We live in world where image and appearance seems to mean
more than personality and humility. We live in a society that bombards us with
images of thin, beautiful, airbrushed looking people who we start believing are
what normal people should look like.
Every woman I know is on some sort of diet right now. You
can’t eat carbs, you can’t eat after 7pm, you can’t eat sugar, only eat meat,
don’t eat meat, live on carrot sticks....
I’m getting a bit tired of the constant talk about weight
loss, the stream of exercise videos and new machines that twist you into uncomfortable
positions promising leaner thighs and butts. I understand the need to be
healthy in a world where everyone seems to have less time and drive-thru
windows can’t bring out the food fast enough. But weight loss has become an
obsession. You can go years without seeing or speaking to someone and the first
thing they may say to you is “Oh you lost weight.”
My friend recently lost 50lbs and she looked beautiful and completely
fine before she lost the weight. Even though she is now very thin she still
obsesses over everything that she puts in her mouth. Even after the few pounds
are shed the journey may not be over...the journey may never be over because
now you have to work equally hard to maintain it and not fall back into old
habits.
The sad thing is, my friend told me that after she had lost weight
men began noticing her more. I feel an interesting sociological experiment
about attraction coming on but I won’t get into that now. All I can say about
this is that I find it sad because through her journey she remained the same
brilliant, attractive woman she always has been, 50 pounds or not. Sometimes
even after your body adjusts to its new image your brain does not. As my friend said “sometimes people can’t see the weight loss and they still see
themselves as the heavier person they left behind while everyone else thinks
they are thin.” If you don’t feel good about yourself before you lose weight
there is no guarantee that you will after, and as cliché as it sounds you need
to be comfortable with who you are inside and out.
So thin seems to be in. In the media there are people who
are thin and told they look fabulous, people who are normal and told they need
to lose weight, overweight people are made fun of, and anorexic people are told
they look sick; there is just no pleasing anyone these days so why the heck
should we even try? It’s exhausting.
I remember doing a project in school about anorexia and how the
disease is beginning to affect young people. In my case studies there were
children as young as 5 starving themselves and eating bits of paper out of
their notebooks to satisfy hunger pangs. If this isn't a sign of early body
dismorphic disorders and a sign societies values need re evaluating I don’t
know what is. At age 16 even I fell prey to an eating disorder and I can tell
you first hand that being malnourished is not healthy either.
We all have things we would like to change about ourselves
and our bodies; feeling self conscious and having doubts is human nature. I am
all for people doing whatever they need to in order to be happy with themselves, I am not
however okay with the idea that everyone should fit into one standard mold of beauty based on a
body type that 90% of the population doesn't have.
Be healthy and stay active but don’t hate yourself if you
have a body type that can never fit into a size 2. Love who you are, embrace it
and encourage others to do the same. Don’t perpetuate the impossible values set
by society, just be yourself because YOU are BEAUTIFUL.
