To wonder what it feels like to be thin?

[sunshine5997]

I'm 24, married and quite frankly I am fat.
I hide away in black clothes and coats. It's my fault I'm fat (size 16).
I see some lovely photos of people in their early 20s stick thin in lovely short skirts or crop tops.... and all I think is, what does it feel like to be thin and confident to wear those lovely clothes? So what does it feel like not to have saggy over hangs or horrendous chafing in summer???

(Ps i have had some wine!!)

I think when you’re slim you don’t really appreciate it. I remember being very self conscious especially when I was younger. I was constantly asked if I was starving myself, anorexic or ill. I became very ill at age 21 with an auto immune disease and was accused by acquaintances of having an eating disorder as I lost weight.

I hated wearing skirts and showing my legs. I was not even that thin just very slim.

My daughter now aged 23 has the same thing. We both have difficulty finding clothes that fit. My daughter sometimes has to shop in children’s sections. It’s worse now than in my day as the size 6 is now size 8 and so on.

While generally slim people may be healthier than the very fat, in terms acceptance by society, you are judged just as much and have as many hang ups as fatter people.

I think it's easier when your in your 20s, so if you really want to, nows the time to crack it,if you want to. Start by walking, then speed walking, step class et PC

I'm a size 6 and have had times of not being very confident, more so when I was younger, but being slim (I think) makes clothes look better on, I'm healthier, feel better in myself, no bulges making me feel uncomfortable.

You have to do it for you though, no one else.

I used to be a size 8/10, and I was as insecure about my looks then as I am now as a size 16. Difference is now I'm uncomfortable, fat rolls, chub rub, not being able to breathe when I put my socks on.

I did however look better in clothes and I'd wear clothes I like, rather than now, I pick clothes that hide my fat and make me look slimmer

Ive always had a slim build, size 8 (and pretty short, 5 ft 3), throughout my 20s with little exercise and just healthy eating. I danced throughout my childhood and think that helped keep my metabolism fast. To be honest it felt good 50% of the time to always find clothes that fit and not worry about wearing skirts and shorts. BUT I have small boobs and didnt like other parts of my body, so have always idolized more curvy girls who seem more womanly as i'm pretty boyish in terms of my figure.

Now i'm mid 30s, metabolism has slowed and i've had a child so my figure is completely different. Bigger thighs and a bit of a tummy, boobs are still small (worse after breastfeeding!) but i'm better at dressing for my figure so feel more confident in what i do wear, highlighting my waistline and being more comfortable in my own skin.

So i guess what i'm saying is objectively i am not as thin and taut as 20s me but feel much better. Sorry you're feeling that discomfort in your own skin, I think we all feel it.

Wow! 5 STONE!!! That’s a fabulous achievement! I have also had a radical weight loss. 60kgs - I don’t know what that is in stones, sorry. I’m only 5ft1, and I now weigh less than I’ve lost! I was bloody obese!!! It feels great, but could obviously do without the belly skin flap. I lost a lot on what I referred to as the ELF diet (Eat Less Food). Then my Neurologist put me on a medical keto diet (not the Pinterest, all you can eat bacon and coconut oil kind 🤮) for chronic migraines, and it worked, so I’ve stuck to it. It didn’t happen over night, but it’s worth it!!!
I have lost more than weight though.... there have been “friends” who have tried to sabotage my diet/health, or become threatened or resentful somehow. They have started rumours that I have an eating disorder and even staged an intervention. (My mother was anorexic and so was I as a teenager, so having them state that I was setting a bad example for my kids because I refuse to eat sugar made me mad.) Luckily I am also studying nursing, and was able to check their blood glucose levels and blood pressures and compare them to mine and hit them with some stats.
My first prac really cemented the reality about how many relatively “young” people are in aged-care facilities (50’s & 60’s) because of preventative, obesity-related illnesses. I am going to keep my weight off in a healthy way, thanks!

My West Indian friends are large and look fabulous! No black clothes for them - brightly coloured kaftans all the way

^

Fair enough. Let's face it though, typical British people with pasty skin and holding all their weight on their face, arms and belly don't look as good. They just look pasty, exhausted and ill.

Thank you, 5 stone was a lot of work to move but it was worth it. As said up thread by someone else, people did try and undermine my work too at the time. 1 stone ago there were lots of ‘ooooooh, you mustn’t lose any more weight’ comments, but actually I look and feel better for having done so, I think the weight loss was just a shock for people who had never known me pre-children and slim.

Yes to being a normal bra size now, that feels a lot more comfortable. I do have loose skin but that is probably down to having big babies too and I don’t particularly care.

Let's face it though, typical British people with pasty skin and holding all their weight on their face, arms and belly don't look as good.

^ This. I look fucking awful when I'm carrying too much weight. I'm an 'apple' shape so it all goes around my middle. I look like a fat rectangle on legs. With a chubby face.

I'm a size 6/8, can eat what I want and never gain an ounce. Does it make me happy? Absolutely not. I hated school because I was constantly picked at for being so thin. I was asked if I made myself sick, if I had periods, comments were made on the size of my arms and legs etc. Even now in my late 20's people still make remarks on my weight and say things like 'but being too thin isn't nice'. I've been skinny shamed my whole life but people don't seem to think of it as being as hurtful as fat shaming but it definitely is

Thanks for this OP. It's reminded me of how nice it is to be a healthy weight and spurred me on to crack on with losing my baby (biscuit/cake) weight!

I'm 3st heavier than before my pregnancies. My youngest is just one. I hate it.

What I miss is just being able to chuck on any clothes without thinking 'will it hide how fat I am?' I always dress now to hide myself rather than to look nice.

When I was slim I'd open my wardrobe and think 'ooh what shall I wear today?' And choose what I liked. Lovely. Now I open it and pick out a variation of the same thing every day because I buy whatever hides the chub the most. All very boring, mumsy stuff. Ugh.

I was very slim until I had my first son at 31. I didn’t really pay attention to it. I put on 3 1/2 stone between 4 kids and I felt rubbish, heavy and tired. I’m now losing the weight slowly, 1 and a bit stone to go and I feel great. Light and energetic.

A couple of years ago I lost 4st. Maybe I went a tad too far (reached a size 4) but to be honest I think I was pretty happy being a size 6. I was in a healthy weight and looked great! I'm also somewhat short 5Ft 3

I wonder the same often. Also what it’s like to be pretty. It must be so... different.

I'd like to ask all these slim women who say they wish they had more shape, what size would you like to be, ideally? And would you consider taking steps to get there?

I didn't make the most of it when I was younger and had my best body. I had lots of hang ups and covered myself up.

I have recently lost weight and I am size 8-10. It does feel nice, clothes hang better and I can wear clothes I wouldn't have tried before. However, I have wide hips so aren't straight up and down like I would like to be. As I ve got older I have become better at accepting myself. I try not to base my self worth on my body weight

Morriszapp i think a 10-12, but the important bit is with curves! If i was that size (i'm a 10 on the bottom), i still wouldn't have the shape I'd like as my boobs don't really increase in size in line with the rest of me. I basically just want bigger boobs 😬 so it's not really about clothes size, but the shape of your figure.

I was thin as a teenager, slim in my 20s and now, well I feel fat and wobbly.

When I was younger I didn't really appreciate my body. I never weighed myself. I did loads of sport. I never really thought about my body as such and didn't look in the mirror much. I also had zero fashion sense which I regret as I wore some awful unflattering clothes.

My BMI is 24.3 and I feel permanently exhausted (stress / sleep deprivation from DC). I went through a phase of comfort eating during the worst of the sleep deprivation and that tipped my BMI into overweight which spurred me to lose some. However, I am struggling to lose more and I really don't like my wobbles.

But I haven't any "quick wins" because I don't drink anything other than water and 1 glass of OJ a day, I don't eat sweets, don't eat puddings etc. I do eat some chocolate and biscuits but I'm taking a penguin bar a day type thing or a couple of squares of chocolate.

This thread has made me realise that I really do want to lose more though.

It feels hungry a lot of the time in my case.

Great question OP.
Just yesterday I was thinking similar, as I saw a lovely young lady walking round in some tiny shorts without a care in the world.

The only shorts I wear in public are knee length ones and only then (rarely) on holiday, but mostly I stick to trousers (not dresses cos chub rub and looking like a tent). The idea of wearing little shorties and happily going out because you know you look fine is absolutely alien to me. Even buying clothes from the front of the rail. I'm always delving right to the back, from the limited shops I can buy from. And as a consequence I loathe clothes shopping.

Every outfit I wear I am acutely aware of my bulk and how it disguises or shows my bum and stomach. I haven't work sleeveless tops for decades because of the flab and stretch marks on my arms.

I lost about 5 stone some years back. But all my old clothes still fit me so I never had that motivation to stay down there.

I've never been a delicate build. Always sturdy, but I wish I'd embraced the amazing figure I had up till my early 20s, because I was fit and toned as fuck and curves for miles.

I'm lanky more than thin per se, but I don't have much body fat and am 5' 10" and about a UK 8.

IME it is a pain in the arse getting clothes that fit – I have to choose between well-fitting in the body and short in the sleeve/leg or long enough in the sleeve/leg and about two sizes too big in the body.

I also get hungry suddenly, and about every two hours, and it can be quite debilitating (I get shaky, muddled and irritable).

I have to calibrate food for exercise very carefully, to the point where I bore myself thinking about it –I have to choose type and quantity of food carefully and get the timings right so I have enough energy but don't feel full or sick during exercise.

Basically, the grass is always greener.

5 foot 7 and a size 8.
I still have body issues, massive feet and hands, dodgy beak of a nose, frizzball hair and crooked teeth. I'm also top heavy.

I'm also nearly always cold. I hate swimming pools, they are always freezing.
My tolerance to alcohol is also quite pants.

It's nice to shop in the sales though, Zara always has the size XS in the sales. I like Zara.

I have been a 12 all the way up to a 20.

I think I'm a 14/16 now, but I'm actually okay with the way I feel about my body since I started running as it made me feel stronger.