Asian women's distribution of fat?

[Kiko_W]

Strongchick

Strongchick, I can't speak for the two girls you mentioned but I can tell you that many Asians tend to have a very different outlook on weight and eating. As far as offering you food ALL Asians try to constantly force food on people- I can tell you without any shadow of doubt that in that at least they are trying to be friendly.

Here in Taiwan this whole "thin is beautiful" is a very recent phenomena imported from the West and it is the subject of a great deal of concern. Historically very slim women could not get husbands because of the fear of dying in childbirth. Even though I now carry a fair bit of muscle my mother still tut-tuts that I'm "so skinny I won't be able to get a husband". Historically, heck even when I was a kid, being fat meant you were healthy and prosperous. China has a long history of famines- fat was generally considered a good thing. This preoccupation with being small is entirely a western import to Asia and it has wrecked absolute havoc.

It is one thing for most American girls to be concerned about they weight, most American girls carry a little extra and a little non-compulsive attention to diet would do them good. But the gyms here in Taipei are literally FULL of young women, 5'5" and up, under 100lbs. They see American movies and MTV and they want to look like that. They simply don't eat and walk on the treadmills slowest speed looking like they will fall over any minute. I have never seen a Taiwanese women weight train because they are afraid it will make them big. It is a big problem because they simply don't have the body fat levels to be able to do that and stay out of the hospital.

Many Asians also do not distinguish between "big" and "fat". Since there are basically no muscular Asians here being big is the same as being fat to them. My American friend here is a bodybuilder and around 230lbs at very low body fat. But wherever we go people happily laugh and ask him how he got so fat- they aren't being rude. Chinese tend to be very matter a fact about these things. There is little point in trying to explain that it is not fat, he just laughs and tells them that he only eats McDonalds and that's why. This coincides with their ideas of westerners so they happily accept it.

Concepts of body image are so wildly different across cultures that there is little point in being offended. There is always a culture, somewhere in the world where your look is ideal, and another where it is not. Let's face it, you could pop their little heads like a pimple so what does it matter? LOL

 

[fawnmarie]

There are tendancies in ethnic groups for them to look similar - but strongchick is right - you can't be too generally.

I lived in Asia for a while - in Korea - and met lots of half-dressed Korean girls - so was in a unique position to see their body types. I was surprised at the variety. One of my friends was very curvaceous - like Betty Boop - and yes, her ta-ta's were real. (She couldn't have afforded surgery.) She tended to store fat around her bottom and breasts.

But, there were many different shapes and sizes, and lengths of limbs and torso. A lot of them were taller than me. (5'4")

Generally, Asian women carry bf in the midsection, though.

Fawn

 

[chabbah]

What about North African women? My parents are both Moroccan, and my bf distribution tends to be almost entirely in my butt and outer thighs (saddlebags). My abs tend to stay naturally lean and my quads are large but get cut, so I'm not sure what this says about my "ethnic" tendencies. Any feedback?

 

[strongchick]

by your description, I might be Moroccan, too.

I'm only just NOW moving my outer thigh blub...my thighs are showing separation...I've always had relatively flat abs...hmmm.

 

[fawnmarie]

There's an exercise physiologist here in Tampa who's program I've been using who has a lot to say about fat distribution.

According to her, it's based more on skeletal structure - women with short torsos and long legs (proportionally) will tend to gain fat in the mid section, women with long torsos and short legs will gain on their butts and outer thighs. Women in-between will gain a little in both areas. She has a website if you're interested, and her program is great. It's not for BB, though.

There is also the endocrine-bases theories, where you have "adrenal", "thyroid" "gonadal", "lymphatic" and "pituitary" types, and the theory is that these are the dominant systems for these individuals.

For example, adrenal types gain in the belly and chest, thyroid types (ME!) gain in their lower belly and upper thighs, gonadal (only women) gain in lower body, and lymphatic types gain all over. Pituitaries just don't gain - and if they do, they get a little round pot belly.

The book was correct - I do crave all the foods "thyroidal" types crave. I do gain on the lower belly and thighs (not much on the butt). I did have those kind of personality traits. However I had to throw the book away because it said I wasn't allowed to drink coffee anymore. (Thyroidals LOVE coffee and crave stimulants - WHERE'S MY E/C/A's!)

Anyway - there's about a hundred different theories. However, they ALL say (the endocrine theories, the blood type theory) that I personally need lots of protein, preferably beef. Experience has borne this out.

Fawn

 

[Natural One]

(Thyroidals LOVE coffee and crave stimulants - WHERE'S MY E/C/A's!)

That's cute. I must be Thyroidal then.

 

[fawnmarie]

NO,

Carolyn Mein's "body typing" system seems more complete than most. Sort of interesting.

Here's a link:

http://www.bodytype.com/


Fawm

 

[aertoa]

You can even follow Carolyn Mein on twitter now: Carolyn Mein team (bodytype) on Twitter

 

[Tami Bellon]

Native Americans were tall, thin and lean until they started eating American government-provided commodities. The SW tribes have developed diabetes, which wasn't a big problem before reservations and junk food. You see fat and obese people in the Plains tribes on reservations like Pine Ridge and Rosebud all the time.

I think you really need to split out Asian into very distint groups--Hunan Chinese (from the north) are tall and big, Koreanss tend towards stockiness, The Ainu are stocky and hairy, the Edo are slight and fine featured--see what I mean?

You also need to break out Africans--the Masai are, of course, very tall with elongated limbs, the Bushman have the "bubble butt" so beloved of those who deal in sterotypes, etc.

I think that since most people are so interbred and mixed that it's nearly impossible to discuss physical types based on race. After all Northern Italians are tall, thin and blonde and Sicilians look Arab--yet when people speak of someone looking Italian, they think of an extra from the Godfather.

Some of the sw tribe issue is because of the tribe itself. There was a news show a couple of years ago about the Pima. They - as a people - are heavier (fatter) than any other tribe. They think there is actually a "gene" they have that is different due to their geological location. I live on this rock called Arizona (I live here too). The tribes native to this area were hunters (like all tribes), however, they had MUCH less food to choose from. Their bodies would not metabolize quickly due to the need to survive. It was stored as fat in the event that there was a shortage of food. - this is the theory.

I am Cherokee and my fat distribution is in my hips, butt and upper thighs. I have a bubble butt and was made fun of when I was younger (it's workin' for me now )

btw....Sicilians are a "mix" with a black race (Cambodians). This is the reasoning for their dark complexion.

I agree that everyone is pretty much a mix of nationalities now. Hard to nail anything down.

 

[RottenWillow]

Some of the sw tribe issue is because of the tribe itself. There was a news show a couple of years ago about the Pima. They - as a people - are heavier (fatter) than any other tribe. They think there is actually a "gene" they have that is different due to their geological location. I live on this rock called Arizona (I live here too). The tribes native to this area were hunters (like all tribes), however, they had MUCH less food to choose from. Their bodies would not metabolize quickly due to the need to survive. It was stored as fat in the event that there was a shortage of food. - this is the theory.

I am Cherokee and my fat distribution is in my hips, butt and upper thighs. I have a bubble butt and was made fun of when I was younger (it's workin' for me now )

btw....Sicilians are a "mix" with a black race (Cambodians). This is the reasoning for their dark complexion.

I agree that everyone is pretty much a mix of nationalities now. Hard to nail anything down.

True. Most latinos, like myself, are partially Arabic owing to the 900 year Moorish occupation of Spain. Genetically that would make me European, Arabic and Native American (Aztec).

Feel you on the bubble, too. I caught hell about that and my "farm girl legs" (big, round, and beefy) as a kid, which now is an asset.