Torn

[Always&Forever]

Hi ladies -

I am 22 and have been dealing with weight issues since I was in second grade. I feel the past couple years my thoughts have gone from one extreme to the other and back again. I really hate to sound cliche, but I truly feel a lot of it recently has been due to the media.

I watch shows like The Tyra Banks Show who says you should be happy with your body, screw the outside pressures. She has done many episodes with this mentality. But then I flip the channel to see Tyra Banks on America's Next Top Model. The difference with these episodes is that Tyra and her cohorts are commenting right and left about the model's bodies and critiquing their "pudgy parts."

Okay. So that's just one lady in the media. All over the news are doctors stating comments like "Fat America" "Obese Iowans." Then again, there's a new show on TV about how to look good naked. They take ladies with various sized bodies and plaster pictures of them wearing only bra and panties. The point is to get them feeling comfortable with their body, regardless of size.

I really wish I knew what to do. Do I diet and exercise more because there's always room for improvement? Or, do I keep on going as is because I have a BMI of 19.2?

[WebLady]

I don't think you should ever change anything about yourself to appease the media or society :bbrolleyes:

I think we all have moments where we are not happy with the way we look, but it is usually because someone or something has made them think they are somehow a lesser person because they are not "perfect"

If you are unhappy with your weight then eat healthier and exercise more; the key is to try to be as healthy as possible, not to be a certain weight or wear a certain size.

Tyra Banks (and others like her, TV personalities in general) are in it for the money; with the talk show thing she targets "every day" people and house wives, so she talks about what will reach them. On ANTM she is targeting another audience and the model industry is way different that real life.

[nic1124]

Yes! Brandi has excellent points. Tyra has had weight issues herself. And I guess they HAVE to pick apart the ANTM contestant cuz you have to be skinny to model, unless you're gonna be a "plus size" model who are actually NORMAL
size....:purplex:

Anyway, you look quite slim from what I saw in your pics on your wedding website (which is awesome btw) and I think 19 BMI is pretty healthy right?

[SerendipityCrafts]

Brandi hit it square on the head. No one should ever change for someone else or for some media pre-conceived notion of the "ideal".

Now, I am speaking as a 40 something year old ...... I still look in the mirror and wish a magic fairy would come along and change the things that I don't like but I am old enough to realize that there was always something about myself that I didn't care for and still don't. I am not going to have a flat belly ever again. My boobs aren't going to be nearly as perky as they once were. My wrinkles aren't going to go away and neither is my grey hair ... and the list goes on.

We are our worst critics. I have to wonder when we are allowed to give ourselves a break ...... we are all made differently after all. Some of us have big hips than others. Some of us have smaller boobs than others ...... We all know this but why then, do we feel badly when we don't look like the super models?

[Always&Forever]

We are our worst critics. I have to wonder when we are allowed to give ourselves a break ...... we are all made differently after all. Some of us have big hips than others. Some of us have smaller boobs than others ...... We all know this but why then, do we feel badly when we don't look like the super models?

Thank you. I guess I just wish more people thought this way, including myself.

[SerendipityCrafts]

Have you seen those amazing dove commercials? Perhaps, just maybe ..... if we talk to our daughters, the next generation of girls won't feel it so necessary to fit into an "ideal" mold. The problem still remains that so many of us are setting the wrong example for them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaH4y6ZjSfE

[WebLady]

I love that Dove comercial; beauty comes in all shapes, sizes and colors :D

ETA - Wait, that is not the one I was thinking of, but that is cool too :)

[EarlyBird]

Have you seen those amazing dove commercials? Perhaps, just maybe ..... if we talk to our daughters, the next generation of girls won't feel it so necessary to fit into an "ideal" mold. The problem still remains that so many of us are setting the wrong example for them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaH4y6ZjSfE


awesome thought there elizabeth..

[Nekochanpurr]

I LOVE those dove commercials.. i think they portray a wonderful imagine! You don't have to be size 0 to be loved..