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How many of you think that this body type & weight is attractive AND healthy?


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BlackOpsZombieGirl

I read this article today and compared the first picture of "plus-size" model Ashley Graham to the picture below it that features a much slender model. The article is about people who fat-shame "curvy" or overweight women as well as people who skinny-shame thin or slim/athletic women.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/tv/s/plus-size-model-ashley-graham-233000359.html

 

IMO, as long as a person is as healthy as they can be and is putting forth the effort to maintain as healthy of a body weight as is humanly possible, then I don't see why ANYONE should body-shame ANYONE ELSE! And even if a person does NOT put forth any effort to exercise or diet, it is THEIR OWN choice and they still shouldn't be 'shamed' because of what their weight is! If a person does NOT like how another person's body looks - whether it is because they think that person is overweight or underweight - then they can just LOOK AWAY and direct their gaze elsewhere.

 

When I looked at the picture of Ashley Graham, I think that she's very pretty and that her body - while it is NOT *my* ideal of what I'd want my body to look like - is probably attractive and healthy-looking to a LOT of other people and that there are probably other women who would KILL to have a body like hers (especially if they're more overweight than Ashley is).

 

Personally, I'm glad that my body is not as "curvy" and as "proportioned" as Ashley's is and that - with continued exercise, strength training, portion control and healthy eating choices - that my body will end up looking close to what the model's body is in the second picture of this article. It takes a lot of effort, hard work and determination, but I'm willing to do this.

 

However, to those people who are satisfied, content and CONFIDENT with having a larger proportioned body, then they should be left alone and be allowed to be comfortable in the skin that they're in WITHOUT being 'shamed' about it. And, alternatively - those people who are satisfied, content and CONFIDENT with having a more slender proportioned body should also be left alone and be allowed to be comfortable in the skin that they're in WITHOUT being 'shamed' about it. ;)

 

 

Do you think that Ashley Graham's body type and weight is attractive and healthy looking? If so, why? If not, why not?

 

 

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I think Ashley's gorgeous, top to bottom. :) She first got on my radar when she was in the news for the SI thing, and I remember thinking that then, so this is nothing new for me. As to healthy, sure. I'm not a fitness guru or anything and you could get better informed opinions than mine, but I think as long as your frame appears to carry your weight well and as long as you're not hyper thin or hype heavy, you have the potential to look good and appear generally healthy.

 

More important just in terms of my tastes would be being too ripped (big or small) or being flabby in the case of heavier women or having no muscle mass at all in the case of thin women. Ashley forex isn't the kind of flabby I'm talking about - she has a reasonable amount of tone for a woman her size who lives in the real world. And the other girl has some 'meat' on her bones as well, even tho she is very slim. Too thin would be a visible skin and bones effect, and flabby would be the sort of appearance that comes with almost total inactivity. I think most women who are reasonably active look pretty decent.

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I think that Ashley Graham is GORGEOUS. I've always gravitated towards curvier women (as in actually curvy, not the euphemisim for obese that it seems to have become recently) as the whole amplified boobs and bum, with some concave in the waist area is just what floats my boat!

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It's hard to tell because all professional photos are photoshopped. I read in an interview with her somewhere that she became really big when she left an abusive relationship and she started exercise recently (she is now married, I think) to have an easier life, not to get out of breath, etc. Everyone has their problems but that makes the 'healthy' part of a larger person more questionable.

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It's hard to tell because all professional photos are photoshopped. I read in an interview with her somewhere that she became really big when she left an abusive relationship and she started exercise recently (she is now married, I think) to have an easier life, not to get out of breath, etc. Everyone has their problems but that makes the 'healthy' part of a larger person more questionable.

 

Yeah, I look at this and she looks thick, I look up other 14's and they don't look so good. I know some body types can pull off more weight, but a 14 and look like that, I'm not sure.

http://assets-s3.usmagazine.com/uploads/assets/articles/82703-sports-illustrated-plus-size-model-ashley-graham-2015-swimsuit-issue/1423059113_ashley-graham-sports-illustrated-zoom.jpg

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I agree with Emilia's notion of photoshop. It's hard to say how accurate those photos depict her every day shape.

 

But she doesn't appear unhealthy to me. She carries her curves well. I don't know who she is or anything about her actual health, but I'd never guess she's unhealthy.

 

I personally don't have the body type to pull off size 14. My weight doesn't distribute evenly and hers appears to distribute quite well. I'm tall but have long limbs that lend a more slim frame. Slightly athletic size 6 is where my body sits best at.

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FWIW, I am talking in terms of US sizes. UK sizes for the same number, are definitely quite different.

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loveweary11
I could do anything between that and a size 10. 14 is really pushing it.

 

I could do anything between size 000 and 1. :lmao:

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I read this article today and compared the first picture of "plus-size" model Ashley Graham to the picture below it that features a much slender model. The article is about people who fat-shame "curvy" or overweight women as well as people who skinny-shame thin or slim/athletic women.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/tv/s/plus-size-model-ashley-graham-233000359.html

 

Personally, I prefer to be between the two extremes shown there. I'm 120 lbs, which isn't very skinny for my height, but is well within the normal range.

 

But I agree with you re: fat-shaming. It's interesting how weight is pretty much the ONLY health-related thing that lots of people feel like they're entitled to say anything they want about (or even to) total strangers without even being asked. You almost never see people saying, "Man, that woman tans in the sun so much, how unhealthy!" or, "That guy has never gotten a medical checkup in his life, what a dolt," or, "She wears high heels ALL the time - that's just begging for spine/hip problems and shortening of the Achilles tendon in the future."

 

The only other health-related habit that comes remotely close to weight for being socially judged is smoking, and IMO that is because people don't want the extra risks that they get from being around a smoker - there isn't much judgment of people who only smoke at home.

 

I honestly think many (not all, but many) of the 'health' comments are really just a smokescreen for people to be able to insult overweight people while thinking that they don't come across as rude or insensitive. If everyone who commented was really concerned for the person's health, there would be an equal distribution of comments about all unhealthy habits.

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Also, as an edit: I agree that skinny-shaming is wrong, too, but we don't see that as often IMO.

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Also, as an edit: I agree that skinny-shaming is wrong, too, but we don't see that as often IMO.

Fit-shaming: it?s like fat-shaming, but the exact opposite | Life and style | The Guardian

 

This is the latest and the article is tongue in cheek but you should have seen the tongue-lashing that model got in the papers. She made her view that just because fat-shaming was wrong, fit-shaming shouldn't be acceptable either as two wrongs don't make a right. Apparently that argument made her sound thick.... I'm not going to speculate on the journalist's weight who penned that particular article in the Sunday Times yesterday....

 

I do hear people - especially men - make comments about women they find too skinny and over-tanning is definitely one subject that's discussed about people. In my previous office we had tan-enthusiasts and some people (men and women) did comment. Besides, if smoking as an addiction is wrong, how come addiction to sugar isn't... Which is what being fat is.

Edited by Emilia
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Just remembered a specific personal example: I was in our head office at my previous job (last year, I think) where a larger lady kept making comments on my appearance, how apparently I didn't eat enough. What stopped me saying anything (only along the lines of 'if I made similar judgements about your weight, you would burst into tears') was that my team mate was there too whom I love dearly and she is pretty big. I didn't want to make her feel bad about herself and she looked embarrassed on behalf of the other colleague, by the way.

 

So yeah, there are plenty of larger malicious people out there who can't handle that not everyone has the same problems and instead of bettering themselves, they try to make the rest of us feel bad.

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Just remembered a specific personal example: I was in our head office at my previous job (last year, I think) where a larger lady kept making comments on my appearance, how apparently I didn't eat enough. What stopped me saying anything (only along the lines of 'if I made similar judgements about your weight, you would burst into tears') was that my team mate was there too whom I love dearly and she is pretty big. I didn't want to make her feel bad about herself and she looked embarrassed on behalf of the other colleague, by the way.

 

So yeah, there are plenty of larger malicious people out there who can't handle that not everyone has the same problems and instead of bettering themselves, they try to make the rest of us feel bad.

 

I also post on a fitness site and there are plenty of posts by larger ladies deriding slim/fit women as "twigs" and "12 year-old boys."

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Ninjainpajamas

She looks fine as a woman, nothing in particular wrong with her although I do not find her body that appealing.

 

Kelly Brooks however, is that ideal body shape, and she's not necessarily "skinny" but a good combination of having some weight while being healthy. She is what "curvy" should be and look like.

 

However Ashley Graham is overweight, not healthy by my standards and I'm not sure what doctor would promote that weight for the future.

 

I think the population because it's growing in size due to the obesity epidemic, is trying to tweak what "normal" is, and what is "healthy"...but by who's standards? the peoples?

 

When you're young fine, you don't have to worry so much about health issues, someone could weigh almost 300 pounds or close to it and for the most part be considered "healthy" on their clinical tests...but it's short sighted, people don't stay at the same weight or the same health, they continue to grow and their health becomes a more important issue as they get older.

 

Add a pregnancy, add the normal weight gain most people endure through life as they age, reduce the amount of exercise which is likely to follow as she ages and falls into the more sedentary lifestyle, throw in some wrenches or life's normal challenges where people may fluctuate in weight...loss of life, depression and whatever else...now that on the edge of a size 14, becomes her "when I was young, skinny and modeling" weight and she is now much larger, and she's no longer "healthy". That's if she doesn't snap out of it, get on the horse and actually lose some weight because she cares about her health down the road.

 

At 25, she was healthy though right? that's all that matters I suppose. But when that's your average, when that's the best you can look and the healthiest you can be, chances are likely she's going to struggle with health issues in the future because of it. That's what a normal everyday person will go through...she's a model, has access to gyms, best trainers, nutritionist and can afford to live on any diet she wishes to...so if she can't do it and lose the weight under those circumstances, then how can the rest of people?

 

Obesity is a real problem, and every time I go back to the US it seems like people are getting bigger and bigger, eating more and more. I ordered a small drink at a sandwich shop to go along with my small sandwich....I got a 1 ft long sandwich and a large sized drink, I was like seriously WTF, I filled it with 75 percent ice and some lemonade since I didn't want it full of soda, ate like half the sandwich because it was full of meat and vegetables as it was, threw the drink out when I didn't finish it and ate the rest later as a snack.

 

In 50 years time, at least in the US...Ashley Graham will probably be considered "unrealistic" and a girl at least 20 to 30 pounds heavier will be on a poster, with her fat hanging over the side of her underwear and thighs plastered together with not a millimeter to spare...and she'll be called "healthy" and promoted as this revolutionary new "plus-sized" model.

 

At that rate, Americans will be like cattle or a herd of elephants...migrating around and corralled into restaurants and fast-food chains by moving platforms so they don't actually have to walk around the restaurant, because it's bad enough they have to walk the 10 feet from the parking lot to the building...a chicken nugget will probably be the size of a hamburger today, which the hamburger is now a small, and there will be six to twelve "nuggets" in a box you could fit a pillow inside.

 

Things are looking real great people, don't watch any number of obesity documentaries or weight loss shows out there that you could hardly hold your stomach after watching how greasy and slimy all that food is, don't recognize the problem and that people are going to die and a lot of them due to something incredibly preventable and curable. Minimize the whole situation and just pretend it's completely exaggerated and it's all just vanity, that fat is truly "healthy"...no matter what a doctor tells you or anyone else who actually knows what they're talking about...let's just all get fat together, and then die younger and younger with our diabeetus (intentionally done) and we'll all never see our grandchildren because our hearts would've suddenly stopped beating for us...sounds great to me!

 

As they say, go BIG or go HOME!

 

If people REALLY cared about one another, I have no idea why anyone would promote obesity or being overweight, which can lead to obesity for many people and does. It really undermines what is actually occurring here because people want to feel good about being fat, when it's not healthy. Sorry, it's not ok.

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regine_phalange

Her body is interesting to look at and I think she's rather beautiful. With that face she couldn't be nothing less than that. I'm not sure whether her waist circumference is healthy, but that's her concern, not mine :p.

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regine_phalange

In 50 years time, at least in the US...Ashley Graham will probably be considered "unrealistic" and a girl at least 20 to 30 pounds heavier will be on a poster, with her fat hanging over the side of her underwear and thighs plastered together with not a millimeter to spare...and she'll be called "healthy" and promoted as this revolutionary new "plus-sized" model.

 

At that rate, Americans will be like cattle or a herd of elephants...migrating around and corralled into restaurants and fast-food chains by moving platforms so they don't actually have to walk around the restaurant, because it's bad enough they have to walk the 10 feet from the parking lot to the building...a chicken nugget will probably be the size of a hamburger today, which the hamburger is now a small, and there will be six to twelve "nuggets" in a box you could fit a pillow inside.

 

I never agree with you when I read you, but I laughed at this (and got a bit scared). I hope it won't be like this. Maybe after all it would be better to show women who are in a healthy weight but have imperfections (short legs, cellulite, etc). Plus models are still models and most women don't have their potential.

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loveweary11

I liked this post but will add it looks as if the USA/Euro thing hags changed a lot recently. Plenty of fat Europeans and plenty of in shape Americans is what I've been noticing in the under 25 crowd.

 

There is also a huge emphasis on better food here. I see our food is no longer what rhe stereotype says it is.

 

Yes, if you eat at a cheap, disgusting place like Subway, you get the fooit long and sugar lemonade, but very few urban American people eat at these places anymore.

 

McDonald's, for instance, is getting closer to going out of business while Chipotle is booming.

 

Times have changed.

 

She looks fine as a woman, nothing in particular wrong with her although I do not find her body that appealing.

 

Kelly Brooks however, is that ideal body shape, and she's not necessarily "skinny" but a good combination of having some weight while being healthy. She is what "curvy" should be and look like.

 

However Ashley Graham is overweight, not healthy by my standards and I'm not sure what doctor would promote that weight for the future.

 

I think the population because it's growing in size due to the obesity epidemic, is trying to tweak what "normal" is, and what is "healthy"...but by who's standards? the peoples?

 

When you're young fine, you don't have to worry so much about health issues, someone could weigh almost 300 pounds or close to it and for the most part be considered "healthy" on their clinical tests...but it's short sighted, people don't stay at the same weight or the same health, they continue to grow and their health becomes a more important issue as they get older.

 

Add a pregnancy, add the normal weight gain most people endure through life as they age, reduce the amount of exercise which is likely to follow as she ages and falls into the more sedentary lifestyle, throw in some wrenches or life's normal challenges where people may fluctuate in weight...loss of life, depression and whatever else...now that on the edge of a size 14, becomes her "when I was young, skinny and modeling" weight and she is now much larger, and she's no longer "healthy". That's if she doesn't snap out of it, get on the horse and actually lose some weight because she cares about her health down the road.

 

At 25, she was healthy though right? that's all that matters I suppose. But when that's your average, when that's the best you can look and the healthiest you can be, chances are likely she's going to struggle with health issues in the future because of it. That's what a normal everyday person will go through...she's a model, has access to gyms, best trainers, nutritionist and can afford to live on any diet she wishes to...so if she can't do it and lose the weight under those circumstances, then how can the rest of people?

 

Obesity is a real problem, and every time I go back to the US it seems like people are getting bigger and bigger, eating more and more. I ordered a small drink at a sandwich shop to go along with my small sandwich....I got a 1 ft long sandwich and a large sized drink, I was like seriously WTF, I filled it with 75 percent ice and some lemonade since I didn't want it full of soda, ate like half the sandwich because it was full of meat and vegetables as it was, threw the drink out when I didn't finish it and ate the rest later as a snack.

 

In 50 years time, at least in the US...Ashley Graham will probably be considered "unrealistic" and a girl at least 20 to 30 pounds heavier will be on a poster, with her fat hanging over the side of her underwear and thighs plastered together with not a millimeter to spare...and she'll be called "healthy" and promoted as this revolutionary new "plus-sized" model.

 

At that rate, Americans will be like cattle or a herd of elephants...migrating around and corralled into restaurants and fast-food chains by moving platforms so they don't actually have to walk around the restaurant, because it's bad enough they have to walk the 10 feet from the parking lot to the building...a chicken nugget will probably be the size of a hamburger today, which the hamburger is now a small, and there will be six to twelve "nuggets" in a box you could fit a pillow inside.

 

Things are looking real great people, don't watch any number of obesity documentaries or weight loss shows out there that you could hardly hold your stomach after watching how greasy and slimy all that food is, don't recognize the problem and that people are going to die and a lot of them due to something incredibly preventable and curable. Minimize the whole situation and just pretend it's completely exaggerated and it's all just vanity, that fat is truly "healthy"...no matter what a doctor tells you or anyone else who actually knows what they're talking about...let's just all get fat together, and then die younger and younger with our diabeetus (intentionally done) and we'll all never see our grandchildren because our hearts would've suddenly stopped beating for us...sounds great to me!

 

As they say, go BIG or go HOME!

 

If people REALLY cared about one another, I have no idea why anyone would promote obesity or being overweight, which can lead to obesity for many people and does. It really undermines what is actually occurring here because people want to feel good about being fat, when it's not healthy. Sorry, it's not ok.

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Maybe after all it would be better to show women who are in a healthy weight but have imperfections (short legs, cellulite, etc). Plus models are still models and most women don't have their potential.

 

That's an interesting idea, but how is that going to sell products? :laugh:

 

I'm teasing mostly, and I do think there is value in challenging beauty standards, especially if they are unhealthy or very limited. But I also believe it is human nature to create beauty standards. Have there civilized cultures without them?

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She's chubby and would look way better if she lost a few pounds. End of story.

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ascendotum
I think the population because it's growing in size due to the obesity epidemic, is trying to tweak what "normal" is, and what is "healthy"...but by who's standards? the peoples?

 

I definitely think this too. I welcome diversity in the media, but I dont agree on mandated body images. While I do love eye candy I would prefer to see more everyday looking people in advertising & movies & tv. Showing only gorgeous fantastic physique people cuts both ways for the sexes.

 

I think Ashley looks fine, but I admit I'm being influenced by the average (size 14-16) women where I live in that respect and the fact that she is pretty. The side on twist picture probably helps by obscuring her hip/waist ratio. I certainly am not going to make any snide comments if they used her in any marketing campaign.

 

I have had gf with similar figure, but have to admit I much prefer the Protein World bikini girl. To me that girl is slim and not skinny at all and I would not call that extreme. The inference that this is the bikini body standard for the beach is a bit controversial (in a more female image sensitive world now) but I'm amazed that ad campaign got pulled. To me in no way does it promote an unhealthy expectation.

 

In 50 years time, at least in the US...Ashley Graham will probably be considered "unrealistic" and a girl at least 20 to 30 pounds heavier will be on a poster, with her fat hanging over the side of her underwear and thighs plastered together with not a millimeter to spare...and she'll be called "healthy" and promoted as this revolutionary new "plus-sized" model.

A thigh gap woman would land a rich husband. Its possible, unless they introduce a fat levy to help with the blow out in the govt's health budget. Things seem to have tapered off a bit where I live in terms of average weigh, and also greater focus on healthy food over the last decade. I guess you could take a visit to Mexico to see how things might look in 5 yrs as that's now fattest country. As part of the tweaking on whats normal I find it a bit amusing on some free porn sites how quite often guys will describe what I consider just a slim build girl as skinny and skinny is freakish. Edited by ascendotum
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It's hard to tell because all professional photos are photoshopped.

 

That's the thing....and not even professional pictures. I remember being round at a friend's about 10 years ago, and she was diligently going through all her old photos - brushing out lines and any hint of cellulite, whitening teeth etc. She was a very pretty woman anyway, but the photoshop gave an unrealistic impression of her in her pictures.

 

Photoshop can make an overweight woman look far more toned than she actually is, and it can also eliminate the bony, sinewy look of a very underweight woman...so I don't really pay much attention to pictures any more. If I want motivation, I'll look at somebody in the gym who is in really good shape. That tells you more about what's healthy and realistic.

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My figure is very similar to hers. :o

Good for you! She is gorgeous.

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