Body Types

[BlackDaisy85]

****The Following is My Opinion and is not Intended to Hurt anyone's Feelings or Target Anyone in Particular******


So I had a very lengthy and detailed conversation with my fiance, that has lasted over the 2 years that we've been together, but hit its peak today. I finally got him to clarify his definitions of body types. Since his definitions for the same terms constantly change, I had him finally fess up and stop being fickle. We both finally came up with the following terms to simplify what we mean by certain body types. We have: Thin, Fit, Thick, Chubby, Obese. I guess that what we consider to be all of the following types might differ from your definitions. If you have different opinions i'd love to hear them! I definitely think that there are beautiful women of all sizes, and i know that some of us have diff goals.




In order of size:


(1) Thin: Someone who is just smaller boned in general, and has more skin and bones, than they do fat on their body. It is someone you see and immediately a pencil or a thin object pops into your head. This isn't necessarily someone anorexic(unhealthily thin), just someone with few curves, and more of a long, lean look. Extremely low body fat. Someone in the lower to under BMI range.

Celebrity Example:

Paris Hilton


Olsen Twins





(2) Fit: This is what I consider to be someone in the healthy upper BMI range. It is someone that is muscle toned or whose body fat is not low enough to be skinny, but slightly higher, and may have a medium bone structure. It may be someone who has small bone structure, but slightly extra fat, rendering them in this range.

Celebrity Example:

Scarlett Johansson


Jessica Biel





(3) Thick: This is someone whose bone structure is larger, their body fat maybe just naturally higher, pushing the BMI range maybe spilling over 1 BMI. This person might have more curves and their bones never show.

Celebrity Example:

Kim Kardashian


Beyonce





(4) Chubby: This is someone that is over the BMI range, but not by too much, give or take 1 - 6 over. They have some rolls here and there, but you can still see the semblance of a shape in their body.

Celebrity Example:

Jordin Sparks


Raven Symone





(5)Obese: This is anything beyond chubby, above 6 over the BMI range, and someone who has lost their figure from the weight they carry.

Celebrity Example:

Rosie O'Donnell


Adele





Let me know if you guys agree/disagree! Just started the thread for fun to get some discussion going! I happen to think I am falling somewhere in between the Thick and Chubby range. Before I gained weight, I was thick, at my best, I am fit. Never am I skinny.

Good Luck to all on their Goals and maintenance!

[FrouFrou]

Definitely don't agree...and apparently I am OFF the chart, your chart that is!

[Sunshine87]

Kim Kardashian's weight has been estimated around 120 or less. I would hardly call that "thick." I would describe it more as curvy.

[kiahna23]

Hmmm...Jordin Sparks isnt this size anymore. Im shaped like Jessica Biel. No curves but muscle tone so it looks like i have hips lol. I love her body. Her waist isnt very defined. But I prefer small to medium. Rossie isnt big really.....Her body structure is diff so it makes it appear bigger. And Kims weight and height together does make her thick. I do agree. I am multi cultural and I am expected to be "thick". So I take pics in ways to make me look thicker lol.

[ADL]

I think the biggest flaw is that girls like kim kardashian and beyonce are as thin as they could be while still being healthy. They were just born with a different body type. I know that a lot of heavier girls like to say "well I'm jus big boned" but i feel like that statement genuinely applies to beyonce and kim. For me thin is anything within a healthy BMI, heavy is a person over a healthy BMI but who still has some shape and obese is someone who has lost all shape. Fit is someone who is muscular

[2SpareTires]

I think you described them well I am this point in time a #4 but would lvoe to be a #2 ! I am not a curvy girl at all so #3 is pretty much out of the question but I think Kim and Beyonce are beautiful.

[yoyoma]

I guess my issue with your characterizations is that I consider bone structure, body proportions, excess fat (or lack thereof), cardiovascular fitness, and musculature as mostly-independent variables.

You've covered the most common combinations but there are others. There is some correlation, but there are always exceptions.

[jules1216]

I think your pics start too thin and unhealthy. I would consider your fit group to be thin. It is also hard to put people into groups. I have an hourglass shape...at 125 I was fit and thin but had curves...my dad convinced me that I was fat compared to my petite small boned size 0, 100 lb step sister...I unhealthily got my weight down to 115...I was a mixture of bones and curves and it did not look pretty and I felt terrible.

[LSUgal]

I think that describing body types in comparative terms is tricky and a little dangerous. I mean, that's what women constantly do...compare their bodies to these nearly impossible ideals paraded by the media. It's so individual and unique that there really doesn't seem to be a universal way to classify body types. Even the BMI can be tricky.

I think it should be about overall health and well being. Like was said before, even if you are 110 lbs, considered thin or attractive or whatever the case might be, you could still be completely unhealthy. It's all about what is healthy and works for the individual...the name or classification of a body type is superfluous.

With that being said, I really love describing "thick" in a non-shaming way. It's sexy!

[ArtyKay]

I would put it more this way........




Skinny

Paris Hilton


Olsen Twins



Thin

Scarlett Johansson


Jessica Biel




Normal/Curvy

Kim Kardashian


Beyonce



Thick (in a good way)

Jordin Sparks


Raven Symone




Overweight

Rosie O'Donnell


Adele


I don't like the word chubby, lol,...and I think that the last set of photos falls a little short of obese.

[unpretty]

OP sounds about right to me. My body at the moment I would say is "thick", but my arms are even chubbier than Jordin Sparks' arms. Hate so much how fat collects in my arms

[InsideMe]

mmmm sorta agree.

Paris Hilton, she's sickly thin

However I disagree with your pictures for Fit. I think Scarlette is thin not fit. My idea of fit is Jillian Michaels:



Or Janet Jackson



Or Madona:

[unpretty]

So jealous of Scarlett Johansson in that picture. Wow.

[runningfromfat]

Hmm... I think it's really hard to put people in these categories and I agree that I'd definitely separate body fat distribution/body frame/weight.

For instance, I'd consider myself at the moment as chubby, large framed, and curvy. When I hit my goal weight I'll be fit, large framed and curvy. I actually could get even a lot MORE specific because while I'm curvy up top, I have relatively slim hips (but a big butt!) so I'm not that curvy on bottom. I'm also muscular which adds another bit to my appearance.

There are women out there who are small-framed, thin but also curvy (see Brittany's blog for a perfect example). There are also women who are overweight but might look more "thick" depending on the way they carry their weight or obese women who look overweight depending on how they carry their weight (and visa versa too).

If you must separate women into different categories I'd go exactly by body fat percentage and do something like:

Women
Underweight 12%-
Healthy 14--24%
Acceptable 25-31%
Overweight 32% or more

Even there people might want to debate the exact percentages (I was just taking them from graphs I've seen on the internet but I think it's pretty silly to distinguish between athletes and fitness because there are certainly women who have a lody body fat percentage and are not athletes and there are athletes who might have a higher body fat percentage too. Instead what we typically think of athletic is a low-ish body fat precentage combined with muscles).

Then you have to add a person's frame into account: Small/Medium/large BUT even then there are variables, for instance, I have a large frame with a small ribcage. Women can certainly have a combination of some of those features too.

THEN, you also have to take into account weight distribution (typically you hear about apple/pear/hourglass/banana but I'm not the biggest fan of those distinctions).

I'm sure even with all this I'm missing something.

Point is, it's much easier to take an individual body and talk about if that person is at a healthy weight for their body and consider their muscle mass/frame/body fat distribution/health etc then it is to generalize on such a large scale. It's also easier to accept our bodies for what they are and how they carry the weight if we learn to dress our bodies as is instead of comparing ourselves to some celebrity or image of the ideal body type that's in our head.

[Nadya]

Mmm, I don't really agree. I would call Paris and the Olsen twins skinny while I'd call Scarlett curvy. Jessica Biel, definitely fit, not just thin. Adele and Rosie, overweight/obese (can't tell, would depend on the numbers, not just looks), and Kim and Beyonce curvy like Scarlett. They just happen to have a bit more meat/fat than Scarlett, but I'd still say curvy.

The thing with labels like these is that they aren't very accurate. For example, I would list Kim, Beyonce, and Scarlett as curvy. They don't look identical though, Scarlett is a bit smaller than Kim and Beyonce but that doesn't mean she's not curvy. And yet, at the same time, one has to wonder...if you are curvy, does that mean you can't also be fit? That's not the case so I think labels just flat out don't work unless based on numbers.

Personally, when I'm at a healthy weight, I consider myself curvy. I have an hourglass figure but I'm hoping to also be fit one day.