Naturally Broad Female Waist = More Risk of Disordered Eating and Seeking Defined Abs? (thin, women)

[goodheathen]

Please humor my strange notion. It's based on anecdotal observations of women I've known and women on TV. My thinking goes that a woman will be more likely to starve herself or try to get her abs to show because the stomach is the key area re overweight self-perception (and dress sizes and feedback from others when clothed) and the women who are naturally wide at the waist (I guess apple- or pear-shaped) confuse that with being heavy.

What do you think? Anecdotal reports or (if it exists) waist-related research welcome.

[goodheathen]

I think I was onto something.
Body Composition Changes in Anorexia Nervosa: A Review
(And feel free to laugh with me about the researcher's name being Zamboni )

[rohirette]

Pear shapes are NOT wide at the waist, BTW. They are wide hipped and narrow shouldered.

Now, are you talking about an hourglass silhouette, where a woman's waist is narrow straight on? Or general thiness/fatness, which affects the width in profile?

I can see that there could be a loose correlation, but there are a lot of other factors in play.

[Pear Martini]

pear shapes are not "wide at the waist" but are prone to having a wider waist line if they have high set hips. Many pear shapes, such as myself have very short waists because of my large and high set hips.


My waist in inches is a lot larger than you would think even though I'm in shape. The area between my hips and rib cage (waist) is probably only an inch