I've lost count with the amount of times I have seen 'weight loss photos' and friends of that person write comments such as "you're so skinny! I'm so jealous!". Is that what people really think and feel? are people actually jealous of those who have turned skinny? I guess so....
If someone goes from plump/overweight to skinny in a relatively short time (with no sign of going to a gym), then they have literally starved their bodies - gone on a very low calorie diet, or some kind of juice diet. Is that healthy? not at all. Women who are 'skinny' tend to have no real body shape, and they also think that because they're not fat, they must be healthy, that's not the case. Being skinny can bring some pretty serious issues.
The human body is not designed to be skinny, and to maintain a skinny physique, you would have to eat very little, which brings problems. Eating too few calories can lower your energy levels, which affects mood, focus, emotions, work ethic and so on. Being skinny also has a direct impact on your health. By not eating enough, your immune system becomes weakened, which leaves you open to many illnesses and bugs.
Looking at it from a physique point of view, skinny is not what people call 'attractive'. Being skinny gives you no real shape to your body, it simply shows your bone structure. Being dressed up in a fancy dress or an attractive outfit will probably look fine, because that will cover up the lack of shape. But as soon as you're in a bikini, or summery clothes, or without clothes, the skinny shape will be completely visible, and seeing bones isn't the best thing.
The main problem is that it does become an obsession. Wanting to be skinny is partly down to 'social pressure', but also down to past experiences. Some people who used to be 'big' could literally go to the other extreme - being skinny. I do understand why those people do it, and if they were bullied for being fat, they would want to be skinny so there is no fat on them, which means they can't be bullied. With cases like that, it's a mental issue, and they can be helped. I'm not a psychiatrist so I won't go into that. But it's more and more common to see people dropping a lot of weight, quickly, so they can be skinny, as they think that's what they should be like. By losing weight like that, you get rid of fat, but as well, fluid and muscle tissue - hence why skinny people don't have any real shape to their bodies. Muscle gives the body good shape, fat gives the body bad shape and skinny gives the body no shape. I follow a lot of athletic women on Twitter and they have great physiques, because they have worked on their muscle size/definition/tone.
If you starve yourself to get thin, then as soon as you start eating real food, you will put weight straight back on. I would say it's pretty impossible to eat a low calorie diet for the rest of your life, so weight gain is inevitable. However, if you do stick with that diet, then you will consistently have low energy and the other side effects of starving yourself.
Lee Gregory Fitness
