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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

... To surmise that 'naturally skinny' goes hand in with either eating or digestive disorders

216 replies

5ChildrenAndIt · 04/12/2014 12:27

The last counter-example in my circle of friends has just been diagnosed as Coeliac.

I now know no one who is vogue-slim without either food trauma in their past or under medical treatment for digestion or immune disorders.

I'm a bit unsettled by it tbh! Do skinny, healthy and happy people even exist?

OP posts:
BoulevardOfBrokenSleep · 04/12/2014 15:57

Just marking a place on here so I can refer back the next time there's a thread where everyone is shouting at us fatties that of course weight is not genetic and we're all just greedy slobs....

Bulbasaur · 04/12/2014 15:58

I was naturally skinny. Then my body was like "LOL You're not 20 anymore" and now I have to work at it. But I don't have to do much more than exercise daily and keep a relatively healthy diet.

Everyone's metabolism slows down as they get a bit older. So, adult women that are skinny are probably exercising or doing something to keep healthy.

HermioneDanger · 04/12/2014 15:59

I'm not naturally skinny but I am very slender at the moment. I have an eating disorder, which has been a part of my life since my teens (I'm now 36). I am 5'5" and wear a 4/6. Naturally I'm around an 8 so you'd probably say naturally slim. Skinny is, to me, underweight or bony, not slim as in an 8/10.

But then I have a very skewed opinion on body size Sad

TheGirlWhoPlayedWithFire · 04/12/2014 15:59

If I started this thread saying fat people just overeat would that be ok? Why is it ok the other way around?I've lost count of the times I've been accused of an eating disorder.

I am vogue skinny (bmi 17). Can see my hip bone not so much my ribs. However thanks to childbirth I now have a nice set of hips to offset the boobs. Tiny tummy though.

I eat a lot. I eat crap too. However I often am constantly eating rather than one big meal. I find big meals boring. I also drink a fair bit of alcohol. No eating disorder or illness.

I am just built this way.

And sometimes I'm happy, sometimes sad - that's mostly got to do with RL got fuck all to do with my weight. Wouldn't ever be on a diet either.

CarbeDiem · 04/12/2014 16:19

My dsis is exactly like you describe The girl
Bitch got the genes I was meant to have :) :)

She is mostly happy and has never had an eating disorder.

solidussnake · 04/12/2014 16:20

YABU. i have always been a size 8 and I eat meat and cheese and chocolate aand all sorts. when I was 13, I was a size 14 and absolutely massive, but I lost it as I got older. I lost half my body weight, I was 14st now I'm 7. I did it by doing...
nothing?
I'm naturally very slim and tiny like my dad is. My mum's a big woman and so is my sister. i'm naturally very, very small. I just have big legs. if I didn't have big legs, i'd easily be a 4-6. only korean clothes fit me because i'm way under 5' tall.

Writerwannabe83 · 04/12/2014 16:33

I'm 31 and am lucky that I can eat whatever I like. I'm 5ft 6" and weigh about 8st 10lb - but I still have curves in all the right places Grin

Greengrow · 04/12/2014 16:39

It depends what you mean by skinny. For average height UK women a weight of 8 - 10 stone is normal and healthy. Under 8 stone is a bit too thin.
Plenty of women in the 8 - 10 stone range do not have eating disorders.

The bigger issue is that 60% of people in the UK are fat not to put too fine a point on it and have lost sight of what is normal weight as they stuff their faces and eat unhealthy food.

Inthedarkaboutfashion · 04/12/2014 16:59

Just marking a place on here so I can refer back the next time there's a thread where everyone is shouting at us fatties that of course weight is not genetic and we're all just greedy slobs....

I said earlier that I think it is down to slim people eating less and moving more. I don't believe that the vast majority of overweight or underweight people have specific genes that contribute to their size. There has been a lot of people on here who have said they have been both slim and overweight so clearly for those people it isn't due to genetics because gene structure doesn't change. There are a few disorders that can affect weight but most people's weight is affected by their diet and level of activity.

GraceK · 04/12/2014 17:14

I'm an 8-12 (depending on the shop) & 42. I'm quite a fidgety person but not anxious & nervy. I love cooking & baking and have never been on a diet. I don't do a massive amount of exercise (1 hour of ballet a week & I got myself an adult kick scooter for my 40th so use that to get about town).

I just have a small appetite & good impulse control. I eat three meals a day and drink wine most evenings. I tend to eat anything that takes my fancy but four / eight squares of chocolate is usually enough. I couldn't eat an entire bar of anything if I tried.

I almost always surprised by how much other adults can eat.

aliciaj · 04/12/2014 18:21

I hate people saying thinhs like this its so prejudice to people who are born skinny. I have 3 children and am 30 but still weight just under 8 stone. I don't do anything special for it at present except for run around after the kids and walk a lot. I can't say I'm always healthy but balance out home cooked stuff with junk food. I have never restricted my eating.

ApocalypseNowt · 04/12/2014 18:38

There have been studies showing that 'naturally fat/skinny' or 'fast/slow metabolism' is pretty much a myth.

Basically people who claim a fast metabolism vastly overestimate how much they eat/exercise and the slow metabolism group vastly underestimates how much they eat/how little they exercise.

The only real exceptions (and there are relatively few) to this do tend to be due to health problems.

RabbitOfNegativeEuphoria · 04/12/2014 18:47

I don't think I have a fast metabolism. I know that I eat less than people who are fatter than me. But I eat plenty. I'm just lucky that I don't have a sweet tooth at all, and I don't drink. Its not something conscious, particularly, but I do enough conferences etc to observe that what people think is an acceptable amount of food for a meal can vary wildly.

Suzannewithaplan · 04/12/2014 18:47

There have been studies showing that 'naturally fat/skinny' or 'fast/slow metabolism' is pretty much a myth

there have also been overfeeding studies which show that the amount of weight gained in response to overfeeding varies from person to person, thereby showing that showing that 'naturally fat/skinny' or 'fast/slow metabolism' is not a myth.

Pick a theory, any theory, about the causes of obesity...there will be be studies which support it and studies which dont

RoastitBubblyJocks · 04/12/2014 18:48

I'm naturally skinny and eat lots, and not particularly healthily.

No health issues either. Confused

Kelly1814 · 04/12/2014 18:49

Yes, I'm one of them! Slim (5 foot 9 and 9 stone) I eat healthily, used to exercise more but baby means no time these days.

StickEm · 04/12/2014 18:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MarshaBrady · 04/12/2014 18:50

I don't think it's a myth either. That separated twin study is interesting - mostly genetic. But also there are probably other studies that say otherwise, not sure.

insancerre · 04/12/2014 19:01

I've only started to put weight on since I had the mireana fitted and I'm still only a size 10
As a teenager I was a 6 and put went up to an 8 after having DC
At 9 months I weighed 9 stone and then gave birth to a 8 lb 6oz baby
I eat what I want and dont do exercise. I bunked off pe and have never even been in a gym
I am naturally skinny. I don't have any disorders or underlying conditions
My DC have my metabolism. Dbs looks like a piece of string. He disappears when he turns sideways and he eats like a horse
Dd is the same
So op is wrong and just a bit jealous

Kelly1814 · 04/12/2014 19:04

Oh and I spent time with a pretty fat person recently and was staggered by what they ate. I thought I ate a lot but it was nothing compared to,this. It's all about calories in.....

tobysmum77 · 04/12/2014 19:08

yabu skinny is a vile word.

isn't overeating an eating disorder? Confused

Pyjamaramadrama · 04/12/2014 19:20

Most people who are described as skinny are just a normal, healthy size, we've got used to seeing fat people and equate that to normal.

Yes there are happy, healthy slim people, most of the ones I know tend to eat more reasonable sized portions and get regular exercise. There are some who are unhealthy and live on chocolate, fags and coffee. But it's just the same as overweight people, some eat healthily but their portions are too large, some just eat general crap.

aliciaj · 04/12/2014 19:21

Its not true for some peple apocalypse. Today I have cheerios, a large mcchicken sandwich meal with a side of cheese dippers, and the for tea I have just had sweet and sour chicken balls and mushroom fried rice from the chinese. I just don't put on weight and never have. All my family are the same including my children.

FamiliesShareGerms · 04/12/2014 19:24

I was "naturally skinny" until I got to 35 Sad

Pixel · 04/12/2014 19:49

The generation behind don't smoke, and are all much bigger.
I only got as far as this comment which made me Hmm. I've never smoked anything in my entire life and was always skinny despite eating like a horse. Until I had my second dc I was too 'light' to be allowed to give blood. Then I guess I got to a 'certain' age and also developed PCOS and I suddenly found the weight going on. Nowadays I have to work quite hard to avoid getting too big. It's the 'disorder' that's making me bigger, not the other way around.

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