Since we're talking measurements, I'll throw mine out there; I am just under 6'0", with measurements at 35-30-36 with a weight of 160. I am healthily proportioned, and for the first time in my life, proud and happy with how my body looks and feels. It's not always been that way though. Like I said in a previous post, I never hated myself for how I looked, but was never thrilled either. I wanted to be pretty like one of those unattainably beautiful models. It took me a very long time to understand that the girls I saw in magazines are built much differently than I am, and their bodies will never be mine. A rough realization, yes, but a necessary and healthy one anyway. No matter how upset I was about how my body looked, the truth remained that I longed after an untrue image of perfection. How many people out there take that one step further? We so desire acceptance - both outward and inward - some of us will stop at nothing to achieve such results. Eating disorders are developed. Positive body image and self-esteem are destroyed.
Puberty is a critical time in a person's life. A teenager's body is going through unequivocal amounts of change, and during this time, they are desperately sleuthing for acceptance. Some of us grew three inches over one summer, some kept the baby fat until after graduation. Girls may want to be thinner or have bigger boobs, some dudes think their muscles need to be bigger. Our bodies change at such different rates, so it's unfair to compare one to another. But it happens as we become cognizant of how we look, and how we want to look in comparison. Luckily, some of us take this comparison with a grain of salt and grow out of the "I Want to Look Like That Stage", some are not so lucky.
I knew girls that I was on sports teams with that had eating disorders. It was incredibly sad to watch. I would watch "just five pounds" turn into fifteen with a benign comment from a coach about how their performance had improved. Or how they would get noticed by more boys as they dropped more weight. Sometimes they would eat hardly anything at all, sometimes they would vomit their meals up so it was harder for others to catch on. In other cases still, "skinny" and "thin" would never be enough. They would still see impossible amounts of fat on their bodies and be desperate for it to vanish. How sad for these beautiful girls.
For those that aren't aware, there are several types of eating disorders. Anorexia and bulimia are the two major ones. Anorexia is the primary eating disorder associated with food restriction and self-starvation. It is characterized by an intense fear of gaining weight or becoming overweight and refusal to maintain body weight at or above a minimally normal weight for age and height. Bulimia is an eating disorder where the sufferer will binge eat, then forcibly vomit in order to not absorb the calories ingested. It is characterized by eating a large amount of food in a short amount of time, typically in times of emotional distress or depression.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, I think it is equally as maddening to see the acceptance of obesity in this country. How is it any more acceptable for people to be walking around fifty pounds overweight, than a woman starving herself to feel accepted, or for a guy to be taking steroids to look more muscular? I'm all for acceptance, and loving who you are in your own skin, but how is society so skewed in what we view to be healthy? How did we get this way?
Society is so fast these days - it is acceptable to eat fast food multiple times throughout the course of a week. We hardly get any exercise. As a society, we are pushed to work sometimes more than forty hours in a week to make ends meet for ourselves and our families. We are tired, so a sedentary lifestyle takes precedence over an active one. But how, pray-tell, is this accepted as an excuse? How is it okay that reports from The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) read that more than 60% of adults are overweight, with one in three people being obese? Child obesity is a growing epidemic. Over the last 20 years, statistics have shown that the number of obese children has tripled in the last 20 years. These children are more susceptible to Type-II diabetes. Heart disease, bone and joint deterioration, sleep apnea, and depression are just a few side effects of obesity. Wouldn't it be much easier to take care of oneself before it resulted in one of those things? Instead of having to undergo a triple bypass operation because of a couple clogged tubes, can't we take 30 minutes and walk? Or run? Or hoola-hoop? I guess priorities will always reign, but let's examine ours.
A personal interjection:
The 35 pounds that I have dropped has raised questions of concern for people closest to me. I understand why. I look a lot different than I did before my weight-loss venture. I have definition in my cheeks, I have a definitive jawline, my waist is more visible, I have way more visible muscle tone than I ever have. While I appreciate the concern for my health, I have been assuring and reassuring that I am doing nothing to cheat my body of health. No part of me wants to deal with those repercussions. I think it is unfortunate that we automatically jump to conclusions that drastic weight loss must be associated with something negative like weight-loss pills or illness or imbalanced eating habits/unhealthy mindset. It absolutely does not have to be this way, but that's the direction society has chosen to take us. Down the easy road, isn't that right? Whatever the quickest fix is, let me at it.
My hope is this for the people in my life: that they'll care enough about themselves now to stick around for later. Let's not allow the busyness of our lives be an excuse for an unhealthy today. Let's also understand the importance of the need for balance in our lives, and not allowing society to make any sort of decisions for us, but making mindful decisions for ourselves. Have the motivation enough to put down that remote and bag of chips and make smart and healthy decisions. Regain control of your life, let no one tell you, subliminally or outright, what is healthy. Preserve your body, it's the only one you have!
Jen, once again, awesome insight. So often the focus is either/or, but the issue REALLY is both - we are unhealthy as a society and it includes both ends of the spectrum. I think it also includes the people who do not appear to have a struggle, but are totally destroying their bodies with fast food and no activity. Like you said, we need to care enough now to be around for later... Thanks, Jen! Love reading your stuff!!
ReplyDelete