are slim rather than thin given your BMI given the general interpretation of the words and their associations in the UK.
Thin has more of a negative connotation than slim...0 -
A BMI of 21 is healthy. It's slightly below midpoint of the healthy BMI range. On a 5'6" woman, a BMI of 21 would be 130 pounds. The healthy weight range for 5'6" is 118-154. 130 is only two pounds below being smack dab in the middle of that range. I'm not sure how tall the OP is but she would be at a proportional weight with the same BMI.0
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I'm 5ft 9-10 (never sure because been measured as both) and 10 stone 6. I want to get to 9 stone 13. My previous aim was 9 stone 7, for no reason apart from that was my weight before I had my 9 year old daughter, but I've realised that would be definitely be too thin and I would be happy to be just under 10 stone.0
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9st 13, but not 10st. Lol. You are a woman after my own heart!DeborahKilpatrick wrote: »I'm 5ft 9-10 (never sure because been measured as both) and 10 stone 6. I want to get to 9 stone 13. My previous aim was 9 stone 7, for no reason apart from that was my weight before I had my 9 year old daughter, but I've realised that would be definitely be too thin and I would be happy to be just under 10 stone.
5'9" and 10st (or 9st 13) seems like a healthy goal to me.
I'm 5'8" (formerly 5'9", shrank) as going for 9-something. 0 -
Yup! 9 stone 13 sounds so much better
- totally psychological. 0 -
Better question: why does it matter?0
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Wow, your other half said kind of a jerk thing. Thin and slim are words that mean different things to different people. I personally consider parts of me thin and parts of me slim. However, I don't ask other people to categorize me, that way leads to hurt feelings. If you are happy then it doesn't matter.0
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It really depends on the person and how they define those terms.
To me, thin and slim are synonyms. They mean exactly the same thing to me.0 -
DeborahKilpatrick wrote: »The thing is a lot of my friends and people I meet at races, sociable things etc are very good runners and many of them are extremely thin compared to most people, almost certainly underweight. I think I'm comparing myself to them. I can pinch a lot more than an inch lol!
How do you know they are underweight? You can't tell someone's weight just by looking at them. People who have a higher muscle mass and lower body fat can look really thin, but weigh more than you think.
Case in point:
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Who cares so long as your healthy and happy? It really is a a letter of perspective. Someone fatter than you would probably say your thin or slim (do they really mean something different?)
Someone thinner than you would have a different answer. I'm 5'4" and 142 pounds. I don't consider myself thin by any definition, but those with more fat than me do. Those my size or smaller probably think I'm normal or slightly overweight.0 -
I think in general that men and women view "thin" differently. I know a guy who thinks anything size 12 and under is too thin and another who thinks a six is "getting fat". Most women I know are ecstatic to be a six to 10 so.. I don't know.0
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I'd say you are slim rather than thin given your BMI given the general interpretation of the words and their associations in the UK.
Thin has more of a negative connotation than slim...
This^^ is what i think too.
When someone is described as slim, i picture a healthy looking slender person.
When someone is described as Thin or Skinny, to me that means underweight or looking underweight.
OP, you seem at a nice weight for your height, so i wouldn't worry about it too much!0 -
ExRelaySprinter wrote: »I'd say you are slim rather than thin given your BMI given the general interpretation of the words and their associations in the UK.
Thin has more of a negative connotation than slim...
This^^ is what i think too.
When someone is described as slim, i picture a healthy looking slender person.
When someone is described as Thin or Skinny, to me that means underweight or looking underweight.
OP, you seem at a nice weight for your height, so i wouldn't worry about it too much!
See, I would have absolutely no idea that thin has a negative connotation in the UK. Learned something new.0
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