how thin is dangerous?

[harry010]

Hi all,

Just wanted an opinion on this...

I am 5' 6" and I think a healthy 9st 7...I am 35/26/37 and if honest would like to take a bit off that in the next few weeks... however to some of my friends I am considered on the small side -

my concern is a long term friend who is 5' 9" and normally weighs around 8st 3, is 35/24/35 and, although admittedly she is a model, she is insanely obsessed with what she eats and how much she exercises. She is currently just over 7 months pregnant with her first child and, although she has had to stop exercise on doctors orders, is continuing to be terribly controlling over what she eats, only consuming about 1500 calories a day. I am getting slightly worried for her.. should I be or is this on the spectrum of normal, I have never had children myself.

Thanks

Edited by harry010 on Friday 18th June 03:41

[The Riddler]

Pics would help.

Sorry, nothing constructive to add, although I'm a bit taller, and not much heavier. :/

[harry010]

The Riddler said:

Pics would help.

Sorry, nothing constructive to add, although I'm a bit taller, and not much heavier. :/

I do not really want to post pictures of someone without their knowledge (I know this sounds strange as her job is modelling but...)

I know everyone has a different ideal weight so to speak but she has often in the past, I know, lived on less than 1000kcal a day and still forced herself to run at least 10km... she looks the picture of health in photos etc but I worry about what long term damage she may be doing to herself

[shirt]

post self pics and we'll imagine the difference

serious answer - do you have a mutual friend in the medical profession who could have a word re. her calorie intake during pregnancy?

[harry010]

photo... forgive if this is heavily cropped... I know some people are smaller than others, but I'm not sure legs that are concave are good for you...

Edited by harry010 on Friday 18th June 04:42

[Stevenj214]

harry010 said:

photo... forgive if this is heavily cropped... I know some people are smaller than others, but I'm not sure legs that are concave are good for you...

Edited by harry010 on Friday 18th June 04:42

She looks very slight, but probably just on the right side of healthy (if she wasn't pregnant). I'd have concerns if she was still calorie restricting and looking like that throughout her pregnancy though. If she was my friend, the advice would be to loosen up for the pregnancy to ensure a strong, healthy baby, then work on her figure again after the birth.

[drivin_me_nuts]

Hardly an issue. My missus BMI is currently 16. Even when she is fit and healthy it is certainly no more than 20. Even at 16, there is not a great deal of worry. The key here is a balanced diet that contains enough protein, fats and all the relevant minerals and vits.

[Frankeh]

1500 calories and pregnant? Surely her doctor must have told her that it's not a good idea.

Hell, if I was the baby I'd be premature just so I could eat something!

She looks ok (Unless she's preggers in that pic) but she could do with going up to 9 stone+ imo.

[harry010]

Frankeh said:

1500 calories and pregnant? Surely her doctor must have told her that it's not a good idea.

Hell, if I was the baby I'd be premature just so I could eat something!

She looks ok (Unless she's preggers in that pic) but she could do with
going up to 9 stone+ imo.

no she isn't pregnant there, and I do
believe that she has been told to be careful... She has been at risk of being premature for the last 6 weeks
or so but old habits die hard, she has been this way for around 15 years
(she was slightly bigger back in the day and looked great imo, but as
is the way with modelling, she started to get better jobs and basically
starved herself an exercised like a demon and dropped quite a lot of
weight)

she has only put on 9lbs so far during pregnancy and is determined not to put on any more... Her husband has tried to talk her into eating a bit more
but she is very stubborn and I don't know if I should have a go at talking her round... I don't believe she'd do
anything to harm her baby, she finally gave up smoking after 15 yrs as soon as she found out,but her approach is
startlingly rigid to me...surely
it has to be worth a go?

[Bill]

harry010 said:

she has only put on 9lbs so far during pregnancy and is determined not to put on any more...

She's an idiot IMO. At 7 months the baby, placenta and increased blood volume etc weigh more than that. If she's that controlling she'll lose the weight very quickly once it's born so all she's doing at the moment is risking her child.

[Frankeh]

I agree with the above. For the next 2 months she needs to eat eat eat.
Intervention time if you ask me... If I was her boyfriend/husband I'd be pissed off that she's risking our baby over something so trivial as 9 months of weight gain (Which she could lose within 3 months if she's dedicated).

Sure, she could watch her weight. But 2500 calories should be the bare minimum intake.

I predict that she's not going to take kindly to the stretch marks...


To conclude, get that baby help. The baby's going to be out of there 2 months early looking for a friggin burger.

[harry010]

Thanks guys, I didn't think it was enough... I have just called her husband and we have agreed to gang up on her later... In the nicest most well meaning way obviously. And with that, I'm popping out to fill a basket with chocolate...

[Stevenj214]

harry010 said:

Thanks guys, I didn't think it was enough... I have just called her husband and we have agreed to gang up on her later... In the nicest most well meaning way obviously. And with that, I'm popping out to fill a basket with chocolate...

I wouldn't suggest taking her chocolate if she doesn't normally eat it. Eating healthily is still fine, she just has to eat enough to not risk the baby!

[Bill]

I suspect you'll sell healthy food to her much easier, or unleash the repressed chocoholic within

[harry010]

I happen to know her 2 favourite things are chocolate and coke, but she just doesn't allow herself them... She is one of the most disciplined people I have ever met... Annoyingly though also one of the most vain, which is usually easy to cope with but not at the moment...

[Yelly]

I thought models survived on coke? That's what kept them so thin?

[arfur daley]

your on about diet coke?

[harry010]

Yelly said:

I thought models survived on coke? That's what kept them so thin?

my mate stopped drinking it as she only liked "fat" coke and not diet coke, so replaced it with smoking, running 10k+ a day and eating barely enough to survive in my opinion... I have always let her get on with it... Until now

[ewenm]

According to my OH's doctor you only need an extra 200 calories a day for pregnancy and only then later on (my OH is pregnant) but being on any sort of restrictive diet is not recommended.

A friend of mine is very skinny but she is a top marathon runner so there's no problems there. There's a big difference between being skinny because you run 100+ miles a week (and eat anything and everything ) and being skinny because you don't eat properly.

I'd be trying to persuade your friend that she should be doing the best by the baby for now and she obviously has the willpower to drop the weight afterwards easily (although if breastfeeding rapid weight loss might be silly too).

[Yelly]

ewenm said:

A friend of mine is very skinny but she is a top marathon runner so there's no problems there. There's a big difference between being skinny because you run 100+ miles a week (and eat anything and everything ) and being skinny because you don't eat properly.

Apart from being fitter, what's the difference?