I'm not really sure whether I should feel better about the fact that it's not completely my fault I can't lose weight or depressed by the fact that they tell me I have to work 3 times as hard as a normal person to do it!

Oh OnceUponADrive :hug:

Quite a little while ago, I realised that I have teeny tiny bones and build muscle fairly easily. Talk about a kick in the head! All the theories indicated that I had been given a health gift and I'd blown it.
And so I choose to believe that that's what they are ... theories. We are extremely complex creatures. While I'm sure all these body shape ideas have some basis in fact ... we are certainly made up of a million little things that can cause both slimness and ... um ... thickness ;)

But Susan, you *didn't* blow it - you look so slim now! :)

Just call me a Mesamorph Nite,
I am fit and I was and I still am an athlete. I am a tall drink of water almost 5 ft 9, yet I have broad shoulders, small chest and teeny tiny waist, child bearing hips with a jlo jabooty! My measurements are 34-25-39. I do have an athletic shapely bod, more hourglass- esc now though before I was more of a pear.

But honestly, I looked fit even at my highest weight of 170, because my waist is so small, I looked a lot thinner than I was. Now when people see me now they are like your soooooooooooo skinny. I don't think I am that skinny, why can't they say you are so fit instead? Because seriously skinny is not a word I care to be. I am an athlete and I am a fit yet I am viewed now as skinny. But seriously I am an athletic mesamorpe with curvacious curves!

Yeah, Wendalyn, I don't like to be called skinny, but no one really calls me that anyway :lol: People do call me thin, though.

Here's the thing: people these days like to say someone is either "skinny"/"thin" or "fat" like there is no in between. And unless you have huge, bulging muscles and/or they see you jogging or something, they most likely won't even think to call you fit or athletic.

25" waist IS tiny, especially on a 5'9" person! Sounds like you have perfect measurements. :)

OnceUponADrive, there are no "normal" people. ;)

Jay

I can't figure out which of these categories I fit into. I think I'm a Mesamorph except that when I gain weight, I become top heavy, not bottom heavy. Hour-glass shaped when slim, giantly busted and shouldered when overweight. Perhaps I'm an upside-down Gynaeoid.

(LOL, and what is with those names: Gynaeoid, Android, etc. I hope we all look like human women! Except, perhaps, Gary. ;) )

Hmmm, I don't know... either ectomorph or mesomorph. I cannot gain muscle for the life of me. But I have thick arms. ???

I am endomorph for sure. As you can see by my signature I am small for my weight, I build muscle like any mans dream :) I have to exercise to stay in shape, because I will have a high muscle and fat ratio which makes you look even bigger. Its not particularly hard for me to lose weight, or gain weight though. I have very broad shoulders and hips, and I have large bones :)

You guys might be interested to know that your ancestry does a lot in a general way to determine body shape. Populations from near the equator (think the Masaii or those Kenyan marathoners) tend to be tall and thin - ectomorphs. Populations from the poles (think Inuit - "Eskimo", Siberian groups) tend to be short and round - endomorphs. Most people of European ancestry are mesomorphs. It has to do with heat loss and retention. Cool, huh?

Of course, there are plenty of exceptions. I think I'm a mesomorph, but I am curvy and I have broad hips and "soccer player" legs (which my bf loves, oddly enough). I also have broad shoulders and when I'm in shape, I love the way my shoulders look. NightengaleShane, broad shoulders in women are sexy, embrace them :)

The irish tend to be very stocky, which is what I am :)

I'm pretty sure I am Endomorph. I come from a large German family. Most ppl in my family are moderately overweight and a good portion ( including myself ) are really overweight, I have large bone structure ( or think I do ) and feel like even if I look at fatty foods I will gain weight.

Ah, "good German stock" tend to be overweight a lot ;)

I'm of Irish, Scottish, Swedish, Scandinavian, French, and Russian ancestory (yeah, I'm into ancestory stuff, so I traced my family as far back as I could) - all European and I don't think I have any German - so that might explain my being a mostly mesamorph.

And my girlfriend is Puerto Rican, with Taino Indian (they're tall and skinny!), Spainyard, and African ancestory. She's a skinny little ectomorph with some slight mesamorph tendencies.

Warm climates, if you are actually outside in them, can definitely surpress your appetite and compel you to eat a lighter diet, whereas with cold climates, you need plenty of food to keep yourself warm.

Good German Stock is about it too, and from both sides! lol My family is way into acestory info too, had a 2nd or 3rd cousin who did some major work and put a book together going all the way back to my great times 4 or something like that coming over to America from Germany.

I hear ya about warm climates too, guess i'm dbl cursed ( prob not the right word ) that I live in Wisc .... lol ( BRRRR )

I must be a mesomorph
I am fairly small built. I don't tend to gain weight easy and it seems to be coming off pretty easy. I am not working as hard as most it seems and off it is coming just by watching a bit more what I eat and doing a walking video or two a day.