I think that crap is designed to make you feel like crap, and push the economy by forcing you to join a gym, join Nutrisystem (don't try it) and go to REI for shoes you will never actually use.

Honestly, so many of my girlfriends went through this, and I am sorry, they were not fat by any stretch of the imagination. I look at advertisements, and all I see is happy thin women married to the most sloppy crap man, while picking up KFC. Who eats KFC and looks like that????! (I don't want to hear it, if you do). My point is...we (women) apparently have to live up to some idiotic ideal that we must be perfect all the time.

...worry about your health, just your health. Do some exercise and cut some of the junk you eat, and mind your heart. As for the damn BMI, shove it.

I am getting a drink...

see ya

Luc

Okay, so the headline intrigued me. I subscribe to dozens of fashion mags and yes, I too am somewhat distracted by my weight, as is every American woman it seems.

I get that there are all shapes and sizes of women and that's fine, however I am concerned at the lack of responsibility that many Americans take around their food and fitness choices. I'm not saying heavier women should be discriminated against at all, however I do think the chart exists to indicate reasonable levels of health, which are practical guidelines for living.

With great reluctance, I did the BMI test. I was positive it would tell me I was borderline overweight, but I'm considered normal at 21.8. Weight shows more on shorter person, however I found that even at 5'4", I have a 37 pound range within the normal area. That is pretty generous as that range could take me from a size 2 to a size 12 on my frame.

I don't condone discrimination of any kind, however I can't get behind people who complain about standards of health that seem reasonable for the masses.

ok this bmi shit is wack, and obviously just about everyone on here has that same opinion. i have been told i was overweight all my life. even my own father would buy me exercise equipment and refuse to let me get burgers or ice cream on family outings. instead he was always pushing salads and tons of water down my throat. i admit, maybe part of the reason i let myself go had something to do with rebellion towards him, but damn, i was like 12 and the only time i was really uncomfortable about my size was when i was around him. but lordy, lets not open that can of worms or i could turn into a psychiatrists wet dream. geez. basically what im getting at is i have been "morbidly obese" my entire life according to the bmi thingy. buuuuut, i have a large skeletal frame which is not taken into consideration. i also have a lot of muscle, especially in my legs from playing sports and being in the marching band. i mean, i cant even wrap both my hands around my calf muscles, but there is no fat there, they are hard as rocks. i will admit that i am fluffy. always have been and probably always will be. but i just cant see starving or punishing myself for wanting a bowl of ice cream or a soda. i am trying to make better choices as i get older, but im not going to conform, by any means, to the unrealistic body image that everyone is so obsessed with. i love me. it took over 20 years for me to accept myself, and i have to admit, im pretty damn awesome no matter what any one thinks, especially my over-bearing, lesbian-hating father :)

on the complete opposite side of the spectrum, my g/f is a size 0 even thought she eats as much or more than me. talk about a funny sight seeing us together. i love it ;)
~*~ have a gay day ~*~

...A woman is more than the her parts.

I think I did this once before, and just barely underscored being overweight. Now that I've been in college for a bit, I'm going by the "ignorance is a cruel bliss" philosophy, and trying to eat right whenever possible.

www.fonfreaka.blogspot.com

I loved the "someone had to study this??"
But I couldn't help but wonder...what is the BMI of most of the ladies of the LWord? -3???
As much as I love the show, they are not a true picture of the lesbians I have met in my life time. And, honestly, it would have been nice to see some larger (or just normal size..ie, (not 0, 2, or 4) beautiful women in the show.
Sundays just aren't the same...

The BMI is rubbish. The calculations don't account for individuals. I mean, going by an old BMI chart (I'm 5'11), I'd be at a healthy weight at 190 pounds. I heard that they've since dropped the healthy weight for my height by several pounds.

I say to hell with the BMI. If you're healthy, that's all you should be worried about. Fuck the magazines and the designers who refuse to show realistic-looking women. The super-skinny models are basically walking hangers so that the clothes drape well, but a pencil-thin pencil drawing of what a woman 'ought' to look like isn't what most women are. The average size these days is a 16/18, which is probably obese for most women, going by the BMI chart's standards.

Stop letting magazines tell you how you should look and stop letting charts tell you how you should be feeling. I am a genuine woman of size and have been all my life and I learned a long time ago that it's much easier and less stressful to just be who I am than to try to live up to everybody else's unrealistic expectations. They're strangers! What they think of you means less than nothing. Period. The only person whose opinion matters is yours - first, foremost and always. I may be a big chick, but I'm active and I try to eat well and I feel just fine. If somebody has a problem with how I look, that's not my problem - that's theirs for buying into this looksist culture the US media is now so infamous for encouraging. If you're miserable because of how you look, then you're distracted and you aren't taking hold of your full power as people and that's exactly what they want.

________________________________________________
"When Shane realizes or even contemplates what Jenny's saying to her - what does it mean to her? Is she gonna run from it? Does it horrify her? Or does it just finally OPEN HER HEART...?"

i assume that since we as a society have gone oh.... a couple decades not really sure of what "normal" is, i am happy that i don't fit into the catagory! i am happily overweight. i would like to tone and maybe get into better shape; howver, it's safe to say that i have NO0o0o0 desire to be what our nation claims is normal. theres nothing normal about me. i am not average, or ordinary. i am unique and a gift to myself everyday!!

sngbyrd
Maybe its just me but has any one else noticed that as a woman, you will wear a negative label? If you are over weight then the label is easy. If you are not over weight then a label will be found and assigned to you. Women have suffered this fate since Mary Magdalene was labeled a whore in the 6th century by the Catholic Church. It took them until the 1960s to recant the charge. Nagative labels are a control device for women created by men. This is why a man can have the same condition or worse and will not be penalized for it. The good news is that women are gaining selfesteem and are refusing to be labeled. The bad news is that men are beginning to lose theirs. Unlike women who tend to beat ourselves up, men will act out on others.

I think that health is the key. The healther you are mentally and physically the happier you will be. So I have to say I like healthy women.

I'd like to put it out there that I LOVE big women. I find what are often considered "overweight" bodies way more attractive than what we are told is attractive (i.e. skinny).

After looking at the photos, I am horrified by the standards!! The "obese" women are the women who look healthiest! What is going on?? Why are we being told our bodies are "unhealthy" and overweight--a scary word in such a fat-phobic world? I am horrified to think about how much time and energy and money we women put into trying to change our bodies when our lives are so much more important than that!! Let's create new paradigms for ourselves!

this subject is a pain in the ass.
we as women over critizise ourselvs at this matter.
Personaly I prefear a cuvey tatooded woman than bones n skin, but that´s just me.
as lesbians, we are at the eye of critisism, especially regarding to our identity and aparience.
why sould we give explenations about our selfs instead of living our bodies and souls.

www.sumatecontrapascualama.blogspot.com

We're all predisposed for our shapes - it's inherited. It's our geneaological beauty! It's our business to keep it healthy!

Weight is another excuse some people use to find fault with others - if it's not weight, they'll find something else.

Totally off the subject, but you remind me of Amy Ziff! And Hon, that's a good thing! All that talent and beauty - that woman can play the cello for me any day!!!!!

Nothing but love

Tex

but those women are just angry at themselves and it doesn't hurt the skinny girls any when they feel that way. can't we just accept that people have different sizes?

according to the bmi, i'm normal weight, even though i put on 15 lbs. in the past year or so. i definitely don't feel "normal;" i think this is because they don't ask for your sex; men weigh more. there are better bmi's out there that take sex into account.

During my last year of military service, I was directed to attend a daily exercise class because the Navy had deemed me to be "overweight".

At 5'6" 185lbs, I had scored an "outstanding" on my annual fitness test, coming in second for my entire command behind a male sailor nearly six years my junior.

The officer overseeing my exercise class commented, "I can't for the life of me understand why you are here". But I just shrugged my shoulders and said, "I can think of a lot worse things than getting sent to the gym every day to workout".

Actually, I'd give anything to be in that kind of shape right now. The years have certainly taken their toll on this ol' squid.

As for body types, I've dated all manner of women from very thin to very heavy. I tend to gravitate towards heavier women. For me, they just feel, smell and even taste better than thinner women.

All the heavy women I've ever known have never seen themselves as a victims, quite the contrary.

If anything, they were always confident and extremely comfortable in their own skin. Which is why, I guess, what made them so alluring to me.

Anger and bitterness is never attractive, regardless of a woman’s size.

..mostly because its a case by case thing. I think my BMI is around the "normal" mark but I want to be thinner because I like being in shape and healthy. And while I think women should be more accepting of their bodies, I dont agree with the whole "phat girl" thing where women embrace being really, really big. It's not healthy. I'm sorry, I know you need to love yourself but you have to take care of yourself too.

Maybe lesbian women might be more accepting of other lesbian women's weight fluctuations because they feel the same pressure to be thin. Maybe this acceptance leads to higher self-esteem?

Actually that's a good plausible theory, but I don't really feel that way at all. Actually I feel super self-concious everytime I go to a club and leave determined to cut my waist by a few inches before I go back. But I'm not heavy, I wear a size 6-8. Honestly, the women I find attractive range in size though none are a whole lot bigger than I am and I dont find women who are stick thin attractive either. I guess for me its about looking healthy...which i think makes sense. So really, beauty should be redefined more towards being happy AND healthy with your weight.

I think most women, not all but most will always struggle with their weight & be self concious to a degree. I use to be anorexic and I also got healthy and was a healthy 140 and in either of those weights I was still not satisfied - even today I am not satisfied. But when I look back I only wish I would have realized how good I did look - I am not fat as of present day but I ain't exactly the 140 I once was. I found the only thing to keep me sane about my weight is to work out and as long as I am doing that and at least trying then I know I am healthy. I think all sizes and shapes can be beautiful so long as the woman has confidence in her shape. It's the woman who sit around feeling sorry for themselves and make excuses that I have absolutely no empathy for!

I know I've been discriminated against for it. I've always been overweight. Some of its genetics and some is just bad food choices and lack of exercise.

While I am changing the later (aka working out and eating better), it still sucks that society thinks it's OK to make fun of us larger ladies. Look at tv and movies for one. You always see the big, ugly guy with this supermodel wife. Never do you see the overweight woman with some hot stud. Overweight women are usually portrayed as either lonley man hunting men who are never in a relationship and _always_ eating or just the bitter man hater.

A few years ago when I was job hunting, I had put on substantial weight and now I work for myself because I was tired of getting turned down even when I had the qualifications. Not only am I overweight, I'm also gimpy which makes employers think I'm not a hard worker. I work just about every day and all but 3 hours a day.

Hmmm....Apparently I'm normal. Try convincing my friends and family of that. ;) Their definition of overweight is absurdly inaccurate. Did anyone else find the smiley face next to the so-and-so is practically on her bed caption disturbing?

For me, a lot of what makes a woman attractive is how comfortable she is with her body. Sure, health is important, but you can be a big girl and still look fantastic. Bone structure and muscle and so many other things need to be taken into account when defining "overweight, underweight," etc.

I don't care what the runway girls look like, famine victim is not a good look for anyone. Diana, you're beautiful. You've got the curves of a woman and your photo exudes confidence. That's what's important.

If you deny any affinity with another person or kind of person, if you declare them to be wholly different from yourself, you have, in fact, alienated yourself...~Le Guin

you look back at paintings of greek, mythological goddesses and they all have little pouches and curves. Now you flip open any VOGUE magazine and practically everyone weighs 100lbs or less. It's so easy to just say that you should love the skin you're in, but with such high standards society has for every person it's almost impossible.

BMIs are bull. It doesn't take your muscle mass into consideration.