So THIS is what the "Size Zero" craze has caused.....LONG

[AriRashkae]

Ugh! I hate shopping retail for clothes. Sizes lie. I'm usually an 8, but have had to go up to 12. (According to Simplicity and McCalls I'm a 16. Sometimes I toss that # out when asked for a size. At least it's consistent across brands. ) And fit's only good until you get it home and wash it. At least at Goodwill and Savers, I know that they've taken abuse already, and aren't likely to change on me! I'm 5'3", 130-135 lbs, and I wish I had those 20lbs back from high school! They were farm earned muscle mass, so having kids actually cost me weight.

And my (2 year old) son's new pediatrician told me that the family should switch to skim from whole so we could lose weight? WTF? I told him I grew up on raw, and that whole is like skim to me. Not going any lower.

I also have never (except jokingly) asked my husband if I looked fat. I'll ask him if certain clothes are flattering, especially in the rear, since I can't see it well. He's happy to oblige.

<end rant>

[thegiraffe]

I am 6' tall, weigh approx 200 lbs (probably more now since I quit smoking 10 weeks ago) According to the BMI that I just had to do for my insurance, I am 55 lbs overweight. Neither me or my fiance can see where I could possibly lose 55 lbs. I could see being able to lose 20-25, but not 55. I'm currenly a 36/30/39 which really isn't bad measurments wise.

I question those results, Banrion.

I'm 6' and roughly 160 lbs, and according to the BMI, I'm smack-dab in the middle of 'average' (funny....the only thing I'm average in lol).




Back ON topic (kinda)...
I find it annoying when people tell me how "small" I am lol. Now, I'm not fat, but it's mildly amusing when they don't take all of me into account - i.e. my height. I'm 6' tall - there's a lot of me. Yes, I wear a size 10 jeans (like 6 dress). No, don't argue with me. It just gets really old when people are like "you're so little!", and I just look at them and tell them that there's a lot more of me than meets the eye. I'm bigger than I look - trust me.

/end rant

[blas]

I can't believe a country obsessed with trying to be healthy (despite over half the population being overweight) encourages women who are taller than average to weigh as much as a woman who is 5 feet tall should weigh. It's so gross. I think "high fashion" wants us to look like people in concentration camps from the 40s.

I want to lynch Tyra Banks every time I watch her show and see her go on rampages about "Self confidence! Be happy with who you are!" then turn it around on America's Next Top Model and tell a girl she needs to lose weight or she's "plus size" even though she's probably AVERAGE weight for her height.

[Seshat]

(According to Simplicity and McCalls I'm a 16. Sometimes I toss that # out when asked for a size. At least it's consistent across brands. )

My clothing-pattern size ranges from 16 to 26, depending on which part of me you measure! I loooove multi-fit patterns. I make my muslin drafts by determining which size to use on which part of the body, then drawing smooth curves from each point to the next.

Anyway, I just wanted to concur with JustADude. Family and friends can do a lot to wreck a person's self-image of their own body.

[Lace Neil Singer]

My mum does that without even thinking; like if she says, "Are you sure you don't want to lose weight?" or "You know, you'd be even prettier if you lost some weight." I just tell her I'm happy the way I am and she stops, but imagine how it would be for someone not used to standing up for themselves. I can see how that would totally erode someone's confidence. For me, I just want to be able to eat chocolate cake and put cheese on pasta rather than sourly poke at salad and drink mineral water. I do try and eat healthily, but I'm no obsessed the way some women are.

My boyf loves my curves and my boobs and even says that he hates skinny women; and not just in my hearing either. XD One of my male mates told me about a date he had where he took this girl to a classy restaurant and she just ordered a starter and picked at it. He felt insulted cuz he likes a girl to enjoy her food if he takes her out. Otherwise he doesn't see a point.

[Shabo]

On another note, your description of yourself reminded me of an ex-girlfriend with massive body image issues.

She was 5-foot-nothing, very petite frame, busty, curvy, great face, smart, funny, and generally just about perfect except for her fashion sense... but she had a worse self-image than I did*.

Def not me. I am not terribly busty or curvy, and I have no body image issues.

I, personally, blame her family and her first boyfriend, who all deserved a run through the , not only for that, but for their own individual asshattery and Sucky Customer offenses.

Family and boyfriends can do some serious damage. I've had issues with exs too that have left some deep wounds.

One of my male mates told me about a date he had where he took this girl to a classy restaurant and she just ordered a starter and picked at it. He felt insulted cuz he likes a girl to enjoy her food if he takes her out. Otherwise he doesn't see a point.

I second that. I grew up in a Portuguese home. We were taught to eat everything on our plate, although I usually bring leftovers home from restaurants. The portions here in the US are just too big for a normal maintenance diet. (Which is yet another reason there is such an obesity problem)

[Seshat]

We were taught to eat everything on our plate, although I usually bring leftovers home from restaurants. The portions here in the US are just too big for a normal maintenance diet. (Which is yet another reason there is such an obesity problem)

It can be a problem. How do you teach a child who just wants chips to eat a healthy diet, without telling them to eat what they're given and be grateful for it?

My friend has a daughter at that age. 'I'm hungry' 'Okay. Go eat what you didn't eat for dinner.' 'I want chippies!' 'You're not getting chippies until you've eaten your dinner.'

*sigh*

At least we're trying to avoid the 'you must eat everything on your plate' problem. We're working on 'eat your dinner before you eat treat food' and 'you must try new foods before you decide you don't like them'.

[auntiem]

Funny story, but it's an 'urban legend' according to snopes.com
http://www.snopes.com/travel/trap/congress.asp

That list gets emailed to me once and awhile.

I have actually had a similar conversation with more than one lady returning from Fresno and I thought they were teasing me at first because of the list.

OT I've also had someone call me all upset because the TSA marked her bag as "messy" - then I looked up her itinerary. She had flown to New Orleans (MSY).

[mariamousie1]

I hate the obsession with weight. Who wants to be a stick anyway? And what's with size zero? Wouldn't that make you invisible? You'd think 1 would be the lowest. That woman should be happy that she has food and money, and is not starving.

[Pezzle]

Just to be a PITA, I hate it when people tell me not to worry about my weight when I'm obviously overweight in an unhealthy fashion. I'm about 100 pounds overweight on the up end of the scale.

"Don't worry about it, you're beautiful, your friends like you just the way you are..."

Yeah, are you going to like it when I'm suffering from adult onset diabetes and heart failure?

[Broomjockey]

Stepping in here to say that if you want to debate obesity, there's a nice place called "Fratching" linked on the main page to do so.

[NightAngel]

Actually there is a discussion going on there about it currently:
Fashion and Size

Thanks folks.

[Pezzle]

Actually there is a discussion going on there about it currently:

This is the part where I say:

"The point is, she was way out of line and a total bitch, end of discussion"

[blas]

Does anyone remember the episode of Seinfeld where it was revealed that Jerry changes the size of his pants from 32 to 31 and George tells his fiancee and everyone finds out?

[NightAngel]

To the not eating on dates thing- I know for some people it's an issue of nerves being on the first date or two. But then, some people are self-conscious of eating in front of a prospective.

However, I do not have that problem. I figure if a guy likes me he has to like me when I'm eating as well otherwise it's just not going to work is it? In the distant past (before I got married) I remember a couple of dates where the guy would say, "Wow, it's nice to be out with a woman who actually EATS at the restaurant!"