# Are scrawny women an adaptation to overpopulation?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scrawny-women-an-adaptation-to-overpopulation/439992>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [March 4, 2008, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scrawny-women-an-adaptation-to-overpopulation/439992 "2008-03-04T02:30:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2008, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scrawny-women-an-adaptation-to-overpopulation/439992/21 "2008-03-04T22:33:26Z")

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Lol, well, that is a six pack, but I think people other than bodybuilders can have six packs and not look insanely muscular. Basically, anyone with really defined abs with no flab has a six pack, IMO.

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**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2008, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scrawny-women-an-adaptation-to-overpopulation/439992/22 "2008-03-05T16:13:08Z")

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[QUOTE=tremorviolet]  
… she’s clearly dieted down to very low body fat.  
[/QUOTE]

I’ll bet she hasn’t. I’ll bet she consumes twice the calories you do.

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**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2008, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scrawny-women-an-adaptation-to-overpopulation/439992/23 "2008-03-05T16:53:12Z")

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[QUOTE=saoirse]  
I’ll bet she hasn’t. I’ll bet she consumes twice the calories you do.  
[/QUOTE]

She may consume more calories (although I also lift and am fairly [muscular](http://www.flickr.com/photos/7161556@N03/2240629606/in/photostream/) but don’t have such [defined abs](http://www.flickr.com/photos/7161556@N03/2240633134/in/photostream/)) but she’s had to restrict her calories to keep her bodyfat low enough to have those visible abs. Most female body builders don’t look anywhere near that lean in the off-season and modify their diets specifically for shows.

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**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2008, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scrawny-women-an-adaptation-to-overpopulation/439992/24 "2008-03-05T17:50:06Z")

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The woman in that photo (Lisa Bickels, I think) is in contest shape. She would have been dieting seriously for the previous 12-16 weeks, and is borderline starving all the time. At that point there’s little heavy lifting going on, mostly cardio.

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**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2008, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scrawny-women-an-adaptation-to-overpopulation/439992/25 "2008-03-05T18:13:59Z")

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[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas]  
If a woman gets too skinny, she will lose her reproductive cycle and be unable to breed.  
[/QUOTE]  
A female owner of a sports nutrition store told me that when her body fat hit about 15%, her cycle stopped.

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