[taloola]

can anyone imagine them selves thinner i so can't

i use to be so thin

gained 2stone in a year

and desperate to lose for my holiday

[sugalipz247]

its hard to imagine myself slim as ive never been there

[tobetheman]

not till it happens, or until i am thin in reality.

[Dippy Chip]

Never been skinny - but that doesn't stop me trying! One day in 2006 I'll get there!

Janey

[cat90]

Mmmm well I have been skinny and even when I was I thought of myself as fat now when I look at the clothes I used to wear (oh yes I kept them ) I wonder how I got in them

[2frustrated]

Never been skinny, but DF was feeling up my ribs yesterday...

[PhatPhoenix]

I was always skinny til I had my first kid, at 30. Not all it's cracked up to be. I found I was as invisible to men at size 8, as I was at size 18. It was only in my late 30s when I was size 12-14 I got the most male attention. But being Kate Moss skinny was boring - and hard to find clothes, too.

I got back to size 10 after baby No 3, only to have 2 more babies in 2 years which - along with PCOS - has really wrecked my body!

After 5 kids, I'll never be 'skinny' again - but I've always been happiest at 12-14 which is what I'm back down to now (although bust is heading back down to a 10 as we speak...) After 5 kids, I don't want to look like I've had 5 kids - but I also don't want to look like I've had none! I think the media pushes this idea of 'skinny' as an impossible (and stupid) ideal. We should all reject it and just aim for being healthy and happy in ourselves. 'Skinny' isn't healthy.

I came to the conclusion - after over a decade being size 8 - that it is only noticed/appreciated by other women. Men seem to prefer women with a figure! Whilst I can live without male attention (now at the age where that's preferable!), it's nice for your ego and does confirm the fact that the stereotype pushed at us from the beauty and fashion industries does not work in the real world. Better to aim to feel energetic and healthy again, but forget the skinny!

[Bakewell]

I'd have to agree - I've never been skinny, but I really don't ever want to be! I'd like to be slim, but still curvaceous - if I can achieve that I'll be happy. When I was a size 14 I thought I was fat, but I'd be delighted to look like that now! Last time I lost 4 stone it was coming off my bottom half first & my bust remained untouched, so I live in hope that will be the case this time!

[Sarah Ann]

Its the other way around for me - I always think of myself as age early 30s / size 12 and get a REALLY big shock when I catch a glimpse of myself in a shop window or mirror if I'm not prepared for it - finding a 50 year old / size 22 looking back.

I don't know why but my internal image of myself has always been me at about a size 12 but I think thats why, even though I've gained weight, I've found it hard to get motivated to do anything serious about it because I never think of myself as being 'big'. Over the years I've just drifted from one faddy diet to another losing a few pounds and gaining a few pounds more. I'm not daft, though, I know that I need to buy a size 22 but I still flick through the size 12s and 14s first when I'm out shopping for clothes.

The way I look at it theres no miracle way of losing weight apart from chopping off a body part, so there's no point in expending energy getting stressed about it. What I can do is to put that energy in to planning healthy low fat/low GI meals and snacks and taking regular exercise then the excess weight will come off in its own good time.

[Miaka]

I've always been skinny, but I put on more than 2 stone since graduation. Although I can't imagin myslef skinny but I am getting use to it.