Is it Unhealthy If a Woman’s Hip Bones Show?

When women’s hip bones show, it’s often concluded that she’s too thin and not healthy. But since when did bones showing become the criterion for what’s healthy and not healthy? I’m a certified personal trainer and a woman with visible hip bones.

However, even though my hip bones show, I am far from “unhealthy.” Many women’s hip bones are hidden by lots of “meat,” but this doesn’t mean these women are fit as fiddles or at low risk for major diseases.

Whether or not a woman’s hip bones show simply should not be a criterion for what’s healthy. In fact, when’s the last time your doctor, when examining you for a routine physical, checked to see if your hip bones were visible? And if they were, did your doctor point this out? Or was your doctor more concerned about what he was hearing through the stethoscope, and what your blood pressure and cholesterol values were?

If a woman has an eating disorder that has caused too much weight loss, her hip bones will show. The visible hip bones in this case are the symptom of a greater problem. But visible hip bones, in and of themselves, should not be a measurement of a woman’s health.

I eat plenty. I work out like a warrior. I’m very strong and never experience fatigue. I don’t smoke, drink or take drugs. I avoid artificial sweeteners. I eat organic. I limit intake of white sugar (it’s reserved for chocolate). I avoid trans fats, gravies, preservatives and severely limit consumption of red meat. The visibility of my hip bones in no way invalidates all of my good-health practices.

To anyone who, upon seeing my hip bones, thought, “That woman should eat a triple cheeseburger,” I say, “I’m going to have chocolate cake and ice cream tonight!” I’m a bodybuilder; I have to eat a good amount of food to support my strenuous weight workouts. I want to build muscle. This can’t be done on calorie restriction.

Though my hip bones show, you should see how much of my biceps muscle shows when I flex it! I have very low body fat, but high muscle mass. Muscle is a strong marker of health, fitness and vitality; muscle isn’t just a vanity tissue; it is critical for optimal health. Low levels of muscle are associated with brittle bone disease, poor immune function, greater risk of orthopedic conditions, fatigue and sickness, to name a few!

Low body fat is not the same as skinny, scrawny or “thin.” Low body fat, in combination with high muscle mass, is a classic body of an athlete. Look at male Olympic swimmers. You can see the hip bones on every one of them, yet nobody thinks these men are “too thin.”

When I’m deadlifting far more weight in the gym than any of the other women, nobody thinks I look “unhealthy.” I’ll tell you what’s very unhealthy: poor muscle tone; low levels of muscle tissue, and this is far too common among women.

There are many tell-tale signs of “unhealthy” in women: bad posture (which over time causes compression of cervical discs); getting winded easily; feeling exhausted after cleaning the house; struggling to carry toddlers, luggage, garbage bags, bags of dog food, etc.; suffering back pain the day after sweeping or raking leaves, etc.; frequent colds; feeling faint in the heat; insomnia, and many more.

My hip bones showing is incidental, a byproduct of intense weight workouts and controlled eating habits; “controlled,” as in, I do not engage in mindless eating, but rather, purposeful eating. Interestingly, many overweight women report that they hardly eat. I know for a fact that I eat more than many overweight women.

Going long periods of time without eating can slow metabolism and fight against the weight loss that overweight women strive to achieve. I’m not talking about obese women, but those with a little bit of extra weight. As a personal trainer, I do believe my slightly overweight clients when they tell me they skip meals and don’t eat all that much. I’ve told them to eat more, and voila, they start losing weight, because this jump-starts stunted metabolisms.

In conclusion, don’t conclude that just because a woman’s hip bones show, she’s not as healthy as a woman who’s well-padded in that area.