"You're So Skinny...

...you have to run around in the shower to get wet."

That is my best friend's favorite joke about me. Anyways, I was wondering if anyone else has any funny or mean things people have said to them about being thin or underweight.

I've always been small (5'1", small framed) and I'm taller then my mom by an inch.  I come from a VERY active family, mom is a middle school PE teacher and dad is a college cross country and track and field coach.  I have a very active physical job, teaching horseback riding.  So I'm on my feet also all day, I ride up to 3 horses a day, and each lesson I walk and jog with my students and lift heavy wood poles for my jumping classes.  I wear a podometer and average 6-10 miles per day just walking and jogging around work, so needless to say I don't go to the gym.  I love healthy foods, organic, snack granolas and such and eat about 5 small meals a day and graze constintly.  No wonder I have a hard time keeping the weight on (I have a high metabolism anyway >.<).  But my new boss has gotten into the habit of making comments to members of the barn about how little I am and that I should eat a cookie from the coffee and cookie tray.  I DON'T like sugary things, especially cookies.  I feel horribly embarrassed and normally turn bright red.  When I do get fast food for my monthly craving of grease, she says things like 'You should eat that for every meal, but some meat on you.'  I want to gain weight so I can shop outside the junior department and stop the comments.  I'm also only 24 and she's in her late 40's...I don't get why she has to point it out everytime someone else wants a cookie and I walk by them.

Not really as funny or mean as yours are D:

"Hey, bones!"
"Skinny but." ; By my dad -_-
"You look so skinny!"
"Omg, I can feel your ribs"
"Your so thin, you need to put on some weight"
"Your back is so bony!"
"Your so tiny but you have such a bloated belly!" ; which is sadly true

xD not the best funny or mean things everr~

- My boyfriend often jokes about how my bones can be used to make stock by boiling for hours.

- I went back to my hometown in Malaysia earlier this month and my relatives though I was anorexic.

- I had people telling me I looked disgusting. But when I was overweight many years ago, I was called disgusting as well.

- My grandmother thought that my domestic helper was starving me.

Ah... and then I have my mum, when she walked in on me getting out of the bath and started to cry. She thought I had cancer, I looked that bad. (I had a leukemia scare when I was a baby.)

I think what hurt me the most with the comments from my ex and my mum and from people who love or care about me is that they are just that: out of love, out of concern. It breaks my heart, because I realise I am hurting someone that loves or cares about me with this and not just myself.

Comparitavely, I find it a lot easier when it comes to looking someone who is just being snide or rude in the eye. One particular witch in my dramatics group grabbed my arm in front of everyone and started going, "Your arm is as thin as my wrist! Look, I can fit my hand around it! Do you not eat or something?" And I just stared at her and said, "Actually, yes, I do now, but I am recovering from an eating disorder. Thank you for bringing that to everyone's attention."

She was mortified, to say the least. I didn't mind saying it in front of my dramatics group - I have grown up with the regulars, so they know me as more than just "girl with eating disorder". But for some reason I found the words of someone that really doesn't matter to me easier to face than those from people I love, loved, or love me.

Two years ago in Science, we were randomly talking about our favorite foods... people were saying foods like "pizza" and "ice cream". When my time came around I said "yogurt" (I REALLY like yogurt) 

Everyone went quiet... I was like the ONLY one to say something healthy...

And then somebody said, "Well, that's why your so skinny, you're a freakin' health nut!"

I so wanted to say something like, well, yogurt is going to keep my bones stronger than pizza. yogurt doesn't contain weird additives. yogurt doesn't contain trans fats.

It was embarassing... I was (and still am) skinnier than most, but to be said that in front of the entire class?

awful. 

Lala, Great comeback. 

I've dealt with mean-skinny comments my whole life, but especially since high school [when I was young it was more casual not mean or accusatory].  For me it's especially since I've had to use the gym to cross train when I can't train with the team.  People will assume I'm trying to lose weight [even when I was lifting to "get buff"] and make comments or talk behind my back.  I've found that the best way is to not even be defensive [like I feel] but just honest and blunt.  Then just let them take it or leave it and try not to let what other people think control me [though it still does too much].

Chrp-

I get grief about healthy eating too.  Just today when I finally had veggies for the first time this week [in the midst of thick casserole for one and in oil for the other] my mom made a comment.  I wanted to be like "I finished the highest calorie cereal in the pantry, shoved down 1/4 cup of peanut butter that I don't even like, and this is an extra meal before our normal lunch and dinner--can't I be entitled to 3 servings of veggies mixed in there somewhere?"  I didn't though, but it still hurts.

Weird when I was a little girl I was soo skinny. I was really thin. But it never bothered me when people would comment on how small I was. My teachers in school got worried because I would never eat my snack at snack time or lunch at lunch time, she always had to call my mom and tell her I wasnt eating anything and ask her what I liked to eat at home. I was a really thin girl and all the time people would make comments like, did you eat anything today or when was the last time you ate, weird because I remeber eating all the time when I was little.

My stepdad used to call me skinny minnie and for some reason it never bothered me, I actually liked being called that. This was when I was about 4 years old through 10, after that I gained weight and now my stepdad calls me big burtha. And I get really offened when he cals me that. I felt more insulted when he called me big than skinny. Maybe im just weird like that.

Hi everybody I'm new here and I am so relieved to actually find other people like me out there! I'm naturally thin and at 5' 8" and weighing 99 lbs I think I might need to start gaining a bit. Boy do I have my share of skinny jokes! It got so bad when I was in middle school that by the time I got to high school I made my mom homeschool me.(which I'm still doing and I'm currently in 11th grade.) People just don't understand that when they casually throw around anorexic jokes that they hurt deep down and screw with your head. They made me think that there WAS something wrong with me, which there is nothing wrong with a super fast metabolism!

I started to wonder if I was anorexic and just in denial, though it was obvious that I was eating most of my lunch and they were all sitting there staring. That led them to believe that I was also bulemic and since I always used the restroom after lunch I MUST be puking my guts out. Some of the jokes were downright mean and I had food thrown at me daily in the halls, classrooms and cafeteria. It wasn't just my fellow classmates though. It was also all of my teachers, the lunch ladies, custodians, and even the principle. It got to where I couldn't walk into a room without everyone staring and people poking me in the all too visible shoulder blades or ribs.

Sorry this is so long! I've never been able to tell anyone this because I don't know anyone who understands what its like to go through this and I'd like to thank everyone on here for their support and encuoragement!

-Ariel

Ariel: That's terrible. But I have to say, your BMI is VERY low, so please go to your doctor before you begin any weight gain regimes to get your health checked out.

"Naturally thin" - it's a throwabout term. Most people who have been underweight a large part of their life are so because they simply do not realise how little they are taking in even if it feels like a lot. But I might be wrong, as I know fast metabolisms DO exist.

To begin gaining weight properly in manner that will see you keeping that weight on, read over here: The Aim is to Gain: Advice on Weight Gain, Whatever Your Reason. This is a thread with tips for weight gaining, including the minimum amount of calories a weight gaining female needs - 2500 calories a day, minimum. More if you work out. It also includes a meal plan example of 3000 calories and has lots of food ideas.

When you begin eating more, do not weigh in for at least two weeks. This is because you will undoubtably see some fluctuations on the scale that will be untrue to your gaining pattern and will be water and the new levels of food (food does weigh something after all) you're taking in. After two weeks, have a look at your gaining trend and determine whether you need to increase or continue at the level you have been. Of course, if you feel confident enough you can eat more than 2500 at a sedentary level - there is no upper limit in gaining, within reason, and a healthy rate of gain that can be sustained is 0.5lbs to 2lbs a week.

Good luck!

Thanks for the advice! I went to my doctor recently for a check up and he accused me of being anorexic and told me I had to gain at least 15 lbs by the summer because my weight has been slowly dropping pound by pound without me realizing it. He didn't offer much advice on how to gain the weight, just that I needed about double the calories. I know it'll be hard not to look at the scale for two weeks but I'll try my hardest!

Thanks again,

Ariel

Ariel:

Your post hits my own experiences so close to home you have no idea.  My story is similar, and while I have always wished for a bigger body and some vanity pounds, I never thought it was a huge deal since I ate fine and wans't suffering aside from my ego.  But like Lala said, there's naturally thin and then skinny to a point it is just medically unsafe, even if not intentional.  This is what I am realizing now as my health has gone downhill fast this year.

Also like you I am struggling with finding the root cause.  I too went from being the skinny kid to the "anorexic" and then "bulemic" in high school and college, so my first go-to has always been to eat more.  That's why I started calorie counting a while back, which in my case backfired as my physical problems got worse.  I'm still counting now because I know that I need a positive energy balance to gain, but also struggling to find what the real cause is, because sheerly dealing with a symptom doesn't [hasn't over and over!] solve the problem.

In any case, sorry to ramble on and on.  I just wanted to say I share the pain of the accusations, not because it's "bad" to be Anorexic [it's a disease and people who suffer from it are innocent victims], but because to have my pain and struggles automatically assumed due to starvation puts me in a very challenging place and very much alone with trying to find how TO fix it.  I feel like i have to gain weight in order to deal with my stomach problems, but when I do what should logically make me gain weight [increase the energy balance by large amounts] everything gets worse and the weight doesn't come on anyhow.  So I feel stuck too skinny until I find out what's going on, but kept from finding out what's going on unless I'm at a healthy weight. 

Anyhow, bottom line is whatever the reason we DO need to be healthy and that depends on weighing a heck of a lot more! [My stats aren't so low as yours and I desperately need a big gain going on]  We can do it, regardless of what others think.  Just be real with yourself...figure out what you're eating and how you can eat more.  Maybe it's a matter of just making some new choices.  Check out the threads at the top of the thread.  You can prove yourself and improve your future by making changes.  It won't be easy at first, but you have a lifetime to reap the rewards. :)

I'd finally put on some weight before i went back to school last semester, but over the break i had lost some of the weight due to being really sick for over a month. I'm ALWAYS self conscious about looking "sickly" which ot me, thanks to my mother constantly making me parnoid. is being too skinny.  So I'd try to eat more and more, so a few days before classes began again i got into a panic becase i thought i was sliping down to too thin again and i ate as much as ai could till i was sick to my stomach. i get so angry how my mothers comments get to me and how my fears of looking "Sickly" even when i don't, completely ruin my self image.

luckily i have a doctor that is understanding and sat me down and said that i am as healthy as he's seen someone that has gone through what i have and have the healthiest test results he's seen for any 24 year old EVER.

I just try to remind myself of that when i hear my mothers voice when i pass a mirror, or have not felt well and fall into a panic that i have to eat till i'm sick to make up for the few pounds i lost when i have been ill for a few days in a row.

yeah people come out of no were and are all like wow youre too skinny go eat some crisps or something.  I'm like leave me the bloody hell alone.  I cant think of any like jokes people have said to me but its always along the line of youre anorexic or too skinny.

Love Eun Chan

removed

Lol i just get OMG! =O or who let out the halloween decorations (skeleton) 

     I have hypothyroidism which naturally makes it harder to loose weight and easier to gain it!  So i unfortuneatley i have struggled with my weight my entire life. I was never fat, just a lil chubby and since i was about 13, i have tried every diet & excercise plan out there. Nothing has ever seemed to work for me.

     Until this past March of 08' this had been my life story. At the beginning of march 08' i became very ill with what i thought was the flu. I had it for about a week or so then it subsided. I got sick like that for 3 months in a row. Then after that just stayed permantly sick.  Since then i have been to 4 different drs./specialists, had about 6-8 different diagnostic exams and even had surgery to have my gallbladder removed! And i'm still sick.

     They can't find out whats wrong with me. I am unable to eat, i'm always nauseous and throwing up. Since Aug 08' i have lost almost 50lbs. I'm 5'3 and usually carry myself around 160ish. Right now im down to 120. Which isnt unhealthy. But My boyfriend, his family and everyone i know are making comments about me now. Saying that i'm too skinny, i look like a skeleton, i'm boney. My boyfriends favorite names for me right now are, "Bones & Stick."       :( And i'm so sick & tired of people asking my boyfriend," Whats wrong with your girl? She looks so sick!We know you dont mess with girls on drugs but whats wrong with her?" Two of his best friends dont even recognize me anymore! When we went out with them they thought he had a new girl!

     i'm white. My boyfriend and his family are afican american. So natually theyre big boned, love to eat and love to see you wit meat on your bones! So i can see how i look like that to them. But i dont think i look sick. When i look at myself i am happier than i have ever been for the most part. But everyone else brings me down about myself. What do you do when you went from the chubby/fat jokes to the skinny/bone jokes?

     I thought loosing weight would make the comments stop (even though i have not been trying). But it has only brought them on stronger! Why do people feel the need to comment on peoples weight? does everyone go around talkin about how ugly the next person is? No, i dont really think so.

Aw, clongbrake! How awful.. I'll be thinking of you! I hope you dianose it soon.. =(  Food intolerance?

In your picture you don't look ill!

A couple of years ago i got mono really bad and dropped from 5"2 120lbs to 96lbs. 

I had this (slightly chubby) woman come up to me in the grocery store. She stood there for a few minutes before saying "You're sooooooo skinny....." At that point i got a tad pissed of and said "You're soooooo fat." and walked off. 

So much for taking the high road. I feel kinda bad about it now, but right then it felt soooooo good. 

i hate it when ppl who are supposed to be ur friends & the ppl who care abt you say 'ur too skinny, eat somethin...'  bc uve lost a little weight in a healthy way & theyre jealous.

esp when theyre way smaller than you & used to b rly sick w an ed.

its like she's sayin 'gain weight so i feel btr abt myself'

no!  how bout you look great, im proud of you cuz i kno ur struggle?

how bout i wish i had lost some?

even tho she doesnt need to, ever, i would rather her say that than be so condescendin when i feel ive accomplished somethin.

ugh!