Silly Question.. how skinny is too skinny?

This question is from me a girl who at one time weighed alot more then I do now. I am being told by some people in my life that I am getting too skinny, yet I still see where more lbs need to come off.
So seriously how skinny is too skinny and is there such a thing? If you reach your goal and want to lose more is that dangerous?
Thank you in advance to everyone who replies.

I believe there is such a thing as too skinny. If you reach your goal, I would focus more on just being fit and healthy, and the rest will fall into place. Just being skinny isn't better than being fit and having good muscle tone IMHO.

....i think there is a very fine line between too skinny & anorecsic. May I ask how tall you are? When I weight in at 57kg(167cm) I looked & felt like a bag of bones, but according to the doctor I was at my ideal weight. At the end of the day you need to be happy with yourself, no matter what the scales say. So all I can say is....be careful how far you take it, you don't want to make yourself ill by being too thin.

There's no way for us to give you a good answer without a current picture.

People always tell me that I dont have much fat, but I still see myself as overweight by a good 5-10 lbs.

But its important to remember that being super skinny with no muscle tone doesn't look good either. There is always another option rather than just loosing weight, and thats going to the gym and hitting the weights and changing the shape of your body, rather than making it smaller.

I find that its usually people that are heavier than me that say things like that. And I fully believe that the comment may be spoken to you, but its actually about them. Your weight loss highlights what they wish they could do but lack the courage to do.

There is definitely such a thing as too skinny. But don't pay attention to the scale number so much. 110 lbs is much different on my 5'3 frame than on a 5'9 frame. Pay attention to how you feel, and how you truly look. Personally, if I can count your ribs and spine vertebrae, then in my opinion you should probably stop loosing.

Pam-u-la,

In this day and age 60% of Americans are over weight... And it's not because of genetics. It's all about social networks & the people you're surrounding yourself with are probably not the most healthy.

When I lost weight I found everyone telling me to stop... But I wasn't to the flat stomach that I wanted and when measuring my Body Fat percntage it was perfectly acceptable or healthy to lose more.

The thing that I find funny about this is when you look in magazines (which aren't 100% accurate) and see ripped abs or woman in bathing suites... People buy them to look more because that's what they want to look like! But, then when somone sets that as their goal and they start to work towards it and achieve it. Friends will get jealous and bash on you.

They're just saying that because they're used to seeing you at a heavier weight. I get the same damn thing all the time. And I'm like "hey, thanks, I'm almost to my goal, but not quite yet."

Now if one lost a lot of muscle tone, had nearly any body fat, and looked as if a serious illness were present, I would say, that's way too damn thin. It was kind of rampant with Hollywood actresses for a while. You know some of the ones I'm talking about. I wanted to feed them cheeseburgers. They looked sickly.

A website that I have found to be really useful is the Body Image Gallery.

You can put in your height and body shape and weight and it will pull up any pictures of real women that have submitted their pictures in the same 10 pound range as you. You could also put in a weight that is lower than your own and see what those women look like. Just another way of seeing how different the scale number can look on different body types/frames..

That being said, I agree with the other posters that once you achieve your weight goal, you should try to focus more on changing your body composition, rather than just your weight. I'm in the same boat - I'm at goal weight (actually a little under), and I can still see 'trouble spots' - but I'm just trying to tone/firm them through group exercise classes and resistance training rather than 'weight loss'... Think about being strong and healthy, rather than skinny..

How do you feel about your body shape? Would you be happy and confident if you didn't lose any more?
I agree that a lot of people are probably jealous. We all have them in our lives. Ignore and go into maintenance when you like how you look.

Erika...what an amazing website. I put my numbers in and was shocked to see that my figure isn't as bad as it feels on a fat day. Thanks

Huh! I can't imagine being too skinny but if you feel that you lack the energy to do normal tasks and feel as if a large gust of wind would blow you over, then you are too skinny.

I know girls who are so skinny that I feel scared to ask for a hand. It often looks as if me holding their hand tightly might just cause a fracture. That is wayy to skinny!

U look pretty healthy skinny, I have a friend who is getting too thin. I think if u start to have sunken eyes, your neck and collarboone is WAAAY to define and skeletal looking and it looks like u have an adam's apple, your getting too thin..lol

I have a friend who has ruined her health( IE heart attacks etc) by years of anorexia so yeah,there is a "too skinny". That is just as bad as "too fat" although our culture doesn't really seem to see it that way. So I would gauge it by who is telling you that? Someone you can count on or someone who you know is not ever kind to you? On your profile it says you are losing 4+lbs a week which I think is a lot to still be losing if you are close to goal. I notice many here( not saying you personally) don't really pursue weight loss in a healthy way which imo is kind of defeating the purpose.

Thank you all for responding.

My 5' 4" frame holds 127-129lbs of me. I will never in my opinion look too skinny, as I have a solid and wide frame. So even as a skeleton I would look heavy in my opinion. However like alot of people who responded stated.. my face would tell you otherwise.

Once again I would like to thank everyone who took the time to responde.

I agree, there is definitely a way too skinny, and it's different for everyone. I lived most of my adult life being very overweight, over 200 lbs and I'm 5'6 with an average frame. I lost 100 lbs and got down to 125 lbs, and that was way too skinny for my frame, which is odd because it's the low end of my "target weight range". My collarbone and hip bones stuck out, and you could see my ribs. I've gained some weight back (which is why I'm here! Gotta lose it!) but I don't think I'd ever want to get that small again.

See a Dr and get your body fat accurately measured, not using calipers, actual real testing. Get labs and blood work to check your nutrition status and possibly a bone density scan. Then decide with a qualified medical professional if you are at a healthy weight or if you could actually stand to lose any more. Then focus on on toning, health and strength. The whole goal is to have a healthy, disciplined body that will do what you want it to. That body will be attractive no matter what anyone else (especially the media) says to the contrary.

Good luck!