YES!  This happens to me often. I hate it--but comforting to hear others experience it too.  My BMI is healthy (between 21-22) and I'm not extreme with my diet or exercise in anyway.  But I am considered "thin" by those around me.  Little do they apparently realize that I'm "thin" BECAUSE I work very hard EVERY DAY to fit in exercise (an hour 6 days per week) and eat healthy (lots of fruits and veggies, whole grains, reasonable portions, limited snacking, limited sweets and junk, etc).   Its a sad statement that "healthy eating" and regular physical activity is so far out of the norm for so many people these days.  Maintaining a healthy weight requires constant diligence in the current environment we live in....

I'm at a healthy weight, although I hope to lose 5-10 pounds in the next four months or so. I get this ALL the time. I've started bringing fruits for lunch instead of eating the nasty oily school pizza, and I read nutrition labels. It's gotten to the point that I have to wait until no one's looking to actually pick up the box and read, because if a friend catches me, I'm apparently suffering from anorexia or something.

I just started watching what I eat, and I only want to lose like 8 pounds.. and then just maintain at 125-127 (I'm 5'6.5")..

and yes! I've heard it a lot before if I mentioned going to the gym (it's a frickin gym! everybody needs to work out!)..

and just heard it today at work..I go to have lunch with 3 guys I work with, get my food quite healthy food and they give me a cookie with it..so i didn't eat the cookie, and gave it to one of them..he asks why I'm not eating it (I'm known to love everything sweet)..and I say I'm watching my calories..

for the whole entire hour long lunch break all I heard was jokes about how "fat" I was..and how 'oh yea! u need to lose LOTS of weight! I can still see u if u stand sideways!' and stuff like that..

Only one of the guys wasn't like that..he kept poking my belly and saying dont eat the cookie! lol

heh. i kinda wish that i'd get that... but being in an asian country, having a BMI of 19 (which is mine) makes me fat relative to everyone else, and even at this weight, the pressure is on (whether i want to feel the heat or not is another thing altogether), to lose more weight.  

The only people i see getting the "but you're so skinny' line are literally people who have a BMI of 16 and below... but i guess it's different from place to place? >"<

Original Post by auberry:

I'm at a healthy weight, although I hope to lose 5-10 pounds in the next four months or so. I get this ALL the time. I've started bringing fruits for lunch instead of eating the nasty oily school pizza, and I read nutrition labels. It's gotten to the point that I have to wait until no one's looking to actually pick up the box and read, because if a friend catches me, I'm apparently suffering from anorexia or something.

Exactly!!!  I have to be all secretive about it or else people give me looks or comments like I have an eating disorder.

I get this it all the time, and I really hate hearing it.  I don't tell people they shouldn't be eating whatever garbage they are eating, so why can they say it to me??  I wouldn't be skinny if I didn't pay attention to what I eat, so why do I not need to...so I can get fat again?

Yeah, I get this moderately often.  Even when I was borderline overweight (according to the BMI scale at least), people said that I was skinny and didn't need to watch my weight.

I think that people feel convicted about their own health and fitness when someone that they know (vs. some model in a magazine) if taking steps to improve their fitness.

People are so used to settling for mediocrity that they actually discourage the pursuit of excellence in others.  They don't want to believe that they can do something about their own situation, that they are purely a victim of circumstance.

Ok, this is starting to sound like a motivational speech...I think I'm done now. :-)

Original Post by mysticjbyrd:

Happens to me all the time. I got some real fatty friends and they are constantly trying to give me little debbie cakes and big macs. They tell me I am too skinny and it is ridiculous.

Did you just call your friends "fatty" ? Why dont you try to encourage them instead of putting them down?

yesyesyes! If I could eat anything I wanted I wouldn't BE thin! So sick of it...

yeah.

I only weigh 105 and am 5'0".... but the extra 5  ... (actually 104 now) is ALL in my abs!

so, allllll of my friends give me a hard time....

I totally understand, and that is why I don't mention my "diet" (even though it's not really a diet) to anyone but my boyfriend anymore, because they all give me a hard time...

Maybe because my boyfriend is privvy to seeing my bikini body, he knows what's up!   ; )

-d

Yeah, I used to hear that in my early 20's, then I started eating all the bad stuff and guess what? I got fat! Now I'm 30 and trying desperately to lose all the pounds I packed on from years of eating crap!

I don't really get called skinny. But none of my friends ever tell me I'm fat.

What annoys me is when my guy friends will say something like, "You are //not// fat. Buddha's fat. Sumo wrestlers are fat. You aren't."

It's like... come on, guys. You're picking extremes so I can't argue and say, "No, I'm fatter." But the fact is, I'm still fat.

I have a friend who calls me a "Daft bird" every time I mention something about diet soda or low fat this or low cal that. I guess it's nice to think they don't think I need to lose weight. But I know what I need better than they do. ;) 

Yep...I get it too.  My hubby has finally given up, I think, on trying to get me to just eat "normal" and not worry about it.  People at work usually say I don't need to watch calories or work out, etc.  I'm no supermodel, but helllloooooo, it takes work to look this way.  When I stop caring, I start blowing up like a blowfish!  So I care!

I don't get the "but you're skinny", though I do get "geez, you've dieted long enough, allow yourself a treat!"  What they don't know is that every Friday, I have a cheat day, and I go out with my husband and DO NOT count the calories in my dinner haha :) 

I have lost 67lbs in 6 months- lets see if they can top that eating those brownies and chips!!

My girlfriend gets that comment all the time... So thus I hear about how much she really hates it...

I hate hearing the "you dont need to lose, your just a big guy...."

draya7 I feel your pain.  I'm also 5'0" and weigh about 107.5 lbs now (I was 110) and its all in my belly, thighs and butt.  I was a cheerleader back in the day and naturally have big thighs and legs

It's really annoying cause I don't feel good about myself, no one else understands why I am choosing to eat healthier and working out more.  I don't necessarily want to "lose" weight but tone up my abs (minus the stress fat), thighs and butt.  I just want to feel better about myself.

Just cause I am tiny doesn't mean I am "skinny". I'm far from skinny, my legs rub when I walk and my pooch hangs over my pants.  That's not skinny!!

I definitely wouldn't consider myself "skinny", but I think that I'm thin. When I first started dieting at college, I would occasionally treat myself to a serving of Ben and Jerry's Lighten Up Half Baked ice cream. I went down to buy a small container, and when I got to the counter, there was a really big girl working the register. She looked at it, wrinkled her nose, looked up at me and said "Girl, if you're trying to lose weight you'd better cut off an arm. Do you really think you're fat? Why are you buying this low fat stuff?"

I had no idea what to say back without offending her.

I think that reason you get that sort of reaction when you're thin is because there are so many who have hidden eating disorders.  Anorexia and Bulemia don't exactly come with a glowing label on the forehead of the person suffering from it.  You're friends are trying to be kind and reassure you.  Either they're afraid you have a secret eating disorder, or they're afraid you'll develop one.  It's very symptomatic of the "Barbie Culture" we live in.   

I would say that you should take it as it was meant - a kind, reassuring comment - and leave it at that.  Be happy that they care, even if it's not quite in the right way.  Maybe you could start to educate your friends on why you eat like you so that you look like you do.  Then maybe they'll learn that healthy != eating disorder.

2 cents,

M.