Would this be considered fat?

no

At 5’7”, no. at least not in my opinion. I’m 5’1” and am looking forward to a size 8. And then a 6. But at 5’7”, an 8 sounds like a great place to be!

As for BDD, I think I can relate a little. I feel like my nose is huge and my face basically unattractive. Others say no, but I think they’re just being nice.

Nah, not even close.

I’m also 5’1”. I wear anywhere between a 4 and a 7 (depends on the brand). Bottom line: YOU’RE NOT FAT! Breaks my heart when girls think they’re fat or ugly when they’re in good shape and are pretty. :(

No you would not be considered fat. You shouldn’t be concerned with whether you are fat or skinny. What you may whant to be concerned about is whether you are fit or not. I’ve met thin people who are unfit and overweight people who are quite fit. They were overweight but highly active and no doubt most of their weight came form muscle. And I’ve met thin people with weak muscles and high cholesterol. You might want to think more about being healthy than your pants size. Being skinny doesn’t guarantee health.

OMG Hun – no your not fat….. I agree @Chongalicious – It is terrible women do that to themselves

hell no im 5’ 8’ and wear size 12 jean now thats fat

@tedibear39 – Thank you! I hope you don’t have BDD, it’s hell. I go everyday thinking that everyone who looks at me is thinking that I’m huge and ugly. I don’t know how to get these thoughts out of my head and they kill my self-confidence. If you do have BDD, then it won’t matter what your friends say. Try telling yourself that you’re beautiful and see if that makes you feel any better.

@Chongalicious – For me, I feel like it’s fat though. Like, for everyone else I see me age, I feel huge. I just with I was a size 3 or something, you know? I just feel a lot of pressure to have a perfect body and everything. But thank you for your answer!

@Pandora – I’m fit. I go to the gym five to six days out of the week and burn six to eight hundred calories each time I go. I just want to look healthy so people know that I’m not lazy or anything.

@Oxymoron a size 3 is just above the size of a model! Thats not perfection, that’s kind of creepy. We need a little meat on our bones! Boys don’t want to date twigs, they want women! Even with your BDD you can see that at least the people here who are looking at you (well the picture) do NOT think you’re fat or ugly in any way. The thing is, you have got to stop comparing yourself to everyone around you! You’ll never be like them because you are not them. Matter of fact: I bet they wish their body was like yours just like you wish your body was different! <<Not joking! Keep your head up and quit all this self-doubt, it’s really just silly to think those things being as pretty as you are.

@Chongalicious – Thank you! That was sweet of you to say =). I know what you mean. I know that what your saying is right, but it’s hard to believe. I’ve had so many people tell me that I’m not fat or ugly, but it never gets into my head. I hate the media, it makes me really self conscious. I see what the people in the movies and music industry look like and I wish that I was half as good looking as they are. Ha ha. Stupid girls, I know.

I feel dumb for asking but what is BDD is that like BBW or something?

@Steve_A – BDD = Body Dysmorphic Disorder =)

You are perfect! The best thing that you can do for yourself is not worry about what others think of you. It took me 20 years to figure this out. You are beautiful. :)

Good to know. But you shouldn’t be concerned with whether people think you are lazy. So long as you know you are doing everything right from working out to eating a well balanced diet, than the rest should work itself out. You don’t need to be a size 3. You should find your healthy weight and stick with that. Not everyone is a natural size 3 and at your height you would only look anorexic. Then people may still think your are lazy and just sticking your finger down your throat to puke. A lot depends on your bone structure and height as well. If you have small bones or large bones. A small bone person at your height would be pretty skinny at 6, where as a medium to large boned person may look sickly at a size 6.

Ummm, NO.

@Oxymoron oh yes indeed stupid girls lol…don’t forget I’m one of them! So I understand where you’re coming from. All you can do is really take to heart what your friends tell you! And ignore the idiots who tell you otherwise. Ask yourself this: Do you hate how you look so much that you would be willing to go through the exercise and diet programs of the stars and get all that painful “work” done to look like them? If it’s a no, you’re one step closer to a high self-esteem.

No one who can wear a size 8 is fat. The average woman in the USA wears a size 14. Average! That means there are a lot of women who are a lot bigger than that. Marylin Monroe was a 10–12.

@dpworkin and I doubt there’s a man who would say she was not sexy. BDD is pretty rare, isn’t it? I think you’re just thinking like a teenage girl. However, I also think you know intellctually whether size 6 is fat or not.

No, you’re not fat! You’re not alone in your thinking, though – a lot of women beat themselves up because they don’t look like the women they see in magazines… but you know those photos are heavily photoshopped.

I knew there was something I left out of my starlett speech! Haha, thanks @borderline_blonde :)

Uh, no. I’m 5’6” and size 8 in my dreams. My ideal weight takes me down to about a size 10 and I look pretty bangin’ there. So, again, no.

Honestly, it depends on your body shape. I have plenty of spare chub when I wear a size 8 from my favorite brand. Also, a size 8 at one store might be a size 12 or size 4 at another store, so size doesn’t mean a whole lot. Why don’t you ask your doctor what a healthy weight is for you?

From what I read it’s my understanding you are sumptuous ;)

I’m sorry, in my world there is no such thing as spare chub in a size 8.

@faye that’s nice of you, but in my 6’ tall world spare chub exists when you can grab a few handfuls that spill over the waist. People are all shaped differently.

Ah, I have the butt.

@Likeradar – I have an hourglass shape. I don’t spill over my jeans at all, they’re tight as normal jeans are.

I’m 5’7” and a size 12 – I don’t think I’m fat though I’m working on losing weight to get back into pre-baby #1 shape. You are definitely not fat by my definition.

Not at all!

What is it with girls nowadays and these disorders?
The popular media are destroying the minds of our youth!

People become obsessed with being told that they are not fat and ugly. This need is ridiculous.

Be told.

@Oxymoron I have no idea how you look in size 8 jeans. Chances are good that you’re at a very healthy weight. Why don’t you ask your doctor what a healthy weight is for you?
Don’t worry about size. There’s too much variation between brands and cuts for it to mean anything. Find a weight that feels and looks good to you and your doc says is healthy. Who cares if the pants on your healthy weight say 2 or 14? Size is not what matters!

@faye I definitley don’t have the butt :)

No, not at all. But I would advise against a move to Hollywood.

I think that it is probably not good for your BDD to feed it here at fluther with questions about your weight. Please take care of yourself. All the best..

@answerjill Well said. Here, we don’t need to know your weight. We’re more interested in your mind. You don’t have to worry about what we’ll think of your body!

Yeah, I don’t care what you look like, I’ll make cynical and snide remarks about your pitiable, though still heheheheh-ridiculous, psychological addiction to compliments, either way.

You need to seriously reassess your behaviour. Maybe try LSD in a comfortable and safe setting.

Never stop second-guessing yourself. Ask yourself why you feel it necessary to hear things you already know (e.g. how perfect a 5’7” & size 8 girl is).

I’ll give you a hint: It’s not because there is something wrong with your brain.

You are merely demonstrating some ...bad habits in thinking, and these are easy enough to sort out, if you are honest with yourself, recognise them and try understand their nature.

I doubt you are truly suffering from this “BDD”. North American medicine is notorious for over-diagnosing this rubbish, and Western girls are notorious for self-diagnosing.

I consider it a far more likely explanation that, rather than you actually believing that you are fat, you simply enjoy being told that you are not.
Even if it seems to you that this is not the case, SECOND-GUESS yourself and assume that it is.
This is a useful assumption, because all you have to do now is kick your addiction to compliments.

The best thing about it is, once you have stopped this shameful and childish practice of soliciting compliments, those that you will undoubtedly receive, unsolicited, will be SO much sweeter and more meaningful.

In addition, your behaviour and character will be far more appealing and respectable to others.
Like I said earlier, right now the key words are pitiable and ridiculous.
I want those to become confident and dignified.

@The_Idler – I take it you don’t know too much about Psychology and Mental Illnesses. Your ignorance is laughable, sorry.

I don’t know enough to make an industry-of-bullshit out of it.

I am sorry if my suggestion offends anyone (I am SURE it will offend plenty), but all I can ask is that you seriously consider becoming ashamed of your need for attention, rather than your weight, because that is something to be ashamed about, and a size 8 sure aint.

Maybe this is a totally ineffective and useless suggestion for personality types different to mine, but being so cynical that I couldn’t believe my own bullshit was how I sorted out my insecurities.

I don’t want to oversimplify here, so I’ll say that when I said “you enjoy being told youre not fat”, I didnt mean that in a shallow and narcissistic way. I do not mean to offend.
I am sure there are deeper reasons for your need to find this reassurance, much too personal to discuss here.

also, maybe I got it AAALLLL wrong, and you really do suffer from this disorder, and you really can’t see how fat (or NOT) you are, relative to other people.
If so, I sincerely apologize for trivializing your issues.

Just, in my experience of this behaviour, true mental illness is rarely the cause. And hey, I’m an optimist.
I think calling these issues by serious official names makes it more difficult for people to overcome them.

Oh and @VanCityKid, thanks for calling me out, I actually don’t have any references for that theory, and I forgot for a second there that individual thinking in the discipline of Psychology was strictly forbidden until Masters level.

Oh yeah, incidentally, if you are in the first year of a bachelor’s degree in Psychology, your qualification is laughable, sorry.

@The_Idler I don’t think a suggestion to anyone to start feeling ashamed about anything is smart. Period.

I would consider being ashamed of behaviour, which most others consider shameful, to generally be a relatively beneficial form of self-discipline, with regards to shaping ones character into a socially acceptable form.

@The_Idler here at fluther we allow for the fact that some of us aren’t obsessed with doing or feeling what’s socially acceptable and find others to be a form of support

I appreciate that you’re calling this user out, @The_Idler, but there must be a more tactful way to do it.

@Oxymoron Out of curiosity, do you have doctor diagnosed BDD, or are you insecure about your body like many, many women?

@Likeradar – Both.

If there is, @shadling21, it is entirely as a result of the limitations of my character, that I did not recognise and employ it.

I can only apologise for my inability, but I promise to keep trying.

We all have near-fundamental character flaws, and we all know it.
In my case, it is my tendency to identify, dissect and coldly analyse the psychological limitations of everyone I meet. The sole advantage being that I do the same to myself, and so keep my ego in check.

@The_Idler you must feel very lonely.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir I have a need for social interaction. You may think that considering it in those terms takes the humanity out of it. Perhaps, to some degree.

I still comfortably enjoy light-hearted socialising and I love parties as much as the next guy. I deal with it in my own way. I never get emotional. There are advantages and disadvantages.

@The_Idler I don’t believe in ‘humanity’ as a concept – I think a person shouldn’t be free of emotion or let emotion run their lives – it’s not so much about balance, to me, but about depth and variety of facets in one’s personality…if you closely dissect everyone’s psychology and that of your own, what is the reason for your fear of emotion or your lack of emotion?

@The_Idler, while I don’t know for certain if the poster has true BDD, I can say that there are mental disorders, such as OCD (Obsessive and Compulsive Disorder) and BDD that make it hard for some people to stop obsessing about perceived personal faults. Are we too quick to diagnose people with “disorders” in the States? Possibly… But I do not think that it is our role here to kick someone who is already down.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir
I have a highly logical mind and emotion is consistently illogical.
That makes it something to be extremely wary of.

I cannot relate to other’s emotions easily, so understanding people’s behaviour and how to act appropriately takes careful consideration on my part. I feel I have to assess people’s behaviour in this way, in order to participate in and interact with society.

It started when I was much younger (12), when my objective was to exploit a comprehensive and effective working knowledge of people’s motives and tendencies, to manipulate them and engineer for myself social status and the advantages that come with. This was in fact devastatingly effective and I became very popular (one of the cool kids in school, and most definitely not a try-too-hard one either, I was very good).

Around the age of 16, I got sick of being this person. It wasn’t that I was ashamed of desiring social status, but for some reason I was suddenly gripped by a desire to be totally and utterly honest.

Old habits die hard, and so the combination of my previously necessitated tendency to dissect & analyse, and my new severe aversion to dishonesty, has resulted in this kind of inconsiderate behaviour, for which I have been rightfully criticised today.

All this is quite interesting to me, I’d never put it in such terms before. I must sleep now though.
Thank you for an interesting night of discussion.

@The_Idler well thank you for elaborating – a lot of your ways…I see mirrored in myself.

BDD is rare and I can’t see a teenage kidlet being diagnosed with it or it wouldn’t be rare I like how idler threw it out.

@faye – Well I do have BDD.

post the papers, troll. I’ve read your next 2 questions.

@faye – What are you talking about? I don’t get why you keep calling me a troll.

@faye you rock. lurve you youand @The_Idler all the way down. I’m so in LURVE!!!

@faye Teenagers can be diagnosed with rare disorders. I’m not defending @Oxymoron, because I know nothing about her and I have no evidence except her word that she has an actual disorder. But saying she can’t have been diagnosed with it because it’s rare is silly.

@Likeradar Of course that’s true but read on.

@faye Read on what?

Sorry, oxymoron’s next questions but I see that you did.

@faye I saw nothing in her other questions to indicate that she’s lying about BDD.IMHO she’s misguided about some things, but it has nothing to do with this question.

interesting article on BDD if anyone’s interested. It’s a really fascinating disorder, imho.

I am of the opinion that the naming-and-framing of a “disorder”, in circumstances like this, tends to create yet more psychologically-harmful thought processes & associations, and exacerbates the original problem, by semantically cementing it into the mind of the patient, as a single, 100% negative, haunting symbol of internal weakness.

It serves to delegate many and various internal issues to the domain of the “three-letter-code”.
It discourages reflection upon individual issues, in favour of piling up all the crap under a nominal banner, and banishing it to the back of the mind.

It’s like putting all your problems in a box and turning your back on it. One day that box is going to rot, break apart, and then your problems will stab you in the back. You won’t realise until it is too late.

@The_Idler I definitley understand what you’re saying, and I think many disorders are way, way, tragically overdiagnosed and seem to be a status symbol. (“Your son has ADHD? Mine has ADHD and ODD!”)

But as someone who was diagnosed with a disorder in my early 20’s, I can say that for many people having that “three letter code” is definitley helpful in finding a solution and ways to work with what you’re handed. People who have disorders know something is off with the way their mind works. Having a diagnoses really gives people who truly want to work on themselves and not banish it to the back of their mind a starting point and a very important feeling of not being alone in their struggles.