[salukigirl]

This has really been eating away at me lately. Any time I watch TV and women talk about weight they're always tall and weigh like 115 lbs which is completely unhealthy. Then guys assume that women who are 5'9'' and 5'10'' are supposed to weigh 110 lbs even though that's malnourished and dangerous (hence the rules created in Spain for models).

Anyways...I wanted to attempt to set the record straight by posting a website with a BMI chart and descriptions of what is healthy and what isn't. I really hope people take the time to look at it and realize that women are not supposed to be that skinny! It's an unhealthy concept created by society and frankly, it's starting to piss me off.

http://www.consumer.gov/weightloss/bmi.htm

[Rhapsody]

Originally Posted by salukigirl

I really hope people take the time to look at it and realize that women are not supposed to be that skinny! It's an unhealthy concept created by society and frankly, it's starting to piss me off.

AMEN! - I hear you and I have often felt the same way and even more so when my 16 year old, 6 foot, 130 pound neice told me she was fat......

[v214k]

It's really hard to determine a healthy weight for someone without actually seeing htem because sure you can say 5'3"..... 120lbs is a good healthy weight for you... but what people don't take into account is bone SIZE... a lot of women have very small bones... I'm seriously built like a child.. so for someone like me although I don't like 120 is fat at all.... 120lbs on my very small frame would look ridiculous.

[hydrocare]

Sometimes it's also hard to tell by look alone if a woman's weight is healthy because some have wider frames and features. I too have a friend that's obsessed about losing extra weight because they think that they're too fat, but she looks sexy and perfectly healthy. Maybe she just needs a man that will tell her that she's sexy and make her feel that way.

[deliquesce]

my BMI is in the 'underweight' range... not as low at 16 (where they classify you as anorexic) but still under 18. it's not unhealthy on me. i've stopped dieting, eat 100g of chocolate each day, drink full cream milk etc but still have a stable low weight. i just have a fast metabolism. and my ethnic heritage typically sprouts out people with small bone structures, so i don't think the BMI captures all of that.

it is a good basic tool, though.

[ECHOES]

Nice tool and thank you for posting it and bringing out attention to it

Healthy weight is part of the picture. A healthy weight person is not necessarily a healthy person, although obesity is definitely unhealthy and very risky. What you consume is also vitally important; a person can maintain a healthy weight on a high fat, high sugar, low fiber, low nutrient diet, unfortunately. Weight is one part of the issue, eating to nuture the inside as well as the outside is another and important part.

i'm on the other side of the scale (sorry)...i'll never be on the skinny side...i come from stocky parents...i'm stocky with probably the heaviest bones on the planet. dead people metabolize faster than i do!

i go to the gym 5 times a week and do 30 minutes on the treadmill at 80% of my target heartrate for my age plus weight training for another 30-40 minutes. i eat fairly okay (no junk foods, few fried foods, no cake, candy etc, diet drinks only etc)...and my bmi is obese.

now part of my weight is from drugs (years of taking prednisone plus now my psych meds) but even before that when i was a college jock and a law enforcement officer i was stocky and heavy..altho not as much as i am now.

i conisder myself in decent shape. obviously while i have lost 40 pounds i would like to lose more but i am not consumed by my weight. being 4'11" and weighing 120 lbs is not realistic for me. its never going to happen unless i am stuck someplace without food for like years....and then i die.

i would like to lose another maybe 20 pounds. i'll still be "fat" by societies standards but i'll be fine by mine. i'll be curious by then to see how much better physical strength i'll be in at that weight and health....which is really my goal.

[deliquesce]

good luck, stumpy!!!

i wish i had half the dedication to health/fitness that you have. i can't remember the last time i even did a brisk walk, let alone anything that significantly increased my heart rate .

so...you start slowly...a slow walk is better than no walk. healthy eating one meal beats junk for that meal.

no one wakes up as a totally fit person one day without work...hell i look like a beach ball with little stumpy legs! i just go to the gym alot so i can roll downhill far & fast!

serioulsy...all it takes is small little things...eat some fruit, drink water instead of soda, walk a dog each night, park far away from the store instead of up close...thats the kind of stuff i did to start...you kind of trick yourself into beginning.

there is a social group about weight loss and stuff...come join.

stumpy (who is motivated because she has no life!)

[beutifulxdreamr]

In the end, weight is really not this issue, but being healthy. I am right where I need to be for my BMI; however, I hardly ever exercise and know I don't always get the nutrients I need (Calcium/Iron/B12/Vitamin C/Vitamin D/Thamine/etc). Women who fall within their appropriate weight range can have terrible cholesterol levels and even more "fat" than some one outside of the BMI range. I don't mean to say they look obese, but if you look at their triglycerides and actual fat content of their body - they have more than some one who is athletic and weighs ten pounds more than them.

Women tend to put more emphasis on diet to remain healthy. Men tend to put more emphasis on exercise. Now if only we could combine the two?

It's about taking care of our bodies so we don't get osteoporosis or set ourselves up for Type 2 Diabetes or coronary artery disease.

Go to myfoodpyramid.com and set yourself up an account - that way you can individualize your plan of care/plan of action to get yourself healthy. What matters is that balance of exercise and nutrition. Myfoodpyramid is a good resource to find areas that need improvement.


BxD