Our Bodies, Our Ideal Selves
Sorry for the missing posts this week! I’ve been working around the clock at both of my jobs, and the lack of sleep has given me a horrible cold. I’ve spent the last few days doped up on cold medicine, sleepy and confused. Fortunately, we’ve got BFDiva Becky to pick up some of my slack. Yay, Becky! Here is the article she brought to our attention. First, it talks about how much weight women in different weight categories would like to lose.
Although overweight and obese women expressed the greatest dissatisfaction with their bodies, the amount of weight they said they would “ideally” like to lose was so low that they would still be categorized as overweight, the researchers found… Meanwhile, “normal” weight women said they wanted to lose only a few pounds, rejecting the very thin images that we see glorified in fashion magazines, which also surprised the researchers…The same might not be said for the underweight women, who told researchers they believed they were at their ideal weight. “They didn’t seem to understand the health risks associated with being underweight,” she says. “We think that maybe once you get to be a member of this very thin group you get the kind of social messages that keep you there.”
The researchers talk a little bit about the implications of this, and imply that obese women should strive to be “normal” rather than just to lose a few pounds and be active. (Hmmph.) However, a more hopeful message comes at the end, where research basically dovetails quite nicely with the Big Fat Deal message of STOP HATING YOURSELF.
[O]verweight girls who were more comfortable with their bodies were less likely to gain weight as they entered young adulthood…girls who felt good about themselves were more likely to be physically active and pay more attention to what they ate. They didn’t lose much weight, but they made healthy lifestyle changes that at least prevented them from gaining more weight. Meanwhile, the researchers found that the girls who were the most dissatisfied with their size tended to become more sedentary over time and paid less attention to maintaining a healthy diet. Those who were unhappy with their bodies were, in fact, more likely to gain more weight. If the same holds true on a larger scale, then encouraging women to love and care for their bodies—even when they don’t match the Hollywood ideal—may be one way to reverse or at least slow the progression of the obesity epidemic.
This is certainly true of me. I used to be much more active and healthy before I started hating myself as a teen, thanks to puberty, peer pressure, and a horrible gym coach. I often wish I could go back in time and tell the younger me that I didn’t have to stop exercising and start binge eating. I would have been a healthier person in my 20s if I hadn’t given into those “you’re fat and disgusting” messages. I hope you are all treating the teenaged girls in your life with kindness. Go tell a teenager she’s beautiful! She might remember your words for a long, long time.
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: Feminism, Health, Kids, Magazines, Personal, Science, Weight Loss
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I’m glad to see that the article took a better turn at the end because I’m just sick to death of it never being good enough.
As for me.. I dunno if anything would have changed for me.. I certainly got picked on a lot as a child, and as a teenager, and always felt.. awful. But I think my eating issues come more from inheriting them from my mom than anything.. really..
It’d be nice if that goes somewhere, though. I think we could all use with some body acceptance!
Certainly true of me, too. I thought I would look ridiculous exercising, so I didn’t.
I fully intend to stop losing weight when I’m still “overweight” or at the top end of “normal”. It’s partly that right now my weight isn’t causing me any discomfort, and partly that whatever my BMI says (it’s 30.3, so “obese”) I’m not really “fat” any more. Probably I am to the size-zero people, but I don’t know any of them.
It’s more important to me to find a weight I can maintain, since I don’t want to yo-yo, and I have an inherited condition which may cause joint problems later on. And I don’t really care about the number on the scales so much as knowing that if I buy a pair of jeans I can keep fitting into them and not wear them out between the thighs.
Maybe that’s the reason people don’t choose “normal” goal weights? Because they think they’re unrealistic, and they’d rather shoot for a smaller loss which they’re more likely to maintain? I think most people know that yo-yoing is unhealthy these days…
As much as I hate the OMGOBESITYEPIDEMIC stance of the article, I tend to agree with what they’re saying.
But I think more needs to be done about educating people on things like HAES and not equating exercise with losing weight. Every exercise article I’ve seen lately has some underlying tone of lose weight lose weight lose weight like it’s some sort of mantra. I know I’m not alone in equating exercise with losing weight, and in thinking that if you’re not losing weight that there’s no reason to continue exercising.
But I have to say that since I’ve started to try and NOT hate myself, I’ve been amazed at my energy levels. My clothes fit better (I’m actually shrinking, even though I’m not losing weight… weird!)… almost every aspect of my life has become better simply from me trying to stop the internal hate.
It’s amazing how much difference one tiny (?) little thing can do to a person’s life. And it’s way more important than the number on the scale, tyvm!
*Pops out of lurker closet like Sam the Eagle from The Muppet Show*
LOL NF, when I read it I had the same reaction about the OMGOBESITYEPIDEMIC. It’s like the writers of the article wanted to get the message out there, but still wanted to put a disclaimer on their words and tell the general public that regardless of what the study said, THEY knew that being fat is still HORRIBLE for you, and all this stuff about taking care of yourself emotionally was pretty important, but STILL, they know that loving yourself regardless of your weight is a pretty radical concept, so please don’t send them hate mail. Right?! *rolls eyes*
As for myself I have realized that I will never be what’s considered to be my “ideal” weight according to BMI charts, so I’m just aiming for what feels healthy according to my body. Another radical concept!
I also wish I could go back. I’m having to do much back peddling. Thanks for the article. I keep emailing them to my mother, the tables have turned – guess who’s got the articles on weight and weight loss now? Thank god/goddess/goodness the article had something about the psychology of weight loss. That is something that needs much study and much more public attention. We are a Nation of Obese? We are a nation where a portion of the population scrutinizes and controls everything that goes into their mouths and another doesn’t care. An obsession with the body and an ignoring. It’s all body image and could all be seen as a lot of hating going on, just different responses to the hate.
This is really interesting, and not all that different from what I heard from people in Weight Watchers – when I was doing it.
Lately, I’ve been trying not to get sucked into the negative thought bog about my body, and intead, treat it like a friend. I’ve been eating real, nourishing food of late — including cookies.
I’ve been sedentary lately, mostly because I can’t leave my dying puppy in her crate for one more hour a day (thought she behaved well outside of her crate for 45 minutes Friday, when I went for a walk). I also think the fact that we’ll have to put her down soon is bringing my energy down.
Anyhow, with all the discussion about the inadequacy of BMI, I can understand why women are trying to be realistic.
THOUGH she behaved. Sigh.
I don’t think it’s at all surprising that obese women don’t set as a goal losing 80-100 lbs. Even when I was in the mindset of losing weight (and sometimes even now when I get the crazy idea that I might diet) I didn’t have that goal. That’s because the idea of doing something like that is in incredibly daunting and, to some of us, self-defeating.
I would have given anything for someone to tell me I was beautiful when I was a teenager.
My parents DID tell me I was beautiful when I was a teenager, and what did they get? “You have to say that! You’re my mother!”
But yes, all teenagers should have someone tell them they’re beautiful, regardless of how they take it.
My family always told me I was beautiful. Except for my great-grandfather who called me fat and my ex-boyfriend who made fat jokes until I told him that I was very sensitive about my weight for a long time and now that I’m not I would appreciate if he just shut up with the stupid jokes.
I think that when women who are labeled obese or overweight strive to be healthy and lose a few pounds that’s good enough. “Normal” is a relative term and these researchers should know that. I’m 225 lbs. myself and I would like to lose a few pounds, but being “normal”? Ha. My big-boned behind would look silly trying to strive to lose 100 lbs. so I could be 125 and I’m 5’4″. They need to reevaluate that part.
Ah, this time of year when nobody has time to blog!
But I digress.
This really spoke to me, in terms that there’s a threshold you cross and sort of give up because you think you’re not worth it. Can’t get too specific (must get back to work) but I still have to tell myself every day “I’m done with hating myself!”