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I dont think it would be healthy to lose an additional 10 pounds. However, BMI charts are not always an indicator of health either. You can the perfect weight and totally unhealthy while a person 20 pounds overweight can run marathons. You guys get the idea.

She probably has a poor self image and really needs help. I dont think us telling her that she would be ugly that skinny helps. It might make it worse. We have a very big problem with making the ideal women far too skinny in the media.

aerius wrote:Pushups are too easy, see if she can do chinups. It's actually pretty sad that some of my male friends (and all my non-athlete girl friends) can't even do a single chinup while I can hang onto a 1/2" wide doorframe and do 10 chinups off that.

Actually, people who can do 10 real chinups are pretty rare. Most people do "cheater chinups" where they don't extend all the way down to a dead hang or pull all the way up so their chin is really above the bar. Even stopping your downward movement when your arms are "mostly" straight is still a huge cheat because of the way your muscles work. A real chinup starts with you hanging like a wet noodle, goes all the way up so your chin is well above the bar, and then goes back down so you're hanging like a wet noddle again, arms perfectly straight. And the whole movement should be slow and controlled, not jerking around.

Chinups are the easiest exercise to cheat on. Every high school phys ed teacher I ever saw allowed people to get away with cheater chinups. But pushups are good enough to show her she's too weak.

I have the advantage of light weight when it comes to chinups, that and I used to work out at the rockclimbing gym at least once a week up until 2nd year university when I got bored of it. At my peak I could do a cheater chinup with one arm, but then I the hockey & rollerblading bug bit and I quit rockclimbing. I just started climbing again with my GF last year and I'm nowhere near my best, we would go climb maybe once every month or 2 and it's just for fun these days.

Doing proper chinups I can still do about 15 of them these days, and if I cheat I can do well over 20 with ease. The challenge for me these days is to find something hard to hold onto like doorframes or soccer goals to make things harder for myself. Still, I'm quite surprised that so many people can't do even a single chinup, especially males who are suppose to have superior upper body strength.

Obviously, males who can't even do one chinup are probably overweight. But seriously, most females can't do a single proper chinup from a dead hang, so it's not a reasonable requirement to get this girl to try one. I'd say that if she can do pushups, she's not as weak as everyone thinks she is. If she can't, then she needs to seek help and this will make it clear to her.

True enough, getting an average non-athlete female to do a proper chinup is pushing it a bit. One thing I have noted though, most girls I know have this thing with doing sit-ups, almost every female I know do them as part of their daily or weekly routine. It's great to have nice abs, but what about the rest of the body? Strange.

Thanks all. Dropped her a link to this thread.

Darth Wong wrote:Obviously, males who can't even do one chinup are probably overweight.

Of course, someone who is 6'4" and 240 lbs is going to have a lot more trouble with a chinup than someone who is shorter and only 150 pounds. Note that the BMI doesn't really work at these kinds of heights either, as it puts 6'4" guys at overweight at around 205 pounds, which is pretty darn light for a person that tall.

But seriously, most females can't do a single proper chinup from a dead hang, so it's not a reasonable requirement to get this girl to try one. I'd say that if she can do pushups, she's not as weak as everyone thinks she is. If she can't, then she needs to seek help and this will make it clear to her.

That's good advice. Not everyone who is very skinny is anorexic, but if they are trying to lose weight when they are very thin then that's a bad sign. There are people who are naturally very thin and will stay that way for a few decades no matter what they eat due to unnaturally fast metabolisms, but these people are rare.

My mother was anorexic or bulemic (I don't recall, it was ten years before she was born) and it about killed her.

Don't fuck around with this shit, 90 pounds at 5'3 is very unhealthy. Put on about 20 pounds.

Definitely unhealthy. *shudders* She cannot lose another ten pounds.

GrandAdmiralPrawn wrote:Thanks all. Dropped her a link to this thread.

Could you keep us posted on this Prawn? I feel a certain amount of concern as I would for any person in her situation.

Darth Wong wrote:Obviously, males who can't even do one chinup are probably overweight. But seriously, most females can't do a single proper chinup from a dead hang, so it's not a reasonable requirement to get this girl to try one. I'd say that if she can do pushups, she's not as weak as everyone thinks she is. If she can't, then she needs to seek help and this will make it clear to her.

For that matter, a better indicator for females is how long they can hold the chinup position. Slightly different skeletal anatomy means that getting a girl to do a lot of chinups simply isn't healthy for her elbow joints.

And it should be impressed upon the girl that being 80 pounds at 5-'3" is possibly life-threatening! Being pretty or ugly doesn't have anything to do with it. The human body requires a certain amount of fat reserves in order to function properly, and she's fifteen pounds below that limit as it is. (Females who have reached sexual maturity should weigh at least 105 pounds for everything to work as it ought to. Otherwise you get into trouble. For example, it throws the entire endocrine system out of whack.)

Graeme Dice wrote:There are people who are naturally very thin and will stay that way for a few decades no matter what they eat due to unnaturally fast metabolisms, but these people are rare.

I'm pretty sure I'm one of them. The only way I've been able to gain weight is by building muscle; fat never sticks to me, apparently.

If this girl wants a good weight gaining diet, let me know. I am an ACE certified trainer and weight lifter.

Does she have any psychological issues like depression or perhaps an eating disorder?

Darth Wong wrote:Obviously, males who can't even do one chinup are probably overweight.

Overweight, or have really weak biceps. I'm 5'9" and weigh 130 lbs, and can do dozens of pushups with relative ease, but I have problems doing only one chinup.

GrandAdmiralPrawn wrote:Girl is twenty years old, five-foot-three, weighs ninety pounds. She wants to lose another ten. I've tried telling her this is terrible and unhealthy. Vote, so I can show her the thread.

What courses is she taking in university?

aerius wrote:True enough, getting an average non-athlete female to do a proper chinup is pushing it a bit. One thing I have noted though, most girls I know have this thing with doing sit-ups, almost every female I know do them as part of their daily or weekly routine. It's great to have nice abs, but what about the rest of the body? Strange.

*ahem* Just because someone can't do a proper chinup means nothing. So what? It's not like it's *that* necessary to be able to do a chinup.. I can't do one, but I am neither over- nor underweight. -shrugs-

By the way, -stabs you- for getting me hooked on Chantal.

~ver

Graeme Dice wrote: Note that the BMI doesn't really work at these kinds of heights either, as it puts 6'4" guys at overweight at around 205 pounds, which is pretty darn light for a person that tall.

Damn straight. I'm 6'4" and currently weigh around 260. The things say that i'm obese. Now i'm the first to admit that I could lose a few pounds, but obese? Fuck off.

OT, like everyone else has said, 90lbs is seriously unhealthy. I've known a few women around that height - not a one of them would have been less than 110, and they were still pretty small.

If she is as light as you say, she needs to gain 10 pounds not lose 10 pounds.

verilon wrote: *ahem* Just because someone can't do a proper chinup means nothing. So what? It's not like it's *that* necessary to be able to do a chinup.. I can't do one, but I am neither over- nor underweight. -shrugs-

It's perfectly possible to be nominally of the right weight and very out of shape.

GrandAdmiralPrawn wrote:Girl is twenty years old, five-foot-three, weighs ninety pounds. She wants to lose another ten. I've tried telling her this is terrible and unhealthy. Vote, so I can show her the thread.

ANOTHER ten?? When you're not particularly short and weights 80 pounds, you probably need to gain weight rather than losing it. (Unless you're a Grey Alien)