Too skinny?

I keep changing my limit. Back when I was fat, I simply wanted to be 125 pounds (I'm 5'5"). Then I wanted to be 114, then it was 98, now it's even less. My limit now would be Inna Pilipenko at her skinniest, really. I gained a whole bunch of weight this year, ironically. I'm working on it though, I want to be a true "skinny gurl." This site is great inspiration.
 
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I'm 5'8 and know there are a lot of you this height who want to hit the 100 mark, but my frame and muscle mass mean that 112 really is as low as I could go without hurting myself :/ like someone else said on here, my periods stopped for 2 years at that weight and the only way I got them back was by increasing BF% >< 118-122 looked great though :)

I think it really depends on your frame and your natural BF storage pattern (ie: apple, pear, hourglass etc) as to how low you should go. BMI doesn't shed any light on your lean muscles mass and bone density, so if you're an intense exercise girl with strong bones from it your BMI will be overestimating your true stats!
 
I'm 5'8 and know there are a lot of you this height who want to hit the 100 mark, but my frame and muscle mass mean that 112 really is as low as I could go without hurting myself :/ like someone else said on here, my periods stopped for 2 years at that weight and the only way I got them back was by increasing BF% >< 118-122 looked great though :)

I think it really depends on your frame and your natural BF storage pattern (ie: apple, pear, hourglass etc) as to how low you should go. BMI doesn't shed any light on your lean muscles mass and bone density, so if you're an intense exercise girl with strong bones from it your BMI will be overestimating your true stats!
Eh, I don't have any periods at my CW, but I'm not too concerned. My doctor said it's common with female athletes, and since my BF is very low, and I'm otherwise healthy (PERFECT bloodwork, etc), I'm not too fussed. I don't want kids, anyway, I have a history of thyroid/PCOS in my family so I never really had decent periods anyway :cool:
 
Eh, I don't have any periods at my CW, but I'm not too concerned. My doctor said it's common with female athletes, and since my BF is very low, and I'm otherwise healthy (PERFECT bloodwork, etc), I'm not too fussed. I don't want kids, anyway, I have a history of thyroid/PCOS in my family so I never really had decent periods anyway :cool:

Think that may have also been why mine stopped, I was training at the top level in my sport 8 times a week :/ if you don't want children though I know firsthand how awesome it feels to not have to deal with the rubbish each month xD

Problems start when you fall in love sadly! I really want children now I've met the right, so won't be pushing myself past my last LW again...
 
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Think that may have also been why mine stopped, I was training at the top level in my sport 8 times a week :/ if you don't want children though I know firsthand how awesome it feels to not have to deal with the rubbish each month xD

Problems start when you fall in love sadly! I really want children now I've met the right, so won't be pushing myself past my last LW again...

I understand that whole thing... I don´t know what the fuzz about that special time per month is, like it was something to be proud or happy about. Actually, it´s annoying and painful.
As I know from my own experience, being "too skinny" doesn´t affect your fertility long-term. Gaining a few pounds will most likely bring it back.
I haven´t had that stuff for two years (16 - 18).
When I was 19, I gained some weight and got pregnant (not on purpose, though.) Everything went better than expected, no complictions during pregnancy and birth.
Now, I lost all that weight again and my period disappeared with it, and I find this a big relief in my everyday life.
 
I'd just like to add in here, for those of you who aren't menstruating - make sure you're eating above and beyond your DRA for calcium. Do it for your bones. Not to insult anyone's intelligence - just to serve as a reminder. Peak bone density comes in your late 20s (ish) and it's all downhill from there.

Like Sam says, sometimes you have other things going on (such as family history of PCOS, etc) - and sometimes young girls just have irregular periods. I did. Ok, done preaching :)
 
I understand that whole thing... I don´t know what the fuzz about that special time per month is, like it was something to be proud or happy about. Actually, it´s annoying and painful.
As I know from my own experience, being "too skinny" doesn´t affect your fertility long-term. Gaining a few pounds will most likely bring it back.
I haven´t had that stuff for two years (16 - 18).
When I was 19, I gained some weight and got pregnant (not on purpose, though.) Everything went better than expected, no complictions during pregnancy and birth.
Now, I lost all that weight again and my period disappeared with it, and I find this a big relief in my everyday life.

Thanks for this Fili, your length of time and age without periods is exactly the same as mine so it's comforting to know that after that there's still a chance of getting pregnant :) like you said though, once I'm done with babies it'l be back to skinny and bye bye periods!

As an aneamic woman I hate periods and my body does too, even as a younger teenager they used to only ever be every 3-4 months :/ do any of you here suffer from anaemia? I don't eat any meat apart from chicken (and that's only in the last 2 months, was veggie for nearly 4 years). Even though I eat plenty of dark green veg it just doesn't seem to balance out... any tips?
 
Thanks for this Fili, your length of time and age without periods is exactly the same as mine so it's comforting to know that after that there's still a chance of getting pregnant :) like you said though, once I'm done with babies it'l be back to skinny and bye bye periods!

As an aneamic woman I hate periods and my body does too, even as a younger teenager they used to only ever be every 3-4 months :/ do any of you here suffer from anaemia? I don't eat any meat apart from chicken (and that's only in the last 2 months, was veggie for nearly 4 years). Even though I eat plenty of dark green veg it just doesn't seem to balance out... any tips?

SPATONE SPATONE SPATONE
its an iron-water supplement and its amazing, look it up.
i was severely anemic (iron levels meant to be 60 lowest, mine were 4) and my doctor had me taking all these iron supplements but nothing worked....so i got the contraceptive implant, which stops your periods so im not losing blood, and stumbled across spatone whilst in tescos (but im sure you can get it online) ive been taking it since october and i think im about up to normal, i dont need to nap during the day and i dont constantly feel tired which i never realised was possible again haha. seriously try it, its amazing
 
Thanks for this Fili, your length of time and age without periods is exactly the same as mine so it's comforting to know that after that there's still a chance of getting pregnant :) like you said though, once I'm done with babies it'l be back to skinny and bye bye periods!

As an aneamic woman I hate periods and my body does too, even as a younger teenager they used to only ever be every 3-4 months :/ do any of you here suffer from anaemia? I don't eat any meat apart from chicken (and that's only in the last 2 months, was veggie for nearly 4 years). Even though I eat plenty of dark green veg it just doesn't seem to balance out... any tips?

Vitamin C is a great help in absorbing iron. So you need a glass of fresh orange juice (or an orange) with your spinach :)
 
I'm 5'9" and my current goal weight is 140-145, which I know is really heavy by the standards here. I have a very strong build. I'm naturally curvy (Big boobs, defined waist, round ass) and packed with lean muscle (it runs in the family). 140-145 may even make me look too skinny but, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I think I'll know for sure as more weight comes off since I'm going more for a look than a number. I want to look lean and fit with some nice curves on me. :)
 
I'd just like to add in here, for those of you who aren't menstruating - make sure you're eating above and beyond your DRA for calcium. Do it for your bones. Not to insult anyone's intelligence - just to serve as a reminder. Peak bone density comes in your late 20s (ish) and it's all downhill from there.

Like Sam says, sometimes you have other things going on (such as family history of PCOS, etc) - and sometimes young girls just have irregular periods. I did. Ok, done preaching :)

This!
I haven't menstruated all the way from 13 till 17 of age, and then 18-19 aswell, so pretty much most of my life (from different reasons - first low body weight, then low body fat) and my bone density really suffered from it. Calcium supplements, regular thyroid check ups are must if you are certain amenorrhea is from weight loss alone and are not willing to gain - i've found out that swapping some carbs for some healthy fats while maitaining the same calorie intake helps with keeping regular periods (plus it helps with skin condition). Im very careful with that because somehow lack of menstruation equals fistfulls of hair falling out :(
Just be careful please:shy:
 
I'd just like to add in here, for those of you who aren't menstruating - make sure you're eating above and beyond your DRA for calcium. Do it for your bones. Not to insult anyone's intelligence - just to serve as a reminder. Peak bone density comes in your late 20s (ish) and it's all downhill from there.

Like Sam says, sometimes you have other things going on (such as family history of PCOS, etc) - and sometimes young girls just have irregular periods. I did. Ok, done preaching :)

This is really important. Problems with bone density can lead to osteoporosis later on in life. I was told that the average calcium intake, like what they put on the nutrition labels, is 1000mg, but that if you don't have your period (like me) you should consume about 1500mg because of the bone density.
 
I'm 5'8 and know there are a lot of you this height who want to hit the 100 mark, but my frame and muscle mass mean that 112 really is as low as I could go without hurting myself :/ like someone else said on here, my periods stopped for 2 years at that weight and the only way I got them back was by increasing BF% >< 118-122 looked great though :)

I think it really depends on your frame and your natural BF storage pattern (ie: apple, pear, hourglass etc) as to how low you should go. BMI doesn't shed any light on your lean muscles mass and bone density, so if you're an intense exercise girl with strong bones from it your BMI will be overestimating your true stats!

i'm curious: what do you think differs between the storage patterns and the lowest weight?

for me personally it's a very individual question about the lowest weight - sometimes the same weight looks on one person wonderful, whereas on an other person (same height) it looks akward and unhealthy. i think it depends a lot on the posture, the confidence and also on dressing...
for me personally it's quite low, i guess, if i ever go to 100 or under 100 lbs (i'm 5'5'ish) it would be not too low, because i'm really small framed. my only concern is, that my upper body will look like a skeleton whereas my legs are only normal-skinny... even when i was at my highest weight (it was around 130 lbs) i had a flat stomach and thin arms.
 
I don't think I could ever get past 105lbs. I've never been under 110 in my adult life so I think that's something I just have to accept.
I didn't start my period until I was 15 as I just didn't weigh enough, they were sporadic and left me curled up in bed for 5 days a month with the pain but they disappeared again when I was 17. I got pregnant twice with my (then)fiance but miscarried both times at 8 weeks-my body just couldn't sustain a pregnancy at that point. Anyway at 21 I was still 112lbs and my periods were all over the place, about 3/4 a year and I started seeing this new guy...7 months into our relationship we discovered I was 5 months pregnant! We had no idea, we'd been careful(obviously not careful enough!) and I hadn't gained any weight, no bump or anything. I'd been having a really stressful time so I put my lack of periods down to that ontop of my low body weight. Anyway, that pregnancy went really well and we had a healthy baby girl :) I got back down to 115lbs after that with steady periods but when it came to having another I just wasn't getting pregnant so I fed myself up by 7lbs and *bam* up the duff straight away. We had another girl a year ago tomorrow and I'm not down to 117lbs...chasing that elusive 112lbs still.
You can have babies even after years of no periods, the human body is pretty amazing and will do whatever it can to reproduce so don't worry too much about it!
 
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It depends with me. Everyone carries weight differently and in different places.

For example, I'm 99% sure that these last few pounds I'm trying to lose are in my butt and boobs. :grin: BUT, if I do finally get down to my UGW and they're both still looking the same, I might go back to 103ish (which is where I am right about now) because I don't want my stomach to look any smaller or my bones to protrude anymore than they are now.

I generally prefer a BMI of at least 16, but some girls look really great and healthy with a BMI as low as 15.5. It really just depends on their weight distribution.

But if you're not healthy (fatigued, missing periods, headaches), you're too skinny regardless of your BMI.
 
i'm curious: what do you think differs between the storage patterns and the lowest weight?

You're right to be curious, as the answer is that it will be completely different for everyone as our bodies store fat/muscle in varying amounts and in different places!

For example, a skinny girl who's suffering from a lot of stress may be a very low weight but is likely holding her fat stores around her tummy (thank you cortisol ¬¬). Her lowest weight (if we say she's 5' 8) could be somewhere around 100lbs, and it would look like that too providing she wasn't in a bikini!

Another example would be an athlete whose BF% was very low, to the point of being unhealthy, but her weight was classed as normal. She probably has a flat stomach without an inch to pinch, but still some fat stores hidden in the thighs/very upper arms. If we say this girl is 5' 8 too, her muscle mass and bone density would be much higher due to the levels of exercise. Her lowest weight will probably be around 120lbs without sacrificing her performance or fertility. She wouldn't look this weight, she would probably look around 100lbs too!

Appearance isn't everything girls :) hard to accept (believe me I know!) but it's very true.
 
You're right to be curious, as the answer is that it will be completely different for everyone as our bodies store fat/muscle in varying amounts and in different places!

For example, a skinny girl who's suffering from a lot of stress may be a very low weight but is likely holding her fat stores around her tummy (thank you cortisol ¬¬). Her lowest weight (if we say she's 5' 8) could be somewhere around 100lbs, and it would look like that too providing she wasn't in a bikini!

Another example would be an athlete whose BF% was very low, to the point of being unhealthy, but her weight was classed as normal. She probably has a flat stomach without an inch to pinch, but still some fat stores hidden in the thighs/very upper arms. If we say this girl is 5' 8 too, her muscle mass and bone density would be much higher due to the levels of exercise. Her lowest weight will probably be around 120lbs without sacrificing her performance or fertility. She wouldn't look this weight, she would probably look around 100lbs too!

Appearance isn't everything girls :) hard to accept (believe me I know!) but it's very true.

thanks for answering. i do understand your point and agree 100% with you. i just thought you meant something like: "hourglass-shaped girls look way unhealthier at xx weight as the girl with the same height and weight but who is apple-shaped" (i made that up)... that would be a interesting theory that i never have heard of. the only apple-pear-...shaped theory i heard was, that the fat at the upper legs is quite stubborn and is harder to get rid of than belly-fat. don't know if its true...?
 
thanks for answering. i do understand your point and agree 100% with you. i just thought you meant something like: "hourglass-shaped girls look way unhealthier at xx weight as the girl with the same height and weight but who is apple-shaped" (i made that up)... that would be a interesting theory that i never have heard of. the only apple-pear-...shaped theory i heard was, that the fat at the upper legs is quite stubborn and is harder to get rid of than belly-fat. don't know if its true...?

You can get super-skinny hourglass girls, just look at Candice Swanepoel at her skinniest stage :) the classic broader shoulders, wide hips but a naturally slim waist/ribcage area. The only problem is that, because hourglass generally comes with a wider frame, people will pick out skinny hourglass girls and blast them for being 'too thin' just because some bones are showing :rolleyes:

Apple shape CAN be hereditary but is usually down to a stressful or inactive lifestyle, so yeah it would be hard to shift the upper thigh fat too but I wouldn't say moreso than truly slimming down the waistline. Pear shapes are actually really healthy despite the upper thigh fat - it's tummy fat people should be concerned about :)
 
Yikes, I feel kind of weird being 5'1.5" and having a higher "goal weight" than people so much taller than me here!

I'm trying to go for 96lbs, I think, as a goal. At least for now, that's the point at which I want to stop losing and just maintain for a bit to see how I feel and if going lower would be reasonable or not for me. I'm at 100lbs right now, so it's close - hopefully another month and I'll be there! If 96lbs feels alright, I might shoot for 90lbs, but I'm not sure about that yet, either. Wait, work and see!

The lowest I've been at my adult height is 85lbs, and I felt terrible. So that was definitely too far for me to be healthy, and I want to feel good first and foremost. My body is resisting going below 100lbs, so right now I'm just stuck and trying to figure out how to move ahead.

I'm one of those folks with no periods as well, but that doesn't seem to be weight dependent, or my system just never started back up properly when I into healthy weight ranges again, but I also know I can't have children even if I could get pregnant, so it's not of great concern to me, as much as I know my husband loves kids and all, I can't provide them, haha.

I'm working with my doctor on building bone density and she approves of my current weight and goals so long as I feel good. :)