Twiggy… omg

[Newsenmum]

I knew she was skinny but I never knew how bad it was! Looking at those photos of her in the 60s is painful.Why do we do this to ourselves? Have we done this since time began?

I was just reading how in the Victorian times there was another skinny phase where women liked to look skinny and weak like they’d had TB. Awful!

Does anyone know if it’s ever been fashionable to be healthy?

Agree with PP who said slim people eating what they want doesn’t mean just eating and eating.

I’ve always been slim. Now aged 59 and still eating what I want but it’s about half what I ate in my 20s!

I’ve never enjoyed junk food much and cook from scratch. I don’t eat snacks very often as I prefer to feel hungry for my next meal.

edited to add I also really dislike feeling too full and sluggish after eating.

I've seen quite a lot of MM’s clothes up close in exhibitions and they were indeed strikingly small - especially given all the nonsense about her being a size 16 etc. In her 30s her ribcage/underbust was only 28in, her waist 23in & her hips 33.5in. That’s pretty tiny. Her BMI was at the lowest end of healthy. It’s not necessarily true that 50s models were smaller than modern ones. Yes, Barbara Goalen had her astonishing 18in waist but Jean Patchett at 5’9” was 34 23 35 while Kaia Gerber is 31 24 34 (and her mum Cindy was 34 24 34 when she started out).

Some people admitting that they don't eat for days doesn't mean that other people are not being honest.

Perhaps not. But I doubt too many women in their 40s or 50s maintain Naomi Campbell or Liz Hurley levels of slimness without significant sacrifice.

I'm just making the point that people have referred to Naomi and others on this thread as examples of naturally thin but they are well documented examples of women who were going to extreme measures to stay slim. I don't disagree that there are naturally very slim women who don't do anything extreme, but the fact is that in the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s diet pills (think Judy Garland), crash diets (grapefruit diet and cabbage soup diet for examples) and taking illegal drugs (I'm not pointing any fingers but there is a reason it was called heroin chic) were common. Were women naturally thinner overall? Sure, but they weren't all effortlessly skinny.

l must be one of the exceptions that proves the rule. I have that level of slimness. It doesn’t take significant sacrifice.

However, what you regard as a sacrifice may be insignificant to me.

Just wondering, not judging at all, do you go to bed hungry and fast for long periods? I am wondering because I know when I am at my healthiest weight it requires me to feel pretty hungry so getting and keeping my weight healthy requires me to get into the mindset to embrace being hungry. I don't think it's unhealthy to fast and be hungry but I think someone who is "naturally thin" doesn't feel as hungry as the rest of us.

I knew this thread would be chock full of little ‘uns bigging themselves up. Well done I guess?

Strange. I expected it to be full of nasty comments implying anybody naturally slim must be unhealthy or starving themselves or have an eating disorder and piling on with faux horror at how terrible they look, and a quick look through shows my prediction to be largely correct.

I managed it right through my 40's & 50's with no sacrifices at all. Never diet, could eat whatever I wanted. Not that I resemble a supermodel at all but the slimness yes. Always had a 25/26 inch waist, still do at 60. It does happen.

No, I have a snack before I go to bed. I don’t fast at all.

I’m not sure I would describe myself as naturally slim. I put on quite a bit of weight when I left home and went to university, and I’m sure I would put on weight if I went on an all inclusive e holiday or a cruise because I would want to get my money’s worth.

Good for you.

I said 'not many women'. Not 'no women'.

Yes, it does happen but the majority of middle aged women with bodies like Liz or Naomi don't get them from drinking lots of water and running around after the kids.

That's so glamorous!

We had to catch the bus to junior school, it was quite a long way but we would walk home and spend our bus fare on sweets.
One gobstopper could go quite a long way to rotting your teeth!

If I knew then what I know now 😁

If I want to keep weight down I have to either say no a lot.

Keep alcohol consumption low No sugary drinks or at least many just one a week

Or fast at least two days a week.

It's hard in todays world of fast Food convenience food
Frappes and quick lunches to always stay on track. Temptation is everywhere and insulin resistance is absolutely a thing.

I don't fast at all but fast food and sugary drinks aren't even on my radar. I just don't want them and never have.

Probably because they all smoked.

Japan does that. There is shame in being overweight there and I think you can be fined (😯).

The fining could be an urban myth though.

I think this must be life style or the environment you live in.
Many people don't regard low alcohol consumption as denying themselves.
Most people don't regard not having sugary drinks as denying themselves.

I am not confronted with fast, convenience food in a way that makes it hard to avoid them.
I have never had a frappe. I don't know what you mean by having a quick lunch to stay on track. A quick lunch can be a couple of Gregs steak bakes, or a tuna and salad pitta.

6-8 in American sizing is 10-12.

Still slim!

@Sleepydoor Cocaine is an appetite suppressant, don't forget.

She's a big fan of marching powder!

I just looked up Liz's stats (rather than Naomi as I know she is v tall!).
The internet says:
Her measurements were: 36-24-34 inches (chest-waist-hip) and her bra size is 34D. Hurley is 5 feet 8 inches (1.73 m) tall, weighs 61 kg.

Who knows if this is correct and I don't know what she is now.

But, it's not that slim or unusual, is it? Wasn't Liz's popularity more due to her beauty rather than her exceptional model stats?

Surely there's a range of choices between Liz Hurley going hungry or gorging herself. It's just as unhealthy for people to be denying themselves to the point of permanent hunger as massively over eating. Why couldn't Liz H eat some fruit before bed or eat healthy, filling meals? It's screwed up. Back in the day, before Liz began on her quest to try to delay time and spend her days in bikinis being photographed by her son, she was much more curvy and attractive and probably less hungry.

She was 6-8 in modern British sizes. She was 12 in her day.

I had a friend at school who had a Twiggy-like figure. It’s just how she was built. But, at seventeen she suddenly developed big boobs & used to hunch over to try & disguise them. Kate Moss was the style icon of the time, and we all wanted to be skinny. Including my skinny friend!

Exactly, I think Mumsnet is frankly quite bad at understanding that most people operate at a middle ground between "stuffing their face" and "permanently undernourished celebrity". Yes, I have about half a stone to lose- but I would hate to live like Liz Hurley!