Did you know that Audrey Hepburn was 5’7″? And she wanted to be a ballerina but that was too tall for ballet in her day so her first dream was dashed which was really a good thing for me because it forced her to move on and be an actress and make Funny Face?
For me to enjoy over and over?
And eventually force my sister to sit down and watch with me, who agreed at the end that it was a good movie because it reminded her of her favorite movie, Glitter?
(face palm)
Anyway, what was my point?
Oh right: the Adult Beginner is also 5’7″.
Was noting the other day a balletical benefit: before ballet I weighed a pretty consistent 140-142lbs, and now I’m at a pretty steady 137-140lbs. So, what used to be a skinny day is now the top end of my day-to-day range.
Not a huge change but a nice one. I’ll take it.
Just for reference, here are some other weights:
133 1/3 all four years of high school when I went in for sports physical exam. That 1/3 really chapped my hide. It was always there! Wtf?
136 my wedding day. They say that’s the skinniest day of one’s adult life but nope, for me that day was-
115 briefly in college. Was really into the whole starving artist aesthetic. This was a bad weight for me because although I was very healthy, I had no boobies and worse yet-no sense of humor
125 also in college. I was hot stuff at this weight. There was absolutely no part of my body I felt bad about. Glad I got to experience that.
148 after a few years at my job, no regular exercise habit. This was a bad weight for me because getting dressed in the morning took too much time, had to think about what fit and what didn’t.
145 too fat to pirouette!
138 what the scale says this very morning
PS this book, Just Being Audrey by Margaret Cardillo, is very sweet and has rad illustrations by Julia Denos of Audrey as a young ballerina and throughout her life. Might wanna buy it with the intention of giving it to a little kid and then just keep it for yourself. Not that I would know anything about that.
Innnteresting! I always had the impression that Audrey Hepburn was teensy tiny. It’s a shame that height had so much to do with whether one could go pro at ballet. I find tall ballerinas so much more exciting to watch (much longer limbs! so majestic!). I’m personally 5’4” and wish I was taller~
I lost a little bit of weight when I started doing ballet (48kg to 46kg), and then it went back to where it was. But my body shape is completely different – so much more streamlined! And you learn that weight is good because you’re building muscles that make you look like chiselled marble and whatnot
Chiseled marble! Hells yes!
This is really interesting. I am 5’8″; at my skinniest (in high school, 20 years ago) I was around 115. When I moved, changed jobs, and got divorced within 12 months (in 2006-2007) I dropped down to 120–I remember this because I was at the doctor’s office and when I said “Oh my gosh” to the number on the scale, the nurse said she’d subtract a couple pounds when she wrote it down. Er, what?
Today I’m 136-138, the most I’ve ever weighed in my life, but my clothing sizes haven’t changed. I seem to have put on muscle since I got really serious about working out a couple of years ago. On some body-dysphoric level I would still like to weigh 10 pounds less, but I recognize that this desire is nutso.
Wow, like, ‘hey nurse, way to send me into a tailspin of self-doubt, wtf?’
My wedding day wasn’t the skinniest day of my adult life either. In fact, it was near the top of my all-time range.
I’m 5’7 as well – was 135 all through high school (wide shoulders and hips, so this is a nice weight for me), 145 in the first year of University (ignored then-ef’s efforts to tell me I was chubbin’ up, mostly because it came from him). 160-something through most of my life since then. Started ballet in January at 174lbs (yikes!). Currently 160lbs (Weight watchers – some weeks I lose a lot and can’t keep my balance in ballet class!). My goal is 140lbs – I’ll re-evaluate what I should weigh once I reach that weight.
That balance being thrown off by weight change thing is annoying! But nice when the weight change is going the direction you want it to. Rock on with your weight-watcher-ing ballet-taking self!
I’m also 175 (5’7”) tall and weigh 65 kg (143) and everyone says I’m way too skinny! But it really depends on the figure shape/type.
True dat.
I’m 5’6. That’s all I’m sayin’.
Ha!
hahaha, well played, acacia. as for me: i’m 5’3 and nunya business
My sister is 5′ 7″ and was told to quit as she was too tall in the 80s! And now tall dancers are in demand. Poor girl. Luckily I am 5′ 6″ and didn’t get to this height until about 17, so I was never given the same fate. LOL
My mother-in-law was 6′ tall in the 1950s. She had lots of struggles with being tall and studying ballet back then….
I know she danced en pointe, too, and did ballet until well into her 30s….
I’m tall for a woman and I have a fast metabolism, so I’m in the “*suspicious look from nurse* Have you always been this weight?” category, but y’know, it’s pretty much solid muscle from dancing forever, so I’m healthy. I’m just not very substantial.
Not to pee in the pool or anything but Audrey Hepburn’s eating disorder made her look teeny-tiny. There are some interesting articles online about it.
I’m 5’10. And weigh a lot more than you, though I’m not fat. xo
People are way too quick to throw the words ‘eating disorder’ around, and I don’t buy it for Audrey.
Sums up a complex situation into too easy a label.
She starved through the war when she was a kid, then she became a dancer, then an actress- all things that instill a life-long respect and awareness of food.
What do you eat mostly? I’m 5’7″ and was 125-135 lbs until I got to 31. Can’t lose the weight 175 now…used to starve myself in my 20′s.
Michael Pollan says it best:
Eat food, not too much, mostly plants
Yep. I totally agree with that!
(if one then avoids nearly all “processed” foods, then there is a pretty good base!)