Male here: 6’1", 140 pounds on a good day. I get shit from people all the time, though I probably pack in 4000+ calories a day. Men do suffer body image problems, though we’re probably less likely to talk about them than women. Still, you’d never see my skinny little bird chest on a male model.
Lucky for me I’m a rock n’ roller, so my body type is somewhat expected… I’ve been compared to both Dave Johansen and Mick Jagger. Dunno whether that’s good or not, but it seems to work well for them.
[raises hand]
If you explained to them that you were honestly full and they kept that shit up, I would have eaten as much as I could and then puked all over the fucker. Which obviously wouldn’t have done much for the whole “I’m NOT bulimic, you ass” image, but hey.
6’5" and maybe 145 pounds after a full meal. I would occassionally get comments about being anorexic or needing to eat more or the like. Still do sometimes, it’s just a lot more rare recently, since I’m mostly only doing things with my friends and they all know I eat more than they do…
And man, those all-you-can-eat places are in danger of going out of business any time my friends and I stop in… 
It really is obnoxious for people to comment on other’s weight, irrespective of thinness or fattness.
I’ve had complete strangers inquire as to whether I’m annorexic (I’m not), if I actually eat (I do), and if I often barf up my dinner (I don’t).
I’ve found the best response (as far as shutting someone up goes), is to say “Why yes - I AMannorexic; DON’T eat; DO barf!” and then offer a big smile.
Typically, people just shut right the hell up. 
(Although my mom says it’s rude.)
Nah, just tell them that you do eat a lot but that you’re extremely picky, only eat your favourite, and human flesh is just so expensive these days…
Guaranteed they won’t ask anymore questions.
I was 130 lbs and 5’ 11" for many years, before I managed to pack on the weight. What did it to me was the flu. I caught it and didn’t eat for several days, when I recovered I found that if I waited too long between meals I got light-headed. I tried damn near everything I could to put weight on. Finally, what it took was drinking a Slim Fast at least twice a day for two years, along with three meals. That finally added enough calories to my diet (and I was averaging a lot of calories before this, roughly 1,500 a meal) that I was able to pack on some weight. Now, I’m up to about 170 lbs and if I drop any, my doctor starts freaking out, even though some of the weight isn’t exactly in the best of places (no ass and a bit of a belly).
Used to hate hearing, “I wish I could be as skinny as you!” from all my female relatives and friends. Yeah, well I would have happily traded the harassment I got for being skinny (“Hey! He’s a scrawny little runt! It’ll be easy to kick his ass!”) in exchange for enough pounds to get me off the bullies radar.
Oo! Oo! I did that! Only I had to add several egg whites for extra protein. (But that can interfere with the abosorption of other stuff, so I couldn’t do that for long stretches of time.) I ended up quite buff 'cause I was working out a lot too. I was built like Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2.
Hulkamaniac flexing pose Arrrrr…
OK, I’m male, 5’9" , 115 lbs.
I could still wrestle at the weight I was my junior year, 10 years ago.
Yes, we do get shit for it too. I was at a friend’s batchelor party this summer, when a friend of his I didn’t know made a comment about how “scrawny” I was. This asshole was 6’1", maybe 260. A good portion of the 260 was beer. So, with my best :dubious: , I looked from his ample belly, to his face, to his belly, to his face. Message received.
Oh boy! I’ve been pitted! Funny, I almost added a disclaimer. I’m a thin person and I eat a lot. I used to be skinny and was occasionally accused of being anorexic, so it’s not like I go around bashing people for being thin. I was making a comment about one particular person, who I believe has an eating disorder. I cannot imagine that someone could end up looking like that in a healthy way. Did you guys actually look at her? She has no breasts and little flesh on her upper arms, and as someone pointed out, she did used to be a normal but skinny person. I spent some time in a refugee camp where a substantial number of people were malnourished, and few looked as bad as her. I find the idea that someone would look like a starving refugee on purpose offensive, independent of my concerns about the way it promotes eating disorders.
Are we really not allowed to have an opinion about the way people look? Nobody looks good in everything, and most people try to wear clothes that conceal their flaws rather than accentuate them. This is a woman who has people whose job it is to pick out her clothes. If she wore a dress like Rene Zellweger’s, for example, we wouldn’t have even noticed her condition.
Chula said, "Are we really not allowed to have an opinion about the way people look? "
Sure, you can have an opinion. You just shouldn’t vocalize it to the person’s face! It’s rude and insulting, and many people, who have desperately tried to gain weight (or lose weight) for years will feel downright hurt. I was 86 lbs. 15 years ago. It wasn’t fun. My problem was due to depression. I now weigh 100 lbs and I feel great, even though people still give me shit about how thin I am.
I’m gonna step up for all the ‘thick’ people here…**cichlidiot
**SHUT UP!!! SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!!!
The fat people of the world (myself included) envy the thinnies because that’s what society wants us all to look like. Period. I myself have been on a diet for the last year and a half trying to get skinny. I have dieted, I have exercised and yet I am still not thin enough! You thin people have NOTHING to bitch about!NOTHING! At least you are thin,be proud of that. Be proud you can fit into fashionable stuff that actually looks decent on you instead of making you look like a stuffed sausage. Be glad you can call yourself a thinnie instead of a fattie. Fatties get the bulk of the teasing and what not because we are fat. The world puts so much emphasis on being skinny that there are 200+ diets out there and probably well over a million ways to work out to GET SKINNY!! All the CUTE clothes come in small sizes for SKINNY people and if they DO come in a size over a size 10,it’s usually gonna look pretty damn ridiculous on a fat person. We get to wear ugly clothes because that’s all designers come up with for us. There are no such things as cute clothes for fat people and the few things that ARE cute are usually too damned expensive for those of us on a limited budget who can’t afford to spend 80 bucks on a damn teeshirt(grrs at Maxim magazine).So shut the FUCK up,cichlidiot. I’m tired of hearing the skinny people whine.Really.
IDBB
(who apologizes for going mental but this is a very sensitive point for me)
When I graduated high school, I was 5’10" and 110 lbs.
I ate, just didn’t have the metabolism, I guess.
Now, many many years later, i am up to 130 (with great difficulty) and trying to go higher or heavier as the case may be.
IDBB:
Nothing to bitch about? REALLY? How about irregular periods and infertility due to being underweight? People making jokes about you having no tits and being called pencil legs? Being hungry ALL THE TIME? Hell, I’ll wake up at 3 am needing FOOD or I can’t get back to bed. That’s after having 3 good meals a day. The FAT girl at school used to make fun of me for how much I ate - so I wasn’t eating little.
This is less of an issue for me now - my body has gotten used to getting a lot of exercise and is currently gaining weight (or my muscle mass is slackening) due to me not being able to go to the gym, which I did in order to put on weight - Linda Hamilton was my rolemodel for a healthy female body when I was a little girl. I wanted to have arms like that! Hell, I still do… and hopefully when I get back to the gym I will again ;D But for now I’m trying to tame (read ignore) my appetite and eat less - which is hard. I’m sure I don’t need to say how hard.
Kristin, 5’9" and probably 135 lbs (no scales in the house)
(Slightly jealous of how you look in a bikini maybe, but that’s a whole 'nother story. )
I know you added a wink Bella and it did make me laugh, but I’m tellin’ you if you saw me in a bikini, there’s nothing to be jealous of.
As to I_Dig_Bad_Boys, “The fat people of the world (myself included) envy the thinnies because that’s what society wants us all to look like.” As has already been pointed out in this thread, I doubt all overweight people feel that way. I also doubt all of society wants you to look a certain way. I certainly don’t.
As to the rest of your statements. I feel I already addressed them in my OP. Since I feel that one group does not hold a monopoly on being teased or painful experiences, I guess I’ll have to agree to disagree. As far as this being a sensitive topic for you, reading this thread, it appears you are not the only one.
For Chula. I didn’t pit you necessarily, just the overall attitude. I enjoy your posts here for the most part, and I also appreciate you clarifying the observations you made. I’m still glad I started this thread, Bella, yourself, and others have given me some things to think about, and one of them not mentioned includes the idea that I could possibly be taking some of the comments directed at celebrities too personally. I identify with the having no boobs to speak of look, as well as some of the other put downs attributed to the celebrites mentioned on this topic. I wasn’t hoping to crucify you or tell you you are a bad person. I still have the opinion that alice_in_wonderland expressed, “It really is obnoxious for people to comment on other’s weight, irrespective of thinness or fattness.” I can take into account now some other things learned in this thread, when I hear those comments.
“Nah, just tell them that you do eat a lot but that you’re extremely picky, only eat your favourite, and human flesh is just so expensive these days…”
Can I use that.
Being a “thinnie” isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Venoma and I are almost the same size and I think she could pass for my sister.
I’m five foot nine and 140 pounds soaking wet. When I was in high school I wrestled and my fighting weight was 119 pounds. When you’re that size, you tend to draw a lot of attention from the no neck punks who cruise the hallways. On the bright side I’m all muscle and I am way stronger than I appear.
I have a freakishly high metabolism and have to maintain a steady intake of food to avoid going into hypoglycemic shock. Three decent meals per day and lots of snacking between is the usual routine. If I fail to do this I could find myself in shock, this is not like getting light headed from missing a meal but could be life threatening especially if I am doing something like driving. I consume a minimum of 4000 calories a day and when I am working out that number can go up to 7000 + just so I can add a pound or two.
My blood sugar is so low in the morning it’s all I can do to stumble into the kitchen and get my first meal of the day. If I oversleep is it nearly impossible to get up.
Sounds like fun huh?
If I were to get a bad case of the flu I do not have any reserve, I had pneumonia about ten years ago and lost 20 pounds.
Being underweight has it’s own particular health risks and I straddle the line between being thin and in serious trouble every day.
Venoma - at least no-one gives me flack about having no tits and (btw - you look great). People constantly tell me that I need to eat something or that I am too skinny.
Fuck em…
ANYONE who comments on anyone else’s weight or eating habits should be told to MYOFB. What do they think: You don’t know what you look like?
My dad has always been extremely thin- he barely tops 130 and he’s 6’6". He’s also been a smoker, which I would imagine was a large factor, but he also eats a lot, so I have no idea where all the food goes (same place as the cigarette smoke I guess).
He’s had medical problems his whole life- many surgeries done to his feet to correct misshapen bones, several bouts of pneumonia, a collapsed lung, and an intestinal obstruction. I know the smoking is a big factor, but I also think that his inability to gain weight might also be a reason. People seem to lose weight during hospital stays, but my dad has almost no body fat on him in the first place. When he got an intestinal obstruction, we were very worried about him.
A few years ago he moved to a more rural area and was more active, which is good. He still smokes, but has scaled back the frequency of it and the strength of the cigarettes. He has improved his diet, and he gets more excersize by going on walks and cutting/carrying firewood, but he still gets out of breath if he moves any faster than a slow amble.
So you think it’s less hurtful to hear “You’re so thin it’s disgusting.” than it is to hear “You’re so fat it’s disgusting.”?
Get over yourself. You don’t have the market cornered on being confronted because of your weight.
Maybe my cousin would be proud of his thinness, except he can’t be because he’s dead!
So I guess he isn’t “bitching about” being thin anymore, either.
The very condition that gave him his “enviable thinness” (the same that made Abraham Lincoln so tall and slender) took his life away at the age of 32. He complained of a back ache and then collapsed. He never had any apparent health problems. It was quite sudden and very unexpected.
So with all due respect, bite me!