To think that skinny doesn't equal pretty?

[MandyMcFly]

One of the prettiest most attractive women I know, is not super skinny, a size 14 she is. Lovely curves and a beautiful face.

A girl I know said about her today 'Yeah, she'd be lovely if she was skinny'

No, she's lovely the way she is. And whilst there are plenty of very slim women who are stunning, I dont think that you have to neccesarily be skinny.

Unfortunately it seems that in this society you have to be really thin to be considered beautiful and glamourous. I am a size 12, and spend so much time feeling worthless because I'm not as thin as I'd like to be, and that's not right is it. Im happy with every other aspect and that's enough for me!

So to all women who are not as small as maybe they want to be, you can still be just as beautiful, the most stunning woman I know is a size 14.

Tond... your friend and the 18/20 dress size pattern confirms me comment early on in this thread about my size 14 skirt from the 1970s barely covering one thigh now.

Re Mrilyn Monroe:

women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/fashion/article6044724.ece

She was a very unusual shape. I wish I was like her. I'm grooss at the moment but cab't stop overeating [sad}

Sorry link;

women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/fashion/article6044724.ece

My face looks more haggard when I am thinner but my clothes look better!I personal;ly prefer being slimmer and think most people do look better and sometimes a real beauty emerges from under a layer of fat on the face othertimes it leaves the person wrinkled and tired

My body shape is fatter than Marilyn Monroe's, but the same basic build. My vital stats are 39-29-39 (with 30J boobs), and I wear size 14-16 tops and size 12 bottoms. It is a nightlmare for clothes but blokes like it.

I consider myself reasonably pretty but with a need to lose a bit of weight - up to a stone. And I'd love a nork reduction too. But I am aware that if I got too thin my face would look less pretty - I have naturally big eye-bags and these would be exacerbated with less cheek fat. It was fine when I ws 20 but being 9stone now would not suit me.

OH says that it doesn't matter if a woman is fat or thin, they are attractive if they look healthy. That's good as I am quite chubby!

I also think there is a difference between skinny and slim. Skinny looks unhealthy surely? I called my friend skinny once, she was not happy.

I am currently heavier than I like to be, but I am aiming to get down to a 14 and no lower - I am carrot shaped and have no arse, my bottom now (at a size 18-20 on top) is a 14, so when I get my gigantaboobs and shoulders down to a 14, I'll be buying size 10 jeans! Can't win, I like my bum atm, but hate belly and boobs, loose the belly and boobs, lose the arse also.

I think I'll be healthy at a 14 - I'll be at the upper end of my "healthy" weight on the charts.

Skinny as in emaciated? No that's not a good look. When these celebrities do odd diets to be a size 0 two weeks after giving birth and end up looking gaunt makes me pitty their lifestyle choices.

Nothing wrong with being thin though. In my head the "ideal" size is a size 12. I'm a 16/18 and doubt I'd ever manage to be a size 12. I'm 5'9 and a medium natural build although a bit portly now I aspire to be a size 14 as that is the size I look most normal, but I don't obsess about it.

I've had 3 babies in 5 years and my body has changed dramatically. But I'd rather have a bit of a bit of a podgy body and 3 beautiful babies than the perfect body and to never have had kids at all.

MM ranged from 8 and a half stone to about 10 at her fattest at my height - 5 foot 5.

Most people think Ulrika J is too thin.

Most women of average height look best around 8 and a half to 9 and a half stone. Different if you're taller.

Size 8 / 10 usually looks best. Size 6 often looks awful as does 16. In other words a healthy BMI unles syou're a weight lifter or female rugby player or 6 foot is about right.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. If you are sexy in your mind and confident about it, people will find you sexy. One of my briefer relationships was with a woman who was about 6' 2" and well over 20 stone (well over). She was absolutely and totally gorgeous and knew it. And she spent most of her life batting back the offers from both men and women. In her mind she was a sex goddess, which transformed her into one physically.
What makes a woman unattractive is continually harping on about her own weight, eating one lettuce leaf a fortnight and moaning that if she was a size 6, she'd be happier and someone would love her - what bollocks.
I could never be bothered with a woman who was scared of a pie.

Obviously being very thin does not make a woman pretty or sexy in the eyes of men. For many young women who become underweight, part of the attraction of being very thin is that they get less sexual attention from men.

All this nonsense about Marilyn Monroe being a size 16 annoys me. She was not a 16 in the way that it is in the UK. It just gives plump women an excuse to overeat. 'CURVY' -is such an annoying euphemism for fat.

Extreme skinniness is not good but nor is fat.

BOTH are unhealthy.

lol Gay40....I'm certainly not scared of pies
(down in 1)
however, when I look at fat people I just think lazy slobs who don't give a shit.... & have never found a fat person sexually attractive, no matter how confident they are..

but agree that women constantly on diets (and talking about them) are crushing bores...

Agree. You wanta healthy weight without going on about weight and food all the time. Candida Crewe's book Thin is about herself so obsessed. It's very sad to read and she's not even fat.

Just to say healthy is most beautiful whether that be slighlty fat or slightly thin. I hated my body all through my 20s (size 10 and 5"10) Then at 30 I had my DD and went up to an 18.. Hated my body then too.. Now I am a 14 and am really happy with how I look because I have reached a point in my life where I know I am sexy.

Agree foureleven

I don't think Nigella looks nice at all, really doesn't do it for me, if I was into women that is. Also, I'm fairly skinny I guess but I do have boobs. Currently 5 months pregnant so doesn't count but am a 34F :o Before I was a D so I still had a chest and a size 8. I don't like the way thinner women get slated and called "skinny" and "no boobs" etc, because it just isn't true. I can't help the way I look, I don't really exercise much, other than walking and I eat what I fancy.

I don't judge anyone based on the way they look, whether they be bigger or smaller as it just isn't fair.

Very few people are the 'perfect' shape - and what's perfection anyway? it changes with fashion. I think anyone who strays too far from their natural shape looks silly. If you are naturally tall and large framed, you look ridiculous dieting to extremes and having surgery. If you are naturally small, you won't look good if you're massively overweight.
People who are aware of their natural shape and play to its strengths always look better anyway. One of the most attractive women I know is quite large and tall, but she wears beautiful clothes which flow amazingly, always in the right colours and tone for her, and she always wears flat shoes (beautiful styles but no heel) so that she doesn't totter around looking ridiculously tall.

If you believe in yourself, its definitely more than half the battle.

I think that the way forward is to look at what the medical establishment consider to be a healthy weight for a person's height (and this can vary up to a couple of stone to factor in different body frames) and try to stay within these healthy limits.

That way a person will not be too thin or too fat.

After all, it should be about health when all is said and done.
I don't think it's good to be very underweight or very overweight just because a man may find either of the extremes attractive.

Who wants to be with a person who wants them to starve themselves or, at the other end of the scale, gorge themselves on cream cakes to be fatter. Madness.

Tondelayo and Catrinm that info about Marilyn Monroe is really interesting, thanks for posting that! I love MM, fascinating and beautiful woman.

I definatly agree that self confidence plays a massive part in how attractive you feel.

I've gone from a size 8 to a size 14 over past few years. When my dp told me he prefers me how I am now rather than skinny size 8, I genuinely did not believe him at first. Quite sad really.

He probably doesn't mean it. Most women look better at size 8 and size if you're normal height is a healthy weight within a healthy BMI range and size 14 is getting outside it or the upper limit of it.

There are plenty of stunning women who are large. Can't think of men off the top of my head - though Nick Whatsisface from Hot Fuzz is defo attractive. Has Jill Scott been mentioned yet? Thing is, IMO (and here I include my own experience as well as that of other people), when overweight people lose weight they usually look more attractive, rarely less so. So if the likes of Jill Scott and Nigella Lawson ever slimmed down, men would actually be collapsing at their feet!

I consider myself to be a perfectly normal height (5'11") but I would have to be very ill to be small enough to fit into a size 8 (UK anyway). I look good at round about a size 12, which is the size I am when fit and healthy. I'm not sure dress sizes have changed that much, I can still fit into the dress my sister made for me when I was 16, and I was a size 12 then too. But sizes do vary a lot between different shops and different cuts can affect sizing a lot too.

It would be nice if the media showed a variety of attractive shapes and sizes and didn't harp on about thinness so much. When meeting people what makes them attractive is generally their character in any case, and as you get older I think that the sort of person you are really shows more and more in your face, due to the lines that form. One of the most beautiful people I have known was my godmother who was fantastically wrinkly - because her life had been full of love and laughter and it really showed.