Why do people place so much importance on weight?

[Tanaquil]

Obviously it's nice to feel thin/in shape/whatever, but why do people seem to judge all this by weight? I think it's ridiculous--different builds carry weight differently so two people the exact same height and weight could look completely different. And the whole idea of working out to lose weight--it just doesn't make sense to me. Excercising to lose fat, yes, but weight? Muscle weighs more than fat so if you're really working out it seems quite possible that you could gain weight.

 

Maybe I'm just getting a little defensive here, lol. I'm 5'4 and am somewhere around 135ish I think. Listening to some people talk on here it seems like I should consider myself to be fat but that's ridiculous--people are always trying to get me to eat more and on occasion when weight has come up people are always suprised to find out that I weight what I do. I attribute it to a combination of my body type and natural muscle tone. So it works for me. It just gets on my nerves when there are all these people who seem to think that they have to weigh a certain amount to look good when it's like 'open up your eyes and look at yourself!'. There is NO magic number that anyone can tell you that will make every woman look amazing--there are too many factors for that to work.

[laRubiaBonita]

Obviously it's nice to feel thin/in shape/whatever, but why do people seem to judge all this by weight?

 

look at the cover of almost any magazine and you will see why.

 

it is broadcasted to men, women, and teens that certain shapes and sizes are what is beautiful.

 

the further an individual's physical characteristics deviate from the "standardized beauty" the less atrractive we are supposed to deem them.

[redfathom]

Tanaquil,

 

I posted on here about lossing weight. I am also 5'4" but I weight 145lbs. I would like to lose 10lbs - I know annoying, but I want that to be fat. I am very muscular with a ghetto boody. My messurments are 36.5 (size bra 34 c/d), 30, 38. So while I do not have as as small of a waist as I would like, I am happy with the rest. I posted on here that I wanted to loose an inch or two off my waist, tone my back and tone my arms just a bit. Actually my arms are very muscular - more then I would like them to be. I figure skate so the bottom half of me is almost pure muscle, with a large (perfect) butt - the butt thing is true, I get complimented on it all the time. So take into account, that I have legs which are almost all muscle, a larger then average butt, I look like I weigh less then I actually do. However I still can't get over that number 145...wow. I used to be 25lbs slimmer but I don't want to go back to that.

 

I acutally saw my Dr, because I am frustrated with the whole BMI calulation, according to my weight vs. height, I am overweight. A Dr. even mentioned it to me at the ER, he asked me if I lost weight and I said I had gained a little and he said the PC system said I am overweight but I am not any where near it. I told him according to what I should weigh I am overweight.

 

I think people should focus on there body fat percentage and not so much the pounds.

[LucreziaBorgia]

look at the cover of almost any magazine and you will see why.

 

... and on TV, movies, etc. The media feeds us images of women where size 0-4 is the ideal. I manage the newsstand where I work, and I put away magazines all day showing painfully thin cover girls. Tabloids praise celebs for losing weight (unless they go overboard, and they are equally denigrated for that), and celebs who are above a size 4 (say around a size 10-12) and are attractive are treated like they are some sort of anomaly when in fact, the average size of women in the US hovers around a size 14. Out of the scores of women's magazines I see, only one is designed for the average size woman, and uses average sized women for models and interestingly enough it doesn't sell well even though it more accurately reflects what women in the US are like weightwise.

[directx]

Well, I think the emphasis on being skinny regarding to tv celeberties is boring and out of control.

 

I LOVE full figured women as well. I like Queen Latifah or Rita Cosby and Mariah Carrey (if she is still heavy) and the big one of Salt and Peppa.

Oh yeah, and even Liv Tyler when she was heavy and her heavy sister.

 

I don't like sloppy fat though.

[Trialbyfire]

I'd rather the emphasis be on fitness. Not extreme fitness but healthy fitness. It can only be beneficial. Too many girls go on diet pills because they're fixated on being thin and are too lazy to get in reasonable shape or have eating disorders/body image problems. It's a frightening trend.

[Tanaquil]

However I still can't get over that number 145...wow. I used to be 25lbs slimmer but I don't want to go back to that.

 

That's exactly why I don't have scale. I think if I had one I would probably get more caught up in worrying about exactly what I weigh, but as it is, so long as I feel like I'm in decent shape I don't worry about what the numbers are so much.

 

I think people should focus on there body fat percentage and not so much the pounds.

 

So true! Totally agree with you there.

[VinaAmez]

I place a lot on mine.Highest I've ever been was 120 and that was from weight trainning. Couldn't take it anymore so I stopped and got back down. I looked like I had man arms, my butt got a little bigger so I had to go wear a size 5 in jeans. It was horrible and I felt huge.

[Enema]

A lot of indicators are silly to use.

 

Every single amateur or professional bodybuilder is classed as Obese on the commonly used BMI scale which simply judges your weight vs your height & sex.

 

How you look is far more important than the numbers.

[Trialbyfire]

I'm 105 lbs at a little under 5'3". I have a friend who weighs less than I do, with a similar height (she's about 1/2" shorter) but she wears a larger size than I do. I do try to keep toned (not buff) but she isn't much into staying in shape.