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What are Healthy Ways to be Thin?

Felicia Dye
Felicia Dye

Many people have goals of being thin. These can be positive goals when weight loss and low weight maintenance are both done healthily. To be thin and to be healthy, a person needs a wholesome and reasonable diet when losing weight and once the weight is gone. There should be a commitment to exercising. Furthermore, dangerous and harmful methods of staying thin should be recognized, avoided, or corrected.

To be thin, many people will need to lose weight. There are numerous diet plans that provide directions for slimming down. However, many offer slimming instructions that are unhealthy and, in some cases, dangerous. Dieters, often focused on immediate rewards, commonly engage in dieting practices that can have negative effects. The goal of being thin should not be used as justification for risky diets.

Eating nutritious food in the correct portion sizes can help people maintain a healthy weight.
Eating nutritious food in the correct portion sizes can help people maintain a healthy weight.

Despite a person’s goals, everyone must remember the importance of a balanced diet. A person cannot be healthy without consuming the nutrients she needs. To consume the needed nutrients, a person cannot wholly avoid fat, cholesterol, or other dietary contents which many fad weight loss programs discourage.

Instead, food awareness can be used to help a person maintain weight control. Being aware of nutrient content and minimizing the intake of certain nutrients while increasing the intake of others is advisable for everyone. This habit can be particularly useful, however, for those who want to be thin.

Exercise and a healthy diet are the keys to getting thin.
Exercise and a healthy diet are the keys to getting thin.

People with concerns about their weight commonly overlook the important role that exercise plays in losing weight and managing health. If a person wants to get thin, she should consider increasing her physical activity just as she considers decreasing the amount she eats. Once a person is in the weight range where she wants to be, she should use physical activity as one of her management tools.

Keep your refrigerator stocked with oranges and other healthy fruits.
Keep your refrigerator stocked with oranges and other healthy fruits.

Many people think being thin is a matter of decreasing the amount that appears when they step on the scale. However, the body’s condition also factors into this. If a person loses a drastic amount of weight, although she weighs less, she still may not feel satisfied that she looks thin. This problem also affects some people who already have low body weights. However, if these people regularly engaged in toning exercises, it is likely they would be more pleased with their appearances.

Losing weight too quickly can damage the body.
Losing weight too quickly can damage the body.

To be thin and healthy a person must also avoid harmful behavior. Anorexia and bulimia are two examples of dangerous weight management tactics that should be understood and avoided. People often begin engaging in these behaviors without realizing they are starting down a long destructive path. Individuals who already struggle with these conditions should recognize that these are not healthy ways to be thin. Those individuals should get immediate help.

For a slim waist, aerobic exercises are usually needed.
For a slim waist, aerobic exercises are usually needed.

In addition to eating disorders, some people do not know when thin has become too thin. Obsession with anything can be dangerous and can lay the foundation for much larger problems. Weight is not an exception. People who want to be thin should be perceptive of the reactions to their weight loss and size. They should realize that wanting to avoid people because of their reactions signals a problem.

Discussion Comments

LisaLou

Many people spend much of their adult life struggling with their weight. Usually following one diet after another - losing, then gaining back the weight and more. If you used to be thin and have put on weight over the years, it can be quite a challenge to take the weight off.

I have often said, there is not a quick fix or fast solution. You do not put the weight on over night, so why should you expect it to come off over night. If you want to be thin again, it is possible, but just give yourself some time for it to happen. The slower you lose the weight, the better your body adjusts.

sunshined

An increase in anorexia among young girls especially shows that there is a problem with wanting to be too thin. I hear many young girls say, "I want to be thin, or I want to look skinny like her". You can be thin and be healthy, but if you deprive your body of the food and nutrients it needs to be healthy, you often set up a chain reaction of other bad effects.

I had a college roommate who struggled with wanting to be thin. We wore the size size clothes (a size 4), and often shared clothes, but she could not see herself as thin. I would be wearing her clothes and she would think I looked thin, but saw herself as fat when wearing them.

Mykol

Being thin in many cultures is not as important as it seems in the US. The extreme opposite of that is being overweight or obese, and there is way too much of that.

When working as a medical underwriter we always had to look at height and weight as standards for issuing insurance. If a person was too thin and below the guidelines, that was seen as a red flag just as much as somebody who was over the guidelines.

There is nothing wrong if you feel you have to be thin, but if you are too thin - that is not healthy either.

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    • Eating nutritious food in the correct portion sizes can help people maintain a healthy weight.
      By: B. and E. Dudzinscy
      Eating nutritious food in the correct portion sizes can help people maintain a healthy weight.
    • Exercise and a healthy diet are the keys to getting thin.
      By: Alexander Zhiltsov
      Exercise and a healthy diet are the keys to getting thin.
    • Keep your refrigerator stocked with oranges and other healthy fruits.
      By: mitev
      Keep your refrigerator stocked with oranges and other healthy fruits.
    • Losing weight too quickly can damage the body.
      By: Minerva Studio
      Losing weight too quickly can damage the body.
    • For a slim waist, aerobic exercises are usually needed.
      By: inarik
      For a slim waist, aerobic exercises are usually needed.