Teen Angst or Body Dysmorphia?

i am 13 and 5'5 1/2 and i weigh 120 pounds i can see me getting a little pouch and a little thick in the back

am i getting fat is this normal?

Nicole, your weight is not only not "getting fat", it is on the low side of normal. Read my advice to fattgirl, the same applies to you.

by the way, whats the lowest and highest NORMAL weight in pounds of a 15 year old that's 5'5"? my weight shifts practically like Oprahs (i love her & her show btw!!)and goes from 93-98lbs. so i want to know whats the normal range. also, in response to that model that was 5'11" and only 110lbs, WOW! im not even a double 0 and i dont weigh 110. but ive always wanted to be a model...

Nicole, the recommended weight for someone 5'5" is between 120lb and 140lb. You're pretty underweight, and if you think variations between 93lb and 98lb are "shifting like Oprah's weight", you have a serious problem. A 5lb variation can happen for drinking or going to the bathroom. You should stop caring about the scale. How is your eating?

hey i'm 18 and am 5'3 and weigh 39kg is that fat? i don't understand people who say they want to put on weight i'd love to lose more, what exercise helps more than swimming and running?

Summer, you are so underweight your heart might stop at any minute. Please seek help. Talk to your family and a doctor, urgently. You do not need to lose more weight. Meanwhile, go to www.something-fishy.org It helps, I promise.

i don't understand, i can't be that underweight, ok maybe people might think i look a ittle skinny but underneath my cloths i have rolls :( www.something-fishy.org?? whats this

summer, unless you have a typo there and mean something other than 39kg, no, that is very very underweight. How do I know that? Cause when I was 13 I was 5'2" and 40kg and I collapsed one day and blacked out for 3 whole days, and woke up in the hospital... I learned I was lucky that my heart didn't stop then. At that weight, my body had started eating its own muscle, even the heart muscle, to stay alive.

You don't have rolls. They are in your mind. If you can pinch anything at that weight, it is skin... sagging skin because there is nothing underneath to hold it. But you are probably not going to believe that unless you talk to someone, so that is why I urge you to talk to a doctor. You know, go in for the old check-up, have your blood pressure measured, step on a scale, and so on.

Something-fishy.org is a site that really helps anyone with body image issues. It is not preachy and won't say "you have an ED, you're mentally ill" or anything like that, it will just help realize the pressures we all face and how they translate into these thoughts most of us have, of being fat, and so on. I haven't been affected in terms of weight and physical health by these issues in 17 years, and I still enjoy reading and rereading it often. It is very helpful.

oh :( ok i guess its easier said than to believe but ok i don't ever pass out long like that but wow.. i went on it but its too hard to understand

hey i'm 16 and weigh around the 51 to 52 kg mark, i try so hard to lose weight but it keeps going up and down, i can't keep my weight steady and eating only makes it worse, seriously if i eat 1 slice of cheese its like i put on 2kg within the week can anyone give me any exercise tips and also how much exercise is too much? i've looked on sites and everything but no luck :(

i forgot to say i'm 5'4 or maybe 5'3 but i have no clue lol

what should i weigh???

Summer, I felt perfectly healthy before that too... in fact, I had great energy. You know why? Cause when you're that underweight and starving, your body produces endorphins, "feel good" hormones. So I don't doubt you feel fine, in fact, I'm sure you do. Since I don't want you to feel sick to believe it, or worse, just have a serious heart problem one day, that is why I'm saying talk to a health professional who'll examine you (notice I didn't say shrink here, I'm talking doctor, like GP, OB-GYN, something like that)

And never mind the site, it was just a suggestion, I don't wanna "give you homework" either, you know? Well except for the doctor thing. That is homework. Please go, for me.

Jassy, now on to your case. You're 5'3"-5'4". 52kg is on the low end of the healthy weight range, so you're not underweight, but you are thin. Pretty thin. You said you are not eating well, and that ruins your metabolism. When you do eat, your body holds on to every last bit of that cause it doesn't know where the next meal is going to come from. Now, a 2kg fluctuation, even for someone who was not as thin as you are, is very common. Anything from how much water you drank to when was your last bowel movement can cause such a fluctuation.

So, first of all, stop stepping on the scale. If you feel you MUST, then once every 2 weeks is plenty. Not everyday, and certainly not after eating 1 slice of cheese. Once every 2 weeks.

Then, stop with this not eating nonsense. Eat enough to not be hungry, but not stuffed, every 3h, if possible. Eat real foods, not packaged foods. Yes, even cheese, as long as it is actual cheese and not that processed "cheese" that looks and tastes like plastic, or cheez-whiz. You know, meats, fish, fruit, vegetables, grains, whole-grain products like whole-wheat bread, dairy, eggs. The stuff that comes from the farm (ok, bread doesn't, but it is an exception), and not from a factory and contains a million ingredients you can't pronounce.

Now, exercise. It is ok to exercise for 40m to 90m up to 6x a week. But when it comes to resistance exercises, like weight training, crunches, stuff like that, you don't wanna work the same muscle everyday. You wanna give the muscle a rest of at least 1 day, but ideally 2 days or even one week. So "500 crunches everyday" has very little effect, while 3 sets of 15-20 crunches done with some weight (those weight bands people use on their legs, put on your arms for traditional crunches, work well) or an angle or anything else that makes it really hard to do, works much better.

Stuff like walking, on the other hand, is ok to do everyday. Cardio exercise.

If you want 2 good sites about exercise, one of them specifically for women, visit www.stumptuous.com/iron and www.exrx.net ExRx.net shows you the proper form of every single exercise you can think of, and what muscle it works. Very cool.

jassy i know what you mean thats how i started off, with exercise do around 1 hour of fast walking/running and then an hour worth of bike riding and 20 minutes worth of sit ups and with your eating when you get to around 50kg its very difficult to lose weight so you have to push yourself harder and with eating slowly give it up and try just eating 1 bag of gummy lollies a day and sooner or later you'll feel better

sounds hard but i'll give it my best thank you :)

jassy, please don't give it a try. You do not have any weight to lose.

Summer, you can't possibly think that eating one bag of gummy lollies a day is a healthy diet. You are getting zero nutrients. Please get help, I worry for you. Even if you don't have a heart attack, soon you are gonna get scurvy and some other middle-age/pirate diseases like that cause you are getting zero vitamins. You are actually gonna get diseases that no longer exist in the modern world, you know, where people have access to food.

can i just say something, summer your not fat but that girl jassy is going to listen to what you said and it wasn't smart to say that, second of all my mum was battling anorexia when she was having me and died giving birth to me i was pre mature but i survived i think you's should think hard about what you are doing because you will die yes thats right DIE just like my mum. its ok i got a mum but she isn't my real mum and thats worse knowing how my mum died

Sarah, I'm so sorry for your loss.

And Jassy, I say again, please don't follow Summer's awful example. She is sick so she wants you to be as sick and miserable as she is.

I am 5'0 and weigh about 125. I sometimes feel gross around my friends, especially since some of them are considered "hotties" or whatever. but i had a friend who is 5'5 and became anorexic at the end of last year. she got so skinny that her neck was disgusting and if she turned sideways she almost disappeared. she went to the hospital when she was in the 80 or 90 pound range and missed tons of school. she is back and gaining weight, but we all have to watch her and make sure she eats. i don't want to end up like that and i hope that none of you do.

Emily, you are right. And you have no reason to feel gross at all.

i'm a 12 year old girl and i weigh 180-190 pounds. I am also 5'7. I always get picked on because of my wieght. Please give me advice to become healthier.I want to look and feel better.

hi, i am 20yrs 6,3 and im 59kg i just gave birth 4 month ago i was 54kg before i gave birth to my daughter, so i need to know what must my weight be according to my height,and i use to have a flat stomack now its a bit lose and im doing exercises but it is still the same, please i need help coz i am begging to lose hope, and beginning to have serious depressions.

Ok melissa you definitely have a eating disorder. i hope thats not too forward but you do. and being 5'8" and weighing 120 is actually good! i know saying this coming from a naturally tooth pick girl like me (5'5", 98 lbs) isnt very convincing but its true. unless you have a high metabolism or a very small frame you should not be 5'8" and weigh 110! unless you wanna die cuz maybe you die at 110 but it will get worse...so you should stop dieting and DEFINITELY stop counting calories! so eat some cake and celebrate! i know that can be easier said than done...but do it!

Melissa said:
I am going to be completely honest...not something that is easy when it comes to this topic. But I can totally relate to what this girl is talking about. I don't know if it is a disorder or not, but worth wondering about. I am 5"8 and 120-123 pounds (depending on time of day and what I have eaten :-) I feel like a cow all the time. I count EVERY ca[...]

WOW. you people really really REALLY need TO GET A LIFE! omg! some of you clearly dont have a life if all you do is worry constantly about every stupid little thing you eat. that is so pathetic that you eat like nothing all day and exercise like constantly. eat what you want, try to be healthy as you can n just live it up! geez! now all u annorexics out there are prolly thinking just by talking like that that im n overweight fat ass that doesnt know what shes talking about. well. the truth is im not. im 5'6" and i weigh 97 lbs. i LOVE food and could never imagine starving myself or liking the feeling of being hungry. ive been told im annorexic TONS of times even tho i eat like a pig right in front of these same stupid ppl. i have a very tiny and very boney frame and thats just the way i am. some ppl just are meant to be that way. and some ppl are meant to be normal sizes. trust me theres nothing great about being a natural twig you get critized all the time for being so thin..having ppl wrap their whole hand around your arm and even in my case my thigh..have ppl telling you u need to go to the weight room cuz ur boney and the width of your wrist is the size of their finger. trust me its not as perfect as it seems. i have no idea why im so small because everybody in my family is average and even overweight and i eat the same amounts as them...so for all you girls out there counting every single little calorie, exercising every available minute, living off a piece of lettuce all day long, just STOP. no guy is every gonna want to be with a sick girl who doesnt eat anything and is obesessed with food and extreme amounts of exercise. guys want a girl who knows how to have fun, look healthy and fit, and has a personality thats not "sick" as in obsessed with food. so for all of you with eating disorders please stop because im sure the way your living is no way to live. i know this is alot easier said than done but trust me i know what its like to be naturally skinny and trust me the criticism and jealously and hate is SO not worth anything. not even wearing a 0. trust me i know.ive had girls be like " o i hate olivia shes so definitely an anorexic." o tell me right to my face..."OMG you are so thin your waist is like the width of a piece of notebook paper..."or as im standing in the lunch line waiting to get food..."you are so tiny you have to eat something" OMG CMON PPL! so thanks all you anorexics out there that make me go through this...if it wasnt for you being naturally thin could actually be considered great again.

help me i am fat. 5 feet almost 8 inches. About 124 pounds.

I'm either 5'9 or 5'8.I'm not entirely sure. I'm currently 115lbs and I hate that. People tell me I'm thin but I find it hard to determine liars from people telling the truth. I'm obsessed with calorie-counting. I wish I'd never discovered it. Now I worry about sodium and fat, and all that jazz. It's horrible. But if I can just get down to 110lbs I believe I'll be happy =)

Leah, you are not fat, you are very thin. You are almost underweight, in fact. Your BMI is 18.9.

Lyssa, people aren't lying when they say you are thin. You are underweight. Don't believe me? Type "BMI calculator" in a search engine and then enter your weight and height. The CDC site has one. This is the message they give you:

Your BMI is 17.5, indicating your weight is in the underweight category for adults of your height. Talk with your healthcare provider to determine possible causes of underweight and if you need to gain weight.

And you say you hate your weight and want to be thinner. You won't be happy when you lose 5lb. First of all, even if you were 5lb overweight and a foot shorter than you are, most people wouldn't even notice a 5lb weight loss, so it wouldn't make any change in your life. What do you believe would change if you were really more underweight than you are now? Would everyone suddenly find you attractive? Would you feel better than the other girls? What is it that you are searching for? Whatever it is, weight loss won't give you that. As long as you keep comparing yourself to other people and obsessing over food and weight, you are never going to be happy.

ali said:
wow. we are so messed up by the media. 19.5 is so freaking healthy! if only models and celebrities are fatter, then we'll all feel better about ourselves. lol
[...]

I like your answera lol.

sounds like me, i get made fun of for being fat, and i am as tall as and weigh as much as that girl above in the blog article

The past three months I have been maintaining my weight. (I'm seventeen, by the way) About six months before I weighed 160 pounds. Now I weigh anywhere between 114-119. I'm still a calorie counter, and it causes me daily stress. Loosing weight is far easier than maintaining, and for a while, (and sometimes now after I've eaten poorly) I would become extreamily depressed, and sometimes physicaly harm myself out of frustration.

I was overweight since the sixth grade, and thought that loosing weight would make my life better. Granted, hot guys strted paying attention to me, but my 'friends' decided that they didn't like being bigger than I was, and as a result, many have attempted to make my life more of a pain than it already is. On the other hand, it sure is nice to show up all of those other girls that would make fun of my weight in the past.

The moral being, think twice before believing that your fat and want to go on a power diet, your entire life might change and not for the better. And as my father would say "Don't fix it if it aint broke!"
~Think your beautiful, and you will play beautiful.

I'm 13 and weigh 152 pounds. everyone around my is so completely skinny that it stresses me out. I think i'm around 5'5 so my bmi is about 25. it's not obese but it almost is. I don't see why the little twig girls complain ever. My friends don't think I'm fat but technically i am. I never even want to think about a swim suit this summer. I probably have about 3 inches of fat on my stomach and It bugs me. Anyone have any advice????????????

Ally said:
I'm 13 and weigh 152 pounds. everyone around my is so completely skinny that it stresses me out. I think i'm around 5'5 so my bmi is about 25. it's not obese but it almost is. I don't see why the little twig girls complain ever. My friends don't think I'm fat but technically i am. I never even want to think about a swim suit this summer. I probably[...]

You are not almost obese, you are just a hair overweight. BMI 25-30 is overweight, 30+ is obese.

Dear Ally,
Totaly understand. Just a few years ago I was in your position, only an inch shorter. First off, remember that you body is getting ready for (or perhaps is in) puberty, so you are going to gain weight and change weight a lot! It may seem like the end of the world now, but life is going to catch up to those skinny girls in High School, and they will wake up one day and *poof!* their no longer skinny-minies.

Secondly, Chicken Girl is right, you not really fat, just normal for this time in your life. If your really concerned about loosing weight, do it the right way. I've known too many girls that have tried drastic diets that have had too many close shaves with the reaper, and a good diet is the only way to go.

I suggest speaking with a doctor, or nutritionist before you consider dieting. Even a chat with the school nurse might be helpful. And make sure that your parents/guardians know what your planning! They can get ver conserned, and rightly so!

In the meantime, eat a balanced diet with plenty of veggies and fruit with little or no sweets! I know, their my bane...Also, you want to stay away from snack food packed with sugar and salt (check the nutrition label if your not sure)and fast food if at all possible. Oh, and eat breakfast, it kick starts your metabolism and helps you burn off claories faster and more efficiently during the day.

Good Luck!
~Think your beautiful, and you will play beautiful.

thanks guys. on the website i looked at it was saying that i was closer to obese than to normal. and i'm trying the fruit and stuff but i can only a pound a week which is good, but i have all this stomach fat and no matter how many sit ups and stuff i do it won't go away.

Ally said:
thanks guys. on the website i looked at it was saying that i was closer to obese than to normal. and i'm trying the fruit and stuff but i can only a pound a week which is good, but i have all this stomach fat and no matter how many sit ups and stuff i do it won't go away.[...]

Sit ups will make your abs stronger, but they won't make fat go away -- the only way to do that is just to lose weight, and you can't choose where it comes off from. Keep in mind that you're a growing girl, and women are supposed to have a little "tummy".

Chicken Girl is right, and at your BMI I'm sure it is not as much stomach fat as you think it is.

Thanks again. you guys rock!

I have been overweight for my entire life. THis year, I lost alot of weight (or so people have told me). the scary thing is, I never noticed how I dropped the 20 pounds. I am 15. I was seriously depressed last year, and stopped eating. I started throwing up, so I wouldn't feel like a 'pig' .I went from a size 7/8, (im 5'3) to a size 3/4 jeans. I still think/know I am overweight (113-115 pounds). I doubt I will ever stop being paranoid of everything I eat.

Anne, 115lb at 5'3" is not overweight at all. Not even close. It is thin. Even before the 20lb, you were not "very overweight", you were on the high end of normal weight. Please treat your body well feeding it good foods (natural stuff, not stuff in a package or fast food) and repeat to yourself you are not fat. Out loud if it helps.