On Tara Banks and the American obsession of women and weight

Tyra looks damn good, and she sure doesn't look like she weighs 161 pounds.

If she's happy with herself, what gives anyone the right to criticize her?

:hi: I thought she looked a little skinny before. There's absolutely nothing wrong with her being happy with herself. :D

and her breasts are real. :hi:

I think she looks better with the weight gain

:hi:

:) thanks for the visuals. :hi:

how does anyone get that she's fat?

BMI?

she isn't anorexic and that's the standard?

:puke:


She looks great!

:evilgrin:

a beautiful woman. I don't see anything in taht picture that makes me think she is overweight. She looks fantastic.

Tyra is much more attractive

:shrug:

:hi: :loveya:

:loveya:

anything interesting happening in your life?

Working, writing, sleeping. :D

You?

:D

Hardly an uncommon practice with those magazines.

Geez, this obsession about being thin is just sick.

The really crazy thing is, if someome is NATURALLY thin, like one of my sisters, they get a lot of crap. I can't tell you how many mean and cruel things people have said to my sister about her body. I think it is mostly from some misguided sense of envy, as according to her, and my other sister, most of the women who say unkind things are on the heavy side. (And you know they would be, rightfully, offended if someone made nasty remarks to them about THEIR weight, but they just don't get it that THEY are being offensive to my sister).

So Tyra, chill out. You are NOT fat.

by societal "standards."
My husband keeps joking about bringing home things to feed me (I guess he'd prefer me to be a bit heavier,) but I'm pretty much fine with my weight.
It's all about listening to your own voice, not all the ones competing for room your head.

I haven't worn shorts outdoors since Eric Schmidt told me I had skinny legs. I was 9.

If I had a quarter for every time someone said to me "God, you're skinny" or words to that effect, I could build a 30,000-square-foot home. I guess they think it isn't hurtful because "thin is in," but it is.

Happy and healthy is all that matters. Tyra looked great when I caught a glimpse of her on Larry King and there's no way I consider her fat. She looks very healthy and strong--anyone who can argue with that has too much time on their hands.

I've heard some things said about me--I lost a lot of weight after an illness and never regained it. Why should I try? The important thing is I'm healthy and I think I look great, and I think Tyra looks verty happy.

What more can anyone ask for?

We constantly read about the pressure for women to be "thin" but in our thin experience, the pressure goes the other way. Growing up I felt intensely and painfully unnatural because I wasn't tremendously curvy, because my ass didn't jiggle as I walked and because I was nearly flat on top. I mean I would hear something from somebody either well-meaning or insulting, virtually every day as a young woman. I longed to be built like a brick shithouse as they say. I can't go out somewhere without hearing a conversation about giant tits, or what have you. Hell, I can't read DU for an afternoon without reading some reference to the "ideal" female body which bears no resemblance to mine. Now my daughter who is also extremely slim though nicely proportioned, comes home from High School with tears in her eyes FOR THE SAME REASON. She is lovely, and she is healthy and fit, but she is forever being told that there is something wrong with her shape. Meanwhile, the "friends" who make these comments are quite large, by my standard - larger than I am after having had three kids and developing the body I'd wanted as a girl.

My point is that the perception of pressure might have less to do with what is considered attractive and more to do with where you think you fall on the scale of attractiveness. Women tend to feel physically inadequate no matter how they're built and it is not only the well-developed girls who suffer from terrible feelings of insecurity and unhappiness about the shape they have.

Unless you look like the models in magazines, you're made to feel like shit. AND NO ONE looks like the models in magazines, not even the models themselves, because they're airbrushed to perfection.

I think you, your daughter, and my sister would have lots to talk about.

I'm pleased to see that somebody understand what I'm saying. I know I am seriously scarred for life because of the insults I endured growing up and even into my college years, and I work very hard to bolster Kira's confidence so she doesn't feel like I do. It can't work however when even her girlfriends make fun of her. Yes, SeattleGirl, jealousy is part of the equation, on both sides. :hi:

Yeah, sure, it's nice for her if she feels good about herself -- but what about everybody else? What about the people who would like to make a million by selling books on "The Choco-Pretzel Diet" or "Lose Weight by Watching TV"? By trying to help your daughter develop a positive self-image, you're undermining the entire basis of the American economy.

All my children have been raised to question and distrust so-called societal expectations as they pertain to physical appearance, values, material wealth etc. etc. Let's hope the economy will thrive without my family's aid. :hi:

your daughter is having self-esteem issues. My shape is average, and I have never really had too much problem with it, ironically, until I started posting in the lounge in May. Since then I've kind of noticed some self-doubt creeping in. Some of that is natural with age, but it kills me I'm getting this here. Don't know what to think about it, either.

The thing is, I suspect at it's root all the verbalization is some kind of weird peer pressure thing among men, about how they measure up with each other and doesn't have a whole lot to do with us.

Except that comments about a woman's appearance can be a kind of weapon. Like, if you consider someone an enemy, and consider yourself in battle with them, then you use whatever weapons you have at your disposal to knock them down, whether physically or psychologically, or whatever. And being denigrated verbally lowers a person's confidence. So it's a tool of manipulation somehow. Maybe men feel if a woman feels more run-of-the-mill and less beautiful, she will be more likely to sleep with them?? I'm fascinated by this stuff, lol. Are they fighting a woman's mind for a woman's body? Head trip.

What an interesting concept. It would be noble of a man not to play on a woman's insecurities but there aren't many urges stronger than the urge to reproduce, and the trick works. Only women can change how they respond to a man's approach.

I remember my mother telling me that the "right" man wouldn't care how you look or, better said, you would look beautiful to him because he loved you. I internalized the message but could not help noticing that when my hair was bright blonde, and I wore the "right" clothing and the "right" amount of makeup and had the "right" attitude my chances of gaining an opening were infinitely greater. Therefore I became confused, feeling myself to be a failure because I was not beautiful unless all the props were in place. I did it to myself, because my self-esteem was, and still is to some degree, tied to the male response to my physical being. It's crazy! because when men and women truly care for one another as friends or lovers, the look becomes irrelevant. Why is it so hard to bear this in mind? Why anyway do we try to gain the approval of men and/or women who choose to define us according to our outward appearance? Yet, think of it: human beings are attracted to objects too that we consider to be beautiful. There is a beautiful piece of sculpture and there is an ugly one and we wish to touch the beautiful one, naturally while we wish to put the ugly one in a guest room closet. We are both bound to recognize and bound to not overemphasize the fact that our face and figure will have am impact on how we are initially perceived & maybe not only initially.

there really isn't any such thing, it's just a head trip hard wired into us by DNA.

I just told someone in a pm that I am 'tectonic plate-shift confused' about all this BS regarding heterosexuality. Here are the conclusions I've come to...don't read them for a uplifting feeling:

1) There are no 'right' men. They either went extinct a long time ago, or never existed to begin with, like bigfoot and the lochness monster. That was just some bullshit lie our parents told us to keep us from killing ourselves before they got grandkids.

2) It doesn't matter anyway because no one is having real sex anymore. Instead of humping each other, we are humping computer downloads and beating off to images on our monitors. It's hell on the birth rate, but sales of printer ink are skyrocketing.

3) If you are smaller than a C cup, you just don't exist. Period.

4) "Because when men and women truly care for one another as friends or lovers, the look becomes irrelevant." Is there a documented instance of that really ever happening...wherein, I mean, a man looked at a woman and saw more than just tits, ass, and a pussy? I've come to the conclusion that there are two types of men, (with rare exceptions), and those are a) the ones that act like women are tits, ass, and a pussy, and even worse b) the ones that also see women as tits, ass and a pussy, but turn all kind of backflips and perform all sorts of verbal, emotional, psychological tricks to convince a woman they see her as more than tits, ass, and a pussy, so she doesn't figure out until way too late all they ever saw when they looked at her was tits, ass, and pussy.

5) I am, in fact, crazy for believing that when I get naked for a man I should be getting some dick out of it. In the new millenium that fact that a man beat off while looking at my picture is supposed to inspire spontaneous orgasm in me somehow.

What about legs? What about hair? Or shoulders? Eyes? Or even teeth? (example in the Charlie's Angels movie where one of them tells Cameron Diaz to 'flip your hair')

Smaller than a C cup? To me, larger than a C cup starts to become unattractive. I have experienced many times finding a woman very attractive and then later noticing that she is not as the saying goes 'very well endowed'. Even though I do notice it, it does not make me think she is any less attractive.

As far as the cynicism about appearance. I thought the woman I wanted to marry was hot. I will not deny that. However I also thought she was smart, funny, responsible, sensible, compassionate and decent. I think Condi and Coulter are hot too, physically, but they are none of those things, except for smart perhaps. I also loved the fact that my fiancee was a Trek fan like myself. Do you think I would be indifferent between her and Condi, that one TAP is just as good as the next? That's just ridiculous.

for not noting that all parts of a woman's body can be objectified. Oops.

I think the point I was making is that it seems *all about externals*. So the fact that you realize later on she doesn't haven large breasts even though she is still pretty is not comforting somehow. I have to go to work, otherwise I'd continue this debate. I'll pick it up at midnight if there is anything to respond to...your last paragraph makes me think you are one of the 'rare exceptions' which I allowed for.

I don't even understand this:
"Do you think I would be indifferent between her and Condi, that one TAP is just as good as the next? That's just ridiculous."

Don't know, don't care. Jaded beyond belief at this point. I only thank God I'm bisexual.

If so, I apologize.

All about externals? Is that true for the start of the relationship or all through the relationship? I have not had alot of reltionships, if any. Usually I am pursuing or asking out women that I find attractive, so it is about externals there, but I also was asking out women who were professors, librarians, teachers, musicians etc. So I was always hoping that there was a good brain inside that body.

Other people's relationships, as far as I can observe, seem to get physical very fast. So either the non-physical is not as important to them, or they are afraid it will just ruin a good physical relationship.

I've read through these posts several times and am not comprehending well because I am beat.
I thought this was funny: "or they are afraid it will just ruin a good physical relationship".

I've never met anyone but I'm sure they exist. I don't know. I don't know much about anything anymore. All I know is this relationship crap keeps pulling me out of Tao and I'm tired of thinking about it. Generally speaking, I am much happier alone. I find romantic relationships incredibly draining and dealing with the fallout from other people's pathology or addictions (and the run-around from their lying and covering it up), is the dad-blasted most exhausting thing I've ever encountered. I don't know how much energy I have for it anymore. Since I'm bi and there is a demand for 'third parties' among married couples I may just go that route for the rest of my life and hang it up on this relationship crap. Then I don't have to worry about 'catching' a partner either. Free at last, and all that.

Strangely for many of them, that is not with the women they sleep with though.

I have a friendship that is dear to me and there is attraction but understand what people say by "sex would mess it up".

She said that she cannot stand to watch herself in a movie. She thinks her teeth are too huge. Then I could actually see it. She would start to smile or smile and then quickly move her lip down over her teeth. It was amazing that a woman that beautiful could be self-conscious at all.

However, I would note that your daughter's enemy in this respect is probably going to be other girls more than it will be guys. I am reminded of the scene in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" when Esmerelda enters the room and takes the officer's attention away from the other 3 or four women. They immediately started looking for a way to tear her down, and finally found a weakness - her shabby clothes.

Perhaps the great thing about it though, is what Kate shows - nobody's perfect. As Robin Williams said in "Good Will Hunting" - "She's not perfect, and neither are you. The beauty of a deep relationship is that we share our imperfections with each other."

I always tell people though, when they accuse me of being a perfectionist, that I am not trying to be perfect, just very, very good.

The women I think are beautiful are women that, for example, my STBE will claim are "mousey" or "deformed". Beautiful women suffer for their appearance the same way the rest of us do so we must be very kind to them! Seriously.

You? A perfectionist? Who woulda thunk it? :pals:

I was seeing two different guys at the same time (god I miss those days).

We ate a lot of pizza back then (it was cheap). I'd order a slice and one would say "why don't you get two slices - you're so thin, you could use it" and the other would say "why don't you get a salad instead - you don't want to gain any weight.

Taught me a good lesson about not listening to men's opinions about my body (although I do let my weightlifter S.O. push me into doing more lifting than I want to, but only because he loves being strong so much and think I'll love it too - he's not trying to change my shape)

because of slobs at school -- male and female. As a man, as a father, I have no friggin' time for guys who reduce women down to tits and ass. My daughters are gorgeous (7-1/2 and 16) -- and I'm not seeing them just through a father's eyes. I learned long ago that beauty is not in the packaging -- it's what's inside. My daughters have it inside and out. I've heard it from enough people to confirm a father's truth.

My wife is a beautiful woman -- who like many women is not comfortable with her looks (courtesy of societal norms). Like most women she is not going to walk down a fashion show runway. And, I don't care! She's gorgeous -- not just to me, but to her kids, and her friends. She's gorgeous, period. Inside and outside. And I tell and show her every chance I get. One day, she just might believe me. And that would be a beautiful thing.

Is that I never can have the perfect shape. I will never look like a model in a bikini because when I lose enough weight that I don't look fat in the stomach and upper thighs, my bones show and don't look attractive either. I have to learn to accept the way that I look at a healthy weight and not obsess about the number on the scale or whether I have visbile fat on me. I haven't completely gotten there and closed my eyes when I got on the doctor's scale this past week. "You are at a healthy weight," the doctor said. That should be enough.

I look at pics of when I was underweight (speaking of bodyfat, because I had quite a bit of muscle packed on) and even though you really can't tell with my clothes, my face looks hideous to me. And I'm talking about being 120 pounds, not 98 pounds. Because I had so much weight in muscle on my legs and glutes, yet every rib was showing and I had no chest left. And I had someone in my life who was telling me I looked good, and that she liked the way I looked. (While relative strangers asked me if I was anorexic on a regular basis). To this day she tells me my 'emaciated face' pictures are good pictures. To me they look like what they are. I can choose between being that lean and having a chest, so I choose having a chest, lol. I'm glad I still have the muscle and shape in my legs from working out to the extent that I did, but that's why I don't belong to a gym and don't have plans of ever belonging to one again. I found myself focusing on things I had absolutely no control over, like the ratio of my calf at the widest point to my ankle and stupid shit like that. I am medium-boned, and I was comparing myself constantly to a lover who was small boned but had an exquisitely toned body, a lot of that from sheer genetics. So her ratios were better. I mean, it was insane. I can never put on the muscle that she did or have the bone structure she did. I'm not talking about grotesque looking bodybuilding competitors, I'm talking about looking like a fitness model. Every time I get around a gym, the less satisfied I am with my appearance.

I can't believe anyone would call Tyra Banks fat.

this is what any type of eating disorder does to perception i guess, i realize intellectually she can't be freakishly huge but damn if i were her and i saw that magazine photo of myself i think i'd impale myself on a steak knife

probably a damn good thing i'm not a model!

:shrug:

i realize i should be able to see it but i just can't, doubt i will ever be able to overcome this perceptual flaw

awareness can do something but it can't do everything, i guess

her thighs don't even touch. That's just fucked up. Fucked fucked fucked.

i don't think i can reprogram myself to see a normal figure as slim or healthy any more than a dvd player can reprogram itself, at some point you see what you are taught to see and respond to what you were taught to respond to

this picture/story wouldn't be a magazine cover if there weren't a lot of e.d. folk who have the same problem

I hope people can get over that, though :)

It is probably worst for myself, but I am aware that I tend to see some people as heavy who really aren't like world class athletes in sports where actually being heavy is a big disadvantage.

...that people with eating disorders imposed their (literal) misperception only on themselves; e.g., I thought people with eating disorders saw themselves as being heavy (when they aren't), but didn't apply that same distorted lens to others.

:hi:

:hi:

:)

so that 161 pounds is perfectly healthy. She also looks as though she is very toned. She looks very fit.

She wears those pounds well.

Did you ever see the show she did on how fat people are treated? She put on a fat suit that made her look to be 350lbs. Then she went on some blind dates. One of the guys was very rude to her. Imagine his surprise when she revealed her true body.

Here's a link about her experience with that suit.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1280787

:hi:

I hadn't seen that.

Thanks a bunch!!

I liked what she had to say until she turned around and called a man a "loser" due to his lack of success in life. I know from experience that this is the most vicious thing a woman can say to a man. I think the obsession with women's weights is ridiculous and shallow, but I also think the obsession with how successful a man is just as ridiculous and shallow.

"I think people are way less judgmental about chunky guys," Banks said. "I have friends that love it — they're like, 'ooh, I love a tire! I love a thick man! I love a big man!' You know? And women are just — we are so much broader in our scheme of what's attractive."

Banks said she likes all different types of men.

"I like 'em all, child!" she said. "Awhile ago I said that, 'you know, I like a guy — he doesn't have to be all rich and famous — he can be normal.' And I remember I was walking in the mall and this guy was like, 'Tyra, I'm normal. I live with my mama. I ain't got a car and I ain't got a job! I'm real normal.' And I'm like, 'that's not normal — that's a loser!' "

Would you disagree?

Just like I disagree with men calling overweight women vicious,derogatory names. She doesn't know what his circumstances are. He might be trying very hard to improve himself. One would think that, after what she went through as the 350lb. woman, she would learn to have compassion for people who didn't fit into what society deems "normal". Just like a 350lb. woman wants to lose weight, an unsuccessul man wants to better himself. People look at overweight people and unsuccessful people and make judgments rather than looking deeper. It's that type of mentality that puts the right wing in power.

There's a difference in comparing someone's weight with their attitude & competence. Success has nothing to do with weight..it's mental ability, drive and passion. There's quite a difference. I wouldn't care if the man I was with was overweight as long as he had the other things I considered an essential part of a successful life. Drive, ambition, intelligence, etc. I'm sorry but any man that lives with his parents after the age of 30 and has no car and career would be considered a loser to me.

I'm against ALL unfair judgments against people, whether it's related to weight or to success.

But as a successful woman, I wouldn't be with someone who didn't strive for the same success as me. I'm sorry if I'm not a good liberal...but I didn't work so hard all my life to be with someone who didn't have the same values and would drag me down. That's life. I'm not being judgmental towards anyone else...I'm only speaking about who I'd choose as a partner.

I have striven and failed. I have three degrees, including a doctorate, and can't get a job and looked for a looooong time. I used to be ambitious, and motivated. I'm still quite competent and experienced.

The man that I love has three degrees, including a master's and he's formerly ambitious and motivated, still extremely competent competent and he can't get a job either. Our economy is seriously messed up. We are not unique. There are millions of us that fell out of the middle class in the Clinton years, thanks to the economic dismantling that started with Reagan.

We figured out it's not what you know, it's who you know. We must not know the right people.
So what did we do? We said "Screw the rat race". Job stress has given both of us chronic illnesses and we're tired of working for idiots.

Now in the normal dating market, most women would not give this man a second glance, because he's unemployed through no fault of his own, so he's not a "good provider". We've both had years of unemployment and beating on doors. I kept him from living under a bridge, and he's brilliant.

This country throws away its brightest people. No wonder there is a brain drain starting, of Americans going to other countries that value intelligence, the arts, and research.

...that obesity is linked to laziness and lack of discipline. Sounds like they are making the link between weight and "attitude & competence."

There are plenty of people who don't have cars in this nation. Some because they are in urban areas where its not required, some because they made a decision to go with more eco-friendly transportation, some because their particular circumstances at that point in life left them without one.

How do you know that guy hadn't just gone through a divorce, his business folded or he had some other traumatic event occur?

I wasn't talking about extenuating circumstances in owning a car literally. I'm talking about the big picture. Of course, there will be instances where people get down and out. Id totally be there for them in that case.. Please open your mind a little and understand what I'm saying, ok? Your black/white thinking makes me feel like I'm talking to a freeper or something.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1605449

We put too much emphasis on material things, and looking at the global warming crisis we've gotten ourselves into, it's pretty sad that "having no car" would be on anyone's list of loser criteria - we need to shift the perception so that those with cars are considered losers. It's a weird quirk of American culture that living with extended family is also considered a loser trait.

One thing I learned from working with the IVAW doing reconstruction - having a "job" doesn't seem as impressive as speaking the truth or doing what's right.

"I think people are way less judgmental about chunky guys," Banks said. "I have friends that love it — they're like, 'ooh, I love a tire! I love a thick man! I love a big man!' You know? And women are just — we are so much broader in our scheme of what's attractive."

I think that's bull. Women are just as likely to reject someone who looks like the male counterpart to her fatsuited self. And why did she cover up her face with bangs and glasses? Some of this is about attitude.

**

I'd love to see that fat suit experiment done by a guy.

I've been around obese men who have had average to thinner wives and girlfriends. In some cases those men were more judgmental about a woman's body type than an "average" man.

I remember going out to eat w/ a friend from college and her boyfriend. She was 5'1, about 110 and he was probably a bit over 6 feet and, from what I understand, pushing 400. He monitored her meal intake more than any man I've ever seen. And that's not the only time or relationship I've noticed that in.

An overweight man might have a harder time getting a date than an average weight man but I'd bet that an overweight woman would still have a harder time. Some women, as they get older, will "settle" and will broaden their look in search of a mate. I don't notice it as much in women.

but guys who have 20, 30, 40 extra pounds... sure! :D

Guys are not as lenient with women, however.

Yummah! :9

She looks like she actually eats a normal diet. Shocking! :eyes:

I'm sorry, but the Kate Moss look is unattractive.

Why and how do people do that stuff to their eyebrows?

Other than that, she looks fine. Most of looks is how you present yourself anyways.

high and arched.

Some of us are just naturally that way...

I've always been a huge fan myself of thick eyebrows on both women and men. I've always wondered why people try to change their eyebrows away from this. I guess I did not know some people actually have that! But I guess people are always trying to look like other people!

:rofl:

This is fat:





If people are freaking about Tyra's weight gain, I can't imagine what they would say about a former supermodel that would become my size.

Geez, we are so hung up on looks. Preferably, I would like to see some more plus sized supermodels in the magazines.

Blue

:thumbsup:

Seriously.

but I like women to have curves. I just never understood the pre-adolescent boy look as the standard for female beauty. Kate Moss = ick. Tyra in that picture up there = :wow:

with the fact that so many designers are gay men. I think that influences things whether we admit it or not.

I thought she was hot until the first couple of times she did red carpet interviews then got her own show.

She is a harpy with an IQ of 50.

But if there was another brain in the body in that photo, I would do her.

*

weight, even according to the outdated height-weight charts. One basic rule of thumb--if your waist measurement is equal or greater than your chest measurement, you got work to do.

Rather than whine about Tyra, the better question is what to for a population in which 55% of the adults are in the overweight/obese category, according to a past Time magazine survey.

I'm about the same height, and was still pretty thin at 140 - 160 is not that far from normal for that height.

I'm 5'10 so 169 never looked fat on me. I wish there were more gals like Tyra - I have alot of respect for her

shoot!!!

I do not find heavy women attractive.

...what's fucked up is that she appears heavy to you.

It is nice to know that my personal preferences are fucked up.

I have lasted 38 years being fucked up. How could this have happened? One would think I would have walked into traffic and get hit by a truck being this fucked up. But I didn't know I was fucked up. Thankfully, you have bravely stepped forward (you are a hero really) and pointed the finger at me and said - Look, you are fucked up.

I'll probably be leaving the internets for a while because I need to go to the Mayo Clinic. Maybe there I could find a doctor who could help me remove the fucked upedness from my body.

I will always be in your debt.

Your sarcasm aside, just looking objectively at that photo: her body's firm/toned, her thighs are toned and don't touch, her waist is well-defined, her face is thin, her collarbone is well-defined--what on earth do you see there that could qualify in any way as heavy? :shrug:

They are not flattering.

I'd hate to be the woman who has to deal with you...........

I'm willing to bet if you had never seen the actual number, you'd guess her weight at much lower and not at all "heavy."

Well, I haven't seen her lately other than the pictures posted in this thread. But long before this became a topic I happened to click to her show a few times within the last couple of months, and I was shocked at how heavy Tira was. I remember doubletaking and keeping the show on longer than I intended to, just to see if it really was Tira Banks, that far out of shape.

I agree with another post I read in this thread, that she would look and feel best maybe 15 pounds lighter. But no need to starve yourself like those Nutrisystem "size 2 in my 30s" commercials.

we've had it drummed into us that any woman who looks good weighs 120 lbs or less. It's arbitrary and foolish.

One woman can look amazing at 161 lbs, another would look bigger at 130 - it's all about muscle mass, bodyfat levels, bodyfat distribution, height, etc...

Weight is such a small part of the equation.

by a group of gay guy friends (and they care about looks!!). I'm 5'7" and weigh 148. So, Tyra's critics wouldn't think of me as skinny. I think different people carry weight differently.

I look good. I lift weights, I have a lot of muscle mass and lower than average bodyfat.

On paper, that makes me fat. In reality, paper can piss off.

:D

I think she looks better at 160 than I look (30+ pounds less), at the same height.
She's *perfectly* proportionate and she appears healthy.

Curl Up and Diet

by Ogden Nash


Some ladies smoke too much and some ladies drink too much
and some ladies pray too much,
But all ladies think they weigh too much.
They may be as slender as a sylph or a dryad,
But just let them get on the scales and they embark on a doleful jeremiad;
No matter how low the needle happens to touch,
They always claim it is at least five pounds too much;

To the world she may appear slinky and feline,
But she inspects herself in the mirror and cries, Oh, I look like a sea lion.
Yes, she tells you she is growing into the shape of a sea cow or manatee,
And if you say No, my dear, she says you are just lying to make
her feel better, and if you say, yes, my dear, you injure her vanity.

Once upon a time there was a girl more beautiful and witty and charming
than tongue can tell,
And she is now a dangerous raving maniac in a padded cell.
And the first indication her friends and relatives had that she
was mentally overwrought
Was one day when she said, I weigh a hundred and twenty-seven,
which is exactly what I ought.

Oh, often I am haunted
By the thought that someone might discover a diet that would
let ladies reduce just as much as she wanted,
Because I wonder
if there is a woman in the world strong-minded enough to shed ten
pounds or twenty, And say
There now, that's plenty;
And I fear me one ten-pound loss would only arouse the
craving for another.

So it wouldn't do any good for ladies to get their ambition and
look like somebody's fourteen-year-old brother,
Because, having accomplished this with ease,
They would next want to look like somebody's fourteen-year-old
brother in the final stages of some obscure disease,
And the more success you have the more you want to get of it,
So then their goal would be to look like fourteen-year-old brother's
ghost, or rather not the ghost itself, which is fairly solid, but a silhouette of it.
So I think it is nice for ladies to be lithe and lissome,
But not so much that you cut yourself if you happen to embrace or kissome.

161 pounds is usually not too much weught for a woman of her stature, but she probably has very small bones.
I would not exactly call her "fat", but I believe she would look better at around 145-150 pounds.
Either way, I still think Tyra is one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen.

While she couldn't come out and say the pic was doctored it sure did look that way since Tyra was standing there in the same bathing suit and she looked wonderful.

about 145-150 should be her healthy weight. a 30 pound weight gain is not healthy.

she's strong, sexy, articulate and a great role model for young girls. :applause: I love confident women!! Right on, Tyra! You go. :thumbsup:

:popcorn: