Wu Jinyan Has Been Dieting Since She Was 10
Weighing less than 45 kg (99 lbs) at 165 cm (5 feet 4 inches) tall, Wu Jinyan (吴谨言) is skinny, and some say, probably too skinny. But the 28-year-old Story of Yanxi Palace <延禧攻略> star said she has had a period of time when she “was heavier” and shared that she has been watching her food intake since she was just 10 years old.
On a recent episode of the Chinese variety show U Can U Bibi <奇葩说>, the host asked Wu Jinyan if there was any moment in her life when she looked heavier. She immediately said, “Yes. My heaviest weight was at around 48.5 kg (107 lbs).”
Audience members laughed at Wu Jinyan’s answer, but the actress quickly clarified, “I’ve been strategically fasting since I was 10 years old. I’m very careful with what I eat, and very picky. I know what would make me fat and what won’t. I’ve understood this concept at a young age.” An audience member quipped, “What happened to you?”
Wu Jinyan’s careful eating habits is perhaps stemmed from her background as a ballet dancer—the actress started learning ballet at 10 years old, and although she has switched focus to acting, she maintains a physically active lifestyle. In order to look more convincing in her role for Yanxi Palace, Wu Jinyan actually underwent another diet—the 631 diet, where she would split meals into ten separate servings everyday – six servings for breakfast, three for lunch, and one for dinner. She ate brown rice instead of white rice, and abstained from eating carbs at night. She dropped to 44 kg (97 lbs).
Source: Sina.com.cn
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
The term is anorexia?
@funnlim like…. who thinks DIETING SINCE TEN is normal???? Are they unaware of eating disorders? It’s so tragic that this is normalized I feel bad for all the women/men that think its okay to starve to “look good”
this is exactly the type of diet that shouldn’t be promoted or talked about. young girls would think that skimming on calories and extreme dieting is the only way to stay skinny or look pretty. since the PRC is such a snoppy, why don’t they put some restriction to band this type of eating habits being discussed?
This is such a dangerous mentality. Girls should be encouraged to love their bodies and being healthy comes in all shapes and sizes. It is more important to focus on balanced clean eating and regular physical activity, not on weight.
She is a big star and her views on weight is making her a poor role model for young girls.
Her new diet is concerning. Her image is still not as terrible as zhao liying and Zheng Shuang, maybe her dancing background give her more strength so she look stronger and more stable. Not like going to fly away when the wind blow.
As a big role model now to millions of young fans, there will be many who will probably fast to become the next breakout star….
I disagree that being healthy comes in all shapes and sizes. If you have a high body fat percentage then you’re unhealthy. Just because you’re fat/overweight and don’t have diabetes/high cholesterol/high blood pressure yet doesn’t mean you’re healthy. There’s a reason why 1/3 of Americans have prediabetes and/or pre-hypertension. You’re not full-blown yet, but it’s going to happen. Your health complications are simply brewing. It’s just a matter of time before you’re diagnosed with full-blown diabetes and high blood pressure while staying at an unhealthy weight/high bf %. I am not fat shaming. Just speaking from personal experience.
Also speaking from personal experience, I don’t see anything wrong with intermittent fasting and long-term fasting. It works, It’s healthy (as long as you know what you’re doing) and it’s scientifically proven.
@anon
Good point
She been fasting since young already, and exercise daily (I suppose for dancing), so I am sure it’s so much easier for her body to handle. Plus, she has the money to get professional dieticians to help. Hopefully people don’t get too dumb to start fasting out of nowhere just to copy her, it will be dangerous for them. But so far I haven’t heard anyone liking her being skinny… she even got criticized for it. So I don’t see how anyone would copy her too.
Managing your weight is recommended, stay healthy and look good at the same time
@anon When I said being healthy comes in all shapes and sizes, I should have added the caveat “within reason”. I don’t mean those who are medically “morbidly obese” on the BMI chart. But when we look at female athletes – marathon runners, wrestlers, weight lifters, shot putters, tennis players etc; they are not all stick thin but are strong and healthy.
Intermittent fasting is good and is recommended by some doctors for some people. However, one must understand the principles behind it. Young fans do not understand intermittent fasting. They just hear fasting. They hear an already skinny starlet saying she needs to be skinnier. They hear that she is worried, and by extension, they should be worried about being fat.
Plus, it does not sound like she was doing intermittent fasting. She is encouraging being body conscious instead of health conscious.
@potatochip
Wu Jinyan and was probably one of millions of prepubescent girls bombarded by media images of girls deemed by society as ideal beauties. Anyone not rail-thin is criticized as ugly and fat. The pressure to look pretty starts at a young age. Instead of blaming Wu, I consider her another victim of the beauty industry.
@msxie0714 I agree that she is a victim of media pressure and also cultural pressures. Unfortunately, it’s so ingrained in her, that she is now causing other young girls to emulate her. It’s a terrible cycle.
It’s sucks cause girls are expected to be “healthy” and some just get the twisted one on being overly skinny. I knew a girl who after her breakup decided to fast and now she’s under 100lbs and constantly in the hospital. It’s so unfair how girls who are a little bigger are deemed as ugly unhealthy or more but once they try to shed that fat people and does so successfully people still criticize them. People can be a bigger size and still be healthy if they’re eating right and do some form or workout, it’s not just stick thin that equals to healthy. Imo Wu is overdoing it but I guess she’s still healthy since she’s does eat, works out, and all. Bet that there’s going to be some of her fans who’ll try to look like her gosh fans especially young girls are so vulnerable to media… Wu might’ve been one of them too.
I think the title should be “actress has eating disorder since 10 and new show triggers her to lose more weight” LIke honestly!! Normalizing barely eating is ridiculous