With most of the country being overweight or obese these days, getting slim is like winning gold at the Olympics. But for some of those who are already on the slim side, being skinny can present its own problems. Just as hard as those who are overweight work to lose weight, some skinny folks are working to try and gain weight. Why you ask? Reasons can range from simply wanting to look good in their clothes, to needing to gain weight because their slender frame is unhealthy in some way.

We often associate smaller sizes with better self images and positivity, but as with most things, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. There are slim people out there who look in the mirror and are unhappy with what they see as well. I personally have a friend who is a size 2 and would kill to gain 15-20 pounds because when she looks in the mirror, she sees bones, she sees someone with a boyish figure … never mind the fact that she’s stunning and men flock to her like bees to honey. Her perception is that if she were to gain weight in the right places, she would be sexy and beautiful.

Then there are those who need to gain weight for health reasons. Their slender frames are causing health problems and they need to actually do what most of us fear, gain weight to stay healthy. Every bite of food is one they are hoping will get them to a healthier body weight so they can get rid of whatever ails them. You would think gaining weight would be easy considering how fast we’re growing as a country, but it can actually be rather hard for some.

The point of this article isn’t to make anyone who is overweight feel like they shouldn’t get healthy because skinny folks have it bad too. The point is to show that the grass isn’t always greener, or as easy as it may seem. Sure there are plenty of slim folks who are living life just fine, but there are also those who struggle with their body image just as much as someone twice their size. Body issues can affect you no matter what size you are, so remember that the most important thing at the end of the day is that love and take good care of yourself.

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6 Comments

  1. Great article! I was struggling with getting out of the _____. Now I am in the ___. I am extremely happy. I still haven’t reached my ideal weight loss, but once I do. . You’re right I am going to find the nearest nude beach..haha! So to some losing weight is like winning gold at the Olympics. Once I lose the rest of this weight, I will be back at the same size I was in high school and throughout my early 30’s.

  2. Being healthy is an issue in most dysfunctional black communities. Anything positive is looked at as striving to be “white.” Black culture defines itself as outside of everything rational so I’m not surprised blacks would call fat “thick” and call themselves the n-word. I’m sorry if sounds harsh but it seems like no black leader wants to hold blacks accountable for their weight issues. For God’s sake, the U.S. Surgeon General is a fat, black woman. That’s all you need to know about black culture.

    • I know right. Black people won’t get fit until the Baptist church tell them Jesus said get off yo azz and get the fat off your back.

  3. Cecil Robinson

    Skinny men are scary. that’s all

  4. Can you share which specific medical ailments (other than anorexic eating disorder and drastic temporary weight lost during a hospitalization, infection, etc.- both because of deviations from one’s body’s normal set point) require a person to gain weight?

    (Re: “Then there are those who need to gain weight for health reasons. Their slender frames are causing health problems and they need to actually do what most of us fear, gain weight to stay healthy.”)

  5. Poor self esteem is an illness associated with being too thin that can be a cause of deviant behavior.

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