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"You're too skinny"

So I'm hearing this phrase alot now. At first when my mother and my MIL said it, I didn't pay much attention to it, after all, mothers want you fattened up. But people at work are telling me this, just wondering what others think. Is it because people still remember the old me I'm guessing? I am down to 176, my goal weight is 175, but my bmi is on the heavier side of normal. I am still around 15%body fat. Probably one of the differences in men vs women maybe? Thoughts? I really don't pay it much attention. I want to stay between 170 and 175, maybe put on a little muscle would be ok.

Sent from my SM-N920V using the BariatricPal App

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  • @@Ryan TN Let me tell you a story. My husband has almost the EXACT same stats as you. He had RNY (bypass) almost 10 years ago, but he started at 300 pounds. Fast forward to a year or so after

  • I think it's just a perception thing. People are used to seeing you overweight and seeing a great lot of the population overweight. Keep your goals and they will adjust their view of you over time.

  • Valentina
    Valentina

    No. Thank YOU! I might be a wee bit older than you, but I "ain't" blind...

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I think you're look'n fine---just fine! :)

  • Author

5'11"

  • Author

I think you're look'n fine---just fine! :)

Thanks!

I'm in the same boat. All the people telling me that I'm too skinny are ones that knew me at my heaviest. Whereas others just say how great I look. I like they are just comparing how your normal weight to the overweight and then someone does look skin and bones.

I think it's just a perception thing. People are used to seeing you overweight and seeing a great lot of the population overweight. Keep your goals and they will adjust their view of you over time.

I get the " have you finished losing?" and "you're so skinny" and "you can't possibly have more to lose" comments more frequently the closer I get to my goal of 135. I just smile, take it as an intended compliment and tell them, yep 7 lbs. to go! For my height 135 is in the upper part of my BMI range, so I'm definitely not "too skinny."

I think you're look'n fine---just fine! :)

Thanks!

No. Thank YOU! :)

I might be a wee bit older than you, but I "ain't" blind...

Put on your most mischievous facial expression -- the one worn by older siblings teasing the younger kids in the family -- and tell people that your weight is in magnificent proportion to your height and they're thinking you're too skinny is probably because they've been gaining weight.

@@Ryan TN

Let me tell you a story.

My husband has almost the EXACT same stats as you. He had RNY (bypass) almost 10 years ago, but he started at 300 pounds.

Fast forward to a year or so after surgery, he was down to 170. He started getting the "you're too skinny!" comments, too. When he mentioned this at his year appointment, this is what his surgeon said:

"There are so many overweight/obese people these days, nobody even knows what a "normal" weight looks like anymore".

  • Author

@@Ryan TN

Let me tell you a story.

My husband has almost the EXACT same stats as you. He had RNY (bypass) almost 10 years ago, but he started at 300 pounds.

Fast forward to a year or so after surgery, he was down to 170. He started getting the "you're too skinny!" comments, too. When he mentioned this at his year appointment, this is what his surgeon said:

"There are so many overweight/obese people these days, nobody even knows what a "normal" weight looks like anymore".

Thanks, I totally agree with what his Dr said.

Sent from my SM-N920V using the BariatricPal App

So I'm hearing this phrase alot now. At first when my mother and my MIL said it, I didn't pay much attention to it, after all, mothers want you fattened up. But people at work are telling me this, just wondering what others think. Is it because people still remember the old me I'm guessing? I am down to 176, my goal weight is 175, but my bmi is on the heavier side of normal. I am still around 15%body fat. Probably one of the differences in men vs women maybe? Thoughts? I really don't pay it much attention. I want to stay between 170 and 175, maybe put on a little muscle would be ok.

Sent from my SM-N920V using the BariatricPal App

I am about the same height as you, 5ft11-6ft-ish. As a younger man I was a fitness buff and my best weight was actually 165-175lb in terms of combined movement, endurance and strength. I can see why you are happy at 175 and it's not actually "skinny", just slimmer than the average American adult. If you do some strength training, you can have pretty big muscles at that weight too - I used to have a 17.5in bicep at 175lb.

I am not 26 anymore, am 56 now and about halfway to my weightloss goals @ 244lb. I plan to try to get down at least to 195lb and/or a waist size of 36 and then to reassess. If it's possible, I may look to get down to 175lb again too. I am a scientist in the pharma industry and read the research literature a lot, and I can tell you that purely from a health perspective - living a long active life and avoiding or at least postponing chronic diseases, avoiding injury and debilitating joint conditions, it's hard to exercise too much or to be too thin,

  • Author

So I'm hearing this phrase alot now. At first when my mother and my MIL said it, I didn't pay much attention to it, after all, mothers want you fattened up. But people at work are telling me this, just wondering what others think. Is it because people still remember the old me I'm guessing? I am down to 176, my goal weight is 175, but my bmi is on the heavier side of normal. I am still around 15%body fat. Probably one of the differences in men vs women maybe? Thoughts? I really don't pay it much attention. I want to stay between 170 and 175, maybe put on a little muscle would be ok.

Sent from my SM-N920V using the BariatricPal App

I am about the same height as you, 5ft11-6ft-ish. As a younger man I was a fitness buff and my best weight was actually 165-175lb in terms of combined movement, endurance and strength. I can see why you are happy at 175 and it's not actually "skinny", just slimmer than the average American adult. If you do some strength training, you can have pretty big muscles at that weight too - I used to have a 17.5in bicep at 175lb.

I am not 26 anymore, am 56 now and about halfway to my weightloss goals @ 244lb. I plan to try to get down at least to 195lb and/or a waist size of 36 and then to reassess. If it's possible, I may look to get down to 175lb again too. I am a scientist in the pharma industry and read the research literature a lot, and I can tell you that purely from a health perspective - living a long active life and avoiding or at least postponing chronic diseases, avoiding injury and debilitating joint conditions, it's hard to exercise too much or to be too thin,

My long term goal outside of weightloss that I've been working on is to do a triathlon this year. I've picked one in my hometown to do on Aug 20th. The way I see it is those extra 5-10 pounds is just more wear and tear on the joints in the run.

Sent from my SM-N920V using the BariatricPal App

So I'm hearing this phrase alot now. At first when my mother and my MIL said it, I didn't pay much attention to it, after all, mothers want you fattened up. But people at work are telling me this, just wondering what others think. Is it because people still remember the old me I'm guessing? I am down to 176, my goal weight is 175, but my bmi is on the heavier side of normal. I am still around 15%body fat. Probably one of the differences in men vs women maybe? Thoughts? I really don't pay it much attention. I want to stay between 170 and 175, maybe put on a little muscle would be ok.

Sent from my SM-N920V using the BariatricPal App

I am about the same height as you, 5ft11-6ft-ish. As a younger man I was a fitness buff and my best weight was actually 165-175lb in terms of combined movement, endurance and strength. I can see why you are happy at 175 and it's not actually "skinny", just slimmer than the average American adult. If you do some strength training, you can have pretty big muscles at that weight too - I used to have a 17.5in bicep at 175lb.

I am not 26 anymore, am 56 now and about halfway to my weightloss goals @ 244lb. I plan to try to get down at least to 195lb and/or a waist size of 36 and then to reassess. If it's possible, I may look to get down to 175lb again too. I am a scientist in the pharma industry and read the research literature a lot, and I can tell you that purely from a health perspective - living a long active life and avoiding or at least postponing chronic diseases, avoiding injury and debilitating joint conditions, it's hard to exercise too much or to be too thin,

My long term goal outside of weightloss that I've been working on is to do a triathlon this year. I've picked one in my hometown to do on Aug 20th. The way I see it is those extra 5-10 pounds is just more wear and tear on the joints in the run.

Sent from my SM-N920V using the BariatricPal App

Awesome, you sound like a very motivated individual too - it is inspiring :-) I agree - if you are walking or running, extra weight just increases the forces on feet, ankles, knees and hips, and if you take a fall, you're just going to hit that much harder.

One thing that I have seen re exercise, is that some people need to shift from running to something smoother, like cycling or swimming as they get older. But if all is well, more power to you :-) I have a nice bike I bought when I was too big to really ride it that's been sitting in the shed - plan to get on it when the weather gets into the 70s here, and am thinking about buying a surfski and wetsuit for fitness paddling in the coastal river here - am getting excited again!

  • Author

Yeah, good plan. I am doing the couch to 5k right now with a 5k race coming up in a couple weeks, after that I think I'll scale back the running and work on swimming and cycling. I'm already wearing a knee brace for stability.

Sent from my SM-N920V using the BariatricPal App

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