Super Skinny me

theKED

I don't know where to post this, so Mod's please feel free to move this thread....

I was just wondering if anyone watched this documentary on Channel4 last night and what their opinions are?

Here is a brief discription for anyone who missed it: (Source: timesonline.co.uk)

A fascination with being thin is a defining part of this rapidly fattening age and nothing exemplifies it better than the recent tumult in fashion and the media over the size zero physique. A size zero is officially 31½-23-34 — little-boy statistics that can be applied to some of the biggest red carpet names of the day. But the term doesn’t bring to mind vital statistics; it has come to represent a state of slenderness and richness that to most normal eyes looks like skin, bone, expensive hair and lovely clothes.

Personally I don’t care too much about the debate in fashion. Models have always been thin and while some have issues, generally the model’s body is an extraordinary one: they are a gangly slender breed unto themselves. More fascinating — and alarming — are the lengths other women will go to physically and mentally to keep themselves well under their natural body weight; and the extent to which most of them think their natural weight is essentially fat.

I am never quite satisfied with my body, but aside from largely healthy eating and regular exercise I can’t be bothered to do much more about it. However, when I was challenged to make a documentary about what it takes to attain the distinctive anticurves of the size zero, I said yes.

Super-Skinny Me: The Race to Size Zero, is on Channel 4, April 22

Dragan

I watched this and found it fascinating, not just the scary notion of what there two journalists were willing to do for the sake of the experiment, but the psychological impact on both as well.

One of the girls seemed very happy with herself, enjoyed her life and her relationships. The other psyched herself up by going through all her photo's and talking about how "fat" she looked. They were both size 12 by the way.

By the end, the first lass had reached US size 00, the other one had been pulled from the show as the doctor and the psyhchiatrist overseeing the experiment felt she ran a great risk of developing a full blown eating disorder.

The first girl would choose a plan and stick to it ( I find it curious that her best and most consistent results came with a high protein diet, even if her calories were far too low and she was depressed and miserable, had no energy all the time ).

The second one would choose something outrageous from the get go, then binge eat, yo yo, and at one stage get drunk.

All in all it was a hugely interesting show, and while I may completely disagree with the methods used I feel it was important to have a well done show like this on telly, as both girls were very open and honest in documenting how they felt. The were both extremely tired, miserable, emtional, couldn't work and suffered from a worse self image than when they started.

Unreal.

theKED

Did anyone think that it glamourised the thoughts of being skinny.
When the girl slipped into the size 00 jeans they had dance music on and everybody was drinking and having a good time and they all clapped when she got into them. She was chuffed. Everybody congratulated her saying "well done". I realise they might have been just congratulating her for accomplishing the task she set out to do, but to me it seemed over the top.

And honestly i taught she looked extremely well in the size 00. But thats besides the point.
I understand they tried to show the torture both girls went through physically and mentally to get to that size but was it not promoting how fast women can lose weight by doing this, one girl lost nearly 1 stone in 3 weeks with the help of having 4 colon cleansings (spelling)

BossArky

I watched bits and pieces of this over my shoulder whilst doing some work at the table. That girl who went off on hols to the carribbean was pretty fit and didn't look size zero to me. Then again I wasn't totally tuned in so may have missed bits and pieces.

Hanley

I think the show was basically bull****... It's like the gave them no advice and just left them to their own devices and told them to lose the weight however they could.

Watercress soup diet ffs??

One thing that annoyed me was the CONSTANT choppping and changing between methods. It's like there was actually no starting plan.

Oh and that personal traniner annoyed the hell out of me for making one of them do lots of cardio on the threadmill to "keep her metabolism up and stop her from losing lean mass"!!

theKED

BossArky wrote:

I watched bits and pieces of this over my shoulder whilst doing some work at the table. That girl who went off on hols to the carribbean was pretty fit and didn't look size zero to me. Then again I wasn't totally tuned in so may have missed bits and pieces.

Thats exactly my point, the girl that completed the task looked extremely hot when she slipped into those jeans, and she didn't look like one of the Olsen twins, she looked fit.
And as for the other girl who nearly had a nervous breakdown, her face looked drained from time to time (although she was 38) but when she was all done up at the dinner party i thought she looked fabulous, even when she stood at the top of the stairs saying "you can see air in between my legs - my thighs don't touch".
So the whole purpose of this documentary backfired.

Anyone agree? I would be intersted to hear what any women think?

Hanley

One of my major problems with all this ****e they're putting out on diet shows like superskinny me is that at no point in time do they mention how important skeltal structure is when chasing size zero. Some girls, no matter how "skinny" they get jsut aren't going to have the bone structure to get into size zero clothes.

Dragan

Hanley wrote:

I think the show was basically bull****... It's like the gave them no advice and just left them to their own devices and told them to lose the weight however they could.

That was the whole point of it. The University that was running the study, the health spa one of them used…..they all said they didn't agree or like the action of forced starvation, but that it really does need to be studied.

As such, you had two very mentally healthy professionals who were reduced to wrecks by ill informed DIY attempts to get down to the fabled size 00. It was a study in how the average person would go about doing it, not in the healthiest, safest of even most effective ways to go about achieving it.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

theKED

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

What's that suppose to mean?

Dragan

theKED wrote:

What's that suppose to mean?

It means that despite losing a lot of weight and size she still held a decent degree of adipose in the stomach region, and was quiet soft.

She was in no way toned, just angular in the arms and shoulders and soft in the belly.

olaola

The girl with the longer hair - can't remember her name - she looked REALLY gaunt when she was being interviewed in the gym. She had a vest on and her shoulders were just seemed so bony and prominent. And watching her put her hands around her waist gave the perspective of HOW much weight she had lost.
Other than that she didn't wear revealing clothing for the rest of the show, so it was hard to see. The before and after pics weren't very insightful.
Even when she was trying on the size 00 jeans - she was well covered up
other than her stomach. I think they should have shown more pictures of her looking too thin.

It was interesting what the girl's boss (the longer haired lady) said about her performance in work. Even her colleagues were talking about her general demeanour changing.

The other lady - Kate Spicer I think? - kinda looked a bit crap throughout. The tiredness really came through on her face and she started to get a tad manic about the whole thing as the program progressed.

IMO - if someone with an eating disorder or on the way to one... might find this program 'inspirational'.
I think if you are that obsessed about losing weight you will tune out the bad bits, and focus on the fact that they both lost a stone in 5 weeks.

Hanley

What was the story with her hands around her waist anyway?? Her thumbs CLEARLY weren't touching around the back. nor were her fingers at the front. Her hands didn't come anywhere near reaching around.

theKED

olaola wrote:

IMO - if someone with an eating disorder or on the way to one... might find this program 'inspirational'.

Do you mean inspirational to become pro anerexic or inspirational to stop them from having an eating disorder?

olaola

theKED wrote:

Do you mean inspirational to become pro anerexic or inspirational to stop them from having an eating disorder?

IMO people who already have an eating disorder (or on the way to one) would see the weight loss these girls achieved as a positive thing. Even Kate Spicer became borderline herself when she realised what she was achieving.

Mrs_Doyle

I really enjoyed the show, however, I don't think the older girl should have ever been allowed to take part.
They should have been psychologically assessed before they embarked on such an experiment. Had an assessment been a requirement, I seriously doubt that the older girl would have been given the all clear to take part.

The younger girl was beautiful, and actually managed to reach a size 00 without looking particularly gaunt, or ill.

I liked the way the show rubbished certain 'weight loss urban legends', like the watercress diet, and the use of laxatives.

However, I do believe that the show may have given dangerous weight loss tips to impressionable young women.

Even I couldn't help but think "Oooh, she dropped 7lbs on the shake diet, I could give that a weeks trial", which of course, is not a very intelligent thing to be considering.

dirtydress

I thought it was interesting but got the distinct feeling all throughout that both girls were a little bit delighted to be getting thinner and both really want to reach that "size 0" weight. Especially the girl that dropped out, I thought she was really disappointed that she wouldnt get there and felt really strange watching her! Even the girl who did manage to get there, when she went to visit the doctor on a follow up and he told her she had put on half a stone again she seemed a little disappointed! I think no matter how many people (especially women) say, "oh she's TOO thin", "its disgusting" blah blah, they would all secretly like to be that thin and to be able to say they are a size 0. I don't think that show did anything to discourage people losing weight, if anything it highlighted how quickly it can be done!

quozl

It wouldn't have been half as informative if Kate Spicer hadn't been allowed do it. It was a bit scary the effect it had on her alright, and I know she had weight issues as a child, but I doubt she's more disturbed than a large percentage of yo-yo dieters.

I was a bit shocked how badly she handled it. Really brought home how unpleasant the whole experience is.

Malteaser!

The show was rediculous

The one with Louise REdknapp was far better, in that one they repeated time and time again how unbelievably bad it was for you to get to that size, how dangerous it was to eat that little and showed properly the emotional side of it!

I watched that one last night in disbelief i felt like an hour of my life was wasted, they just started with NO plan trying different things, iall the bad side effects weren't outlined, it didn't seem to help them get back on the right track all that well when it was over, like a trip to the doctor two weeks later just doesn't cut it.

It was glorifying crash diets, instead of showing them how to go about losing weight the right way!!And yer one taking her diet advice from one of her own magazines, she should have known that they're just made up....f*ucking disgusted with it i was!!

hunnymonster

I didn't see the show. Did they mention the non visual side effects. Things like whether the women's periods stopped, how their bone density would be affected, if their head hair was falling out?

theKED

dirtydress wrote:

I thought it was interesting but got the distinct feeling all throughout that both girls were a little bit delighted to be getting thinner and both really want to reach that "size 0" weight. Especially the girl that dropped out, I thought she was really disappointed that she wouldnt get there and felt really strange watching her! Even the girl who did manage to get there, when she went to visit the doctor on a follow up and he told her she had put on half a stone again she seemed a little disappointed! I think no matter how many people (especially women) say, "oh she's TOO thin", "its disgusting" blah blah, they would all secretly like to be that thin and to be able to say they are a size 0. I don't think that show did anything to discourage people losing weight, if anything it highlighted how quickly it can be done!

Thanks for your honesty dirtydress. My taughts were exactly the same.
I don't think they emphasised enough on their skinniness. I.E the mere sight of Victoria Beckams feet is enough to turn my stomach, or the likes of the Olsen twins rib cage.

Where as from a guy's point of view i taught both women in the documentary looked fit. And i began to question myself because i don't especially like skeleton skinny girls.

olaola

hunnymonster wrote:

Did they mention the non visual side effects. Things like whether the women's periods stopped,

No - that was one obvious thing that they didn't mention.

Malteaser!

there was a lot of obvious things they didn't mention!!

Dudess

Yep, I totally thought there was an undercurrent of positivity. I mean, at one point, the older girl actually said something like "I suppose I've become a bit of an anorexic" and she couldn't stop herself from grinning a little bit - it certainly didn't seem to upset her. And it didn't seem to be an uncomfortable, hiding-her-upset kind of grin. Plus, she seemed to have issues with herself in the first place - a terrible self-image. She was going through pics of herself from the past and referring to herself as "fat" when she certainly was not. She looked fabulous. When she got thinner, she looked miserably gaunt and drained, with massive bags under her eyes, and her skin was so tired-looking (not because of her "ancient" 37 years :rolleyes: as someone mentioned earlier but because she was doing very unhealthy stuff to her body).

Also, this is the third such programme. There was the Louise Redknapp one and there was also one on BBC3 or 4 a couple of months ago - again featuring a journalist. Why so many, if it's so dangerous?

Celticfire

I could almost swear that there was a look of envy in all her mates faces when she managed to fit into the 00 jeans. One in particular just kept staring and staring.

missfrilly

I have to say I thought the younger girl looked good as a size 00. she didnt look sick in fact I thought she looked fit and healthy. although it said she was 8 stone and a size 00 . i thought a size 00 would be lighter. the show painted a positive light on the size 00 thing. and really who are WE to dictate to anyone what size they should be.
As a naturally skinny girl I am seriously sick and tired of the phrase "real woman" ...what exactly does that mean? From what I have seen and read "real women" are a size 14 and anyone under that is "a skinny anorexic bitch". Real women have large breasts and curvy ass and shapely thighs.!:mad: If you differ from this then I am afraid you're obviously suffering from mental illness!!!!! I mean please. This whole skinny debate is gobe a bit too far. As far as I am concerned it is not okay to dictate to ANYONE what shape weight or size they should be be that a size 00 or a size 22. I do however feel its about time we saw more of a variety of shapes and sizes in these fashion magazines we insist on buying. Surely there are enough hot size 18 women out there to fill at least 1 page in Vogue.

HardyEustace

missfrilly wrote:

Surely there are enough hot size 18 women out there to fill at least 1 page in Vogue.

Anyone who's a size 18 is over weight and damaging their health. In the same way that we shouldn't glamorise dangerously underweight people, neither should we glamorise dangerously overweight people.

rainglow

Ithought the younger girl looked fantastic in those jeans, although from the size of her boobs and her stomach as a "before", I'm guessing she's an apple shape and already had small hips and legs. As a pear, I'd literally never wedge my pelvis into a size eight pair of jeans, never mind a size 00 (UK size 2).

missfrilly

HardyEustace wrote:

Anyone who's a size 18 is over weight and damaging their health. In the same way that we shouldn't glamorise dangerously underweight people, neither should we glamorise dangerously overweight people.

is a size 18 obese?? surely it depends on your build?? I mean for instance I am the same height as the girl in that tv show 5"4 and when I was working out I weighed about 8 stone I was a size 8 not a size 00 like her. Wasnt Marilyn Monroe a 16, Rita Hayworth the same??

HardyEustace

missfrilly wrote:

is a size 18 obese?? surely it depends on your build?? I mean for instance I am the same height as the girl in that tv show 5"4 and when I was working out I weighed about 8 stone I was a size 8 not a size 00 like her. Wasnt Marilyn Monroe a 16, Rita Hayworth the same??

I that if someone is a size 18 that they definitely have a weight problem. Of course there are always exceptions to any rules but a size 18 is a very big size.

The size 00 they were talking about is an american size 00, which is the equivalent of a european 2. I'm also 5"4 and of a very slim build. When I ran the marathon last year I'd say that I was a european 4 to 2. My weight was about 7 stone 4 to 7 stone 7.

Dragan

missfrilly wrote:

Wasnt Marilyn Monroe a 16, Rita Hayworth the same??

Monroe was a size 12, Hayworth was a 10 to 12. Just like anyone else i imagine Monroe experience weight fluctuations due to general issues and pregnancy etc..... just because a dress that people claimed was owned by Monroe was a size 16 does not mean she WAS a size 16.

I still have all my fat clothes in my wardrobe....hate to think if i get super famous that people will go around saying i have a 42 inch waist.

Dudess

Thing is, the younger girl didn't really fit into those 00 jeans. She could just about get them on all right, but that doesn't mean she could have spent the rest of the day wearing them. They were still a very tight fit.

HardyEustace

Dudess wrote:

Thing is, the younger girl didn't really fit into those 00 jeans. She could just about get them on all right, but that doesn't mean she could have spent the rest of the day wearing them. They were still a very tight fit.

I think that I'd have to agree with you on that one. In fact reading through the posts and having a bit of a muse about it, I really don't think she reached size 00 at all.

The reason I say this is due to the fact that I've a very small frame. As I mentioned previously I think I was down to a size 4 to 2 just before I ran the marathon. Even though I was very healthy and eating like there was no tomorrow, I was obviously burning off a massive amount of calories and thus my weight and body fat was very low. My collar bones stuck out way more as did the bones below my collar bones. In comparison to how my body looked she really didn't look like someone who was a size 2.

In a way the program did a dis-service to the healthy eating message as it seemed to say you can starve yourself for a number of weeks and still look great and still fit into size 00. I thought that the Louise Rednapp program was far superior.

theKED

I think Katie Spicer really had mental issues with her weight and definetly shouldn't have been picked to do this experiment.
Even in her pictures she dresses up in heels and sexy lingere, like she was doing a shoot for FHM or Nuts.

also as previous posters have said Louise wasn't that skinny.

rubadub

Dragan wrote:

just because a dress that people claimed was owned by Monroe was a size 16 does not mean she WAS a size 16.

Dress sizes have decreased over the years. She could well have been a 16 but back then a 16 could have been the same as todays 10.

It makes sense why clothes companies would do this. A person concerned with their weight might subconciously go for a certain brand since they are a size 10 in it. I bet if a woman was shopping and found 2 dresses that were the exact same size & price and one was size 12 and one was size 10 they would go for the 10. All the brands slowly drop sizes and the others are sort of forced into copying them.


I find this with jeans, I have a waist of about 33-34", yet wear 32" jeans with a belt and can even fit into some 30" jeans.

HardyEustace

very true... in fact the more expensive the label, the more generous the size :rolleyes:

olaola

HardyEustace wrote:

very true... in fact the more expensive the label, the more generous the size :rolleyes:

And GAP (the brand I think she was trying on) are VERY generous.
The sizes go down in smaller increments as you go towards size 0.
http://www.gap.com/customerService/info.do?cid=2314
I don't know if that is the same for all brands?

I'd like to see her get into a Zara '00' if there was such a size!

wasabi

Hmm, that Gap chart you posted lies as well, I have a pair of size 6 Gap trousers that fit perfectly and my waist is nowhere near 27 inches

BaZmO*

Thought the programme was quite pointless tbh. What was it trying to prove? That crash diets and yo-yo dieting is bad for you? Doesn't everybody know that already?

I just felt that the show gave people with eating disorders new ways and tips into losing weight.

The girl that actually managed to stay the course (without going mental) mentioned some websites that encouraged people with Anorexia to continue starving themselves (kinda like Boards.ie but without the Boards Beers.....like seriously, do you realise how fattening beer is??) so I thought I'd do a quick Google as I was slightly shocked that something like that actually existed. And there were plenty of sites encouraging Anorexia. Most of the sites actually gave members notice of when the show was being aired so that it could be watched and tips taken from it. No mention was made on these that any of the practices were detrimental to one's health. Shocking stuff really.

missfrilly wrote:

I do however feel its about time we saw more of a variety of shapes and sizes in these fashion magazines we insist on buying.

That's the thing though, women complain about the pressures that these magazines put on them but yet they're the very ones that continue to buy them.

tribulus

"Pro-Ana" sites are really quite distressing to read.

There was a documentary on Channel 4 several months ago following the lives of a few young women (15, 17 and 18 I think) during the summer.

The youngest was in the midst of losing weight seemingly unbeknownst(sp?) to her parents and even became a "thinspiration" on one of the sites.

The 17 year old had recently returned from rehab and was trying to get her life back to normal amnd the 18 year old had made friends with the owner of of one of the sites and were planning their "diet" together.

It really was shocking.

Dudess

BaZmO* wrote:

I just felt that the show gave people with eating disorders new ways and tips into losing weight.

Completely agree with you. It had already been reported that the Louise Redknapp one backfired as it was ecstatically received as "thinspirational" by pro-ana communities. There was one before that on BBC3 or 4 - again featuring a young journalist. Now this one. As I already said, why so many if it's so dangerous? Are there as many Supersize Me documentaries?

wandering_star

Having lived out of the country when this original documentary was aired, I had no idea what this documentary was about until I tuned in to watch the re-run tonight, half expecting a mock-umentary of the Supersize me film.

While I am appalled by the idea of being anorexic, bulemic or having some other kind of eating disorder, and whilest I saw the suffering-the mental and physical suffering that they were enduring, I couldn't but help notice that I'd shoved away the chocolate biscuit that I was dipping into my tea...

I have known girls whom I went to school or university with who had eating disorders, I have seen them literally waste away, I have seen them lose their concentration, lose sight of what they are doing, and I have also lost them along the way as a friend. I have always loved my food, and could never understand why someone would do something like that...but when I saw a girl who went from a size 12 to fit into a size 00 pair of jeans, part of me thought, in spite of myself-hey, that looks good...and I started to feel a bit **** about myself.

Then I'd a bit of a reality check.

But was I the only one??

Maybe it's just a girly thing, maybe not, maybe it has been socially battered into our skulls-skinny is good, I don't know, but I did feel like it glamourised it-yes it did show the bad effects of dieting, but not enough as previous posters have already stated.

While I feel that yes it was a good thing to have on-that it addressses the issue-there could have been a more balanced analysis at times- ie she lost 7lbs, which could mean that her bone density has decreased etc etc. But it is relevant to the society that we live in today-half the world is starving dying to eat, the other half is starving themselves while food is just wasted or vomited back up.

Also the add at the end about going to the website and checking out information on diets...a little bit unnecessary..

In spite of all this, in spite of the fact that I know it's stupid (I'm a size 8, and happy with my size, (I'll also add that I'm roughly 5"0, and my bmi is in the healthy zone) could be more toned, but that's not weight, that's just me being a lazy arse:rolleyes:)I do know that tomorrow that I will go for a long walk and have a salad for lunch... however hopefully tomorrow evening, I'll have a bottle of red wine and a packet of biscuits.

I just hope that I'm not the only one who felt slightly akward with themselves after watching this programme, and not the only one who questioned whether I am right to think this skinny culture is a load of bollix, and was (am..?) tempted by its' lure.

rosy-bee

Hi there, I just watched the re-run of this show last night aswell...

I think that the two women in it probably thought they should be outraged by the whole extreme dieting thing - and they wanted to act that way outwardly - but they were so obviously delighted when they started losing weight. Wandering star I know what you mean, it could make you feel like you should lose some weight but no sane person would put themselves through that - there are easier and healthier ways to do it!!!

What really disturbed me was when they talked about pro-ana sites - I was working on my laptop at the time so went on to one for a look. They were all on there talking about the program as it was on - laughing at the way the presenter said the two women were 'a healthy size 12' to begin with - but obviously watching the program to either get tips or compare notes and so on.

So really who is the program supposed to have helped? People who are already anorexic just used it to get tips, and people who aren't would never go to those extremes anyway... Really the only two who benefited from it were the two women who were involved, seen as they were both so delighted to lose all that weight!

Killme00

I watched this for the first time last night too. Shocking stuff..why would anyone do this to themself and why would you let anyone you know do this to themselves. crazy stuff

Jimmy Bottlehead

Seeing the pics posted earlier in this thread, I honestly think they look better with a bit of weight... Theres not much attractive about unnatural skeletal-like features (see Nicole Richie a year ago or so?), and honestly, women should just stop buying magazines featuring skinny wafer-thin models. If there's no demand, the mag will die, and with it, the notion that skinny = perfection. Can't see it happening though. Its all too easy to want a perfect body, and then sit on your arse and whine and not try to improve the one you have, or else eat miniscule amounts of crap food and not work out hard.

kiaora

I'm naturally slim ish a UK size 8 to 10. Recently I have put on a bit of weight and my weight has been stable for three years at least. Not 100% sure on what exactly is affecting the balance (obviously diet and exercise are the likely culprits). After watching this show I felt like I wanted to go on an extreme diet myself (I know, silly me). I felt like the negatives weren't that bad and the results were great. In 5 weeks I could be a size 00! BUT I thought long and hard about it. Underneath it all I want a different shape (I'm a pear) and a firmer body sans cellulite. The sad thing is that no amount of dieting and exercise will change my shape I will just be a smaller version of. I think this is a trap lots of people fall into. If you can't have a perfect shape then at least be skinny and then your shape isn't as obvious. I thought the young one had a good shape naturally and looked good the size she was. She looked amazing as a size 00 but maybe she was small boned and correctly shaped to make that work in the first place. Bones do not shrink so if your skeleton or frame is a certain size then that is your limit. Anyway it still leaves me feeling frustrated. I want the gap at the top of the thighs but my shape I don't think will ever allow it unless I become very underweight. This show makes it a tempting thought as they make it seem so easy.