Body image: How's yours?

Are you comfortable in your own skin? Do you accept or reject your looks? I've seen a lot of discussion (both here on DU and elsewhere) about body image and how girls are made to feel "fat" at earlier and earlier ages these days. Media, especially magazines, portray fantasy images of women that are unrealistic and unattainable for most women. Hell, even models don't look that good naturally---why else would they need heavy makeup, lighting, etc.??? :P

I love my body. Yeah, it may not be someone else's idea of perfection, but so what? :) I make the most of it, and I enjoy it and take care of it. I wear clothes that play up my best features and don't worry about the rest. :) Long ago, when I was in my teens, I really wanted to be tall and willowy, but the genetic hand I was dealt made me short and curvy. I came to realize that short and curvy has a lot of advantages, and these days, I'm glad I'm not tall and willowy. :)

I remember when I was 11 years old and hit puberty, I gained 25 lbs. in a year. However, I also grew three inches in height, which corresponded to the gain in weight. My mother nearly had a stroke and asked my doctor (right in front of me, no less) why I was "fat". :eyes: My doctor said, "She's NOT fat. She's well-proportioned for her body type." I'm glad he had some sense! :rofl: I've had some weight issues here and there, but I've had them under control for a long time now and am happy where I am. I'll never, ever be skinny, but that's just fine by me. I'm medium-sized and very happy about it! :D

no muscle on me at all. I've never liked the way I look. :(

:) There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with the way you look. No muscles? So what? :D Accept what you have and appreciate it! :D

:hi: :applause:

:thumbsup:

...I do...


:loveya:

:loveya:

so sexy it hurts.

:yoiks: I've heard that...

i am okay with how i look and frankly, i how i appear to others concerns me little.

:hi: :applause: Absolutely the right attitude!

and thanks! :hug:

And i am not only talking physically..I am talking spiritually..
:)

you're too sweet. the inside matters far more...you have it going on!! :hug: :pals: :hug:

And you are right! what is in the heart matters far more than whats drapped over the bones.
And thank you ...
:hug:

But a year ago I was 50+ lbs heavier..So I can't bitch.
For the first time since my 20's i Wasn't embarrassed to take my shirt off at the pool
this last summer..I even got a few descent stares from a few ladies
that felt pretty nice.
I hope By next summer I will look even better.

If you want to fine-tune it, that's up to you. :D

:loveya:

I've seen the before/after pics.

:toast:

:hi:

s building there. :P

I believe is what you were trying to say.

:hi:

:D :hi:

:hi: I just couldn't MAKE myself be tall and willowy. I think tall and willowy is beautiful!

tall and babalicious is more like it!!

:blush:

:loveya:
:hi:
(I didn't mean to make you blush)
:hug:

;)

:loveya:

:evilgrin:...
:loveya:
You are just so damn stalkable!!

Because I'm so hot, it even makes me uncomfortable. :D

sexy for your shirts...or this poll... :rofl:

And while that may be the way some girls aspire to look, I've had to work on my posture constantly, to make up for years of hunching over and slouching, so as not to feel like an amazon freak, around my friends. It sucked in junior high and early high school, when I was taller than most of the boys. I'm pretty happy overall; the things I can't change are largely a result of having kids, and aren't the end of the world. The bulk of my philosophy rests in my belief that I should work hard to be the best person I'm capable of being, in all regards. I like to look good, but I also try to keep those lesser aspects in perspective. We only live once, right?

:hi: I was the opposite---I always stood tall trying to look taller. :P Being the best person you can be is the best aspiration of all---and make the most of things while you can!!!

Will this explain it?:

:spank: You're just fine.

This is me, wishing I'd done the same:

Honestly, it's stuff that I can do with barely any effort, so I just need to kick my ass in gear. I want to lose about 5lbs. I'm thin, but I put on a couple pounds every fall, since I'm way less active. I just need to make sure that I workout when I'm not burning anything by swimming and tubing (unbelievable for the upper-body) all the time.

And my arms are skinny for me right now. They're buff, but not at the level they were. Fortunately, I build muscle real easy, so yeah, minor change.

Overall, I'm definitely happy though. Pretty face, good hair, nice boobs. Can't complain, although I do admit that I'm definitely vain.

:) And don't sweat the minor stuff.

If I did, I'd probably be in the home gym, and not on DU right now. Usually, I go near the ellipical and then decide to head to the other side of the basement and practice my pool shots, instead.

I'm at an age still where I have a metabolism that allows me to drink my weight in beer at the beach, and still wear the bikini to the beach. If I'm like my mom, I'll retain that into my 50s, except she eats her weight in chips instead of beer.

nice boobs she says!

I gotta start smoking more.

Right now, not feeling too great with my body. Weighing at the doctor's always gets me depressed. :P :hi:

I wish that it weren't so.

is you not smiling :)

Let me think a bit....are you ever smiling in your pictures?



...I didn't think so. :P

here is an ugly one...But i am smiling so!! :P

I win AND I got to see another picture of you.

:bounce:

before you turn to stone :)

You don't give yourself nearly enough credit m'dear.

:blush:
and niether do you!!!!!!

a few tweaks but I've taken on a new exercise program and I've lost 16 lbs and a whole size..I'm looking to lose another 10 - 15. It's taken me longer than I would have liked, but if I put on a pound over a weekend, I don't freak out, I just resolve myself to behave during the week. I have more energy and look better than I have in years. So that makes me happy.

When I was younger, had insecurities cause I'm short and not buxom; don't care now. I eat well and stay in shape; look younger than my age (at least that's what I'm told). Isn't it funny how body image tends to change with maturity? At least for me it has. :hi:

Funny, I did not like the way I looked last year, as I was overweight, all in my belly, but unwilling to do anything about it.

I wore loose shirts untucked to cover my belly. i actually thought i looked pregnant. It's a trait ALL the men in my family have.

Ironic, it took my wife leaving me and a total destruction of my self-esteem, followed by a loss of 40 pounds over a 3 month period, to actually like how I looked again. I got down to 160 pounds, began buying fitting clothes, dropped 4 waist sizes in jeans, and began getting compiments I still didn't believe. But over the past year, I come to like myself again, and the way I look, and even gained a bit back because I was too skinny.

Now if I could just sleep... :D

RL

:)

1) Fall in love.
2) Cultivate the relationship
3) Think long-term happy-ever-after
4) Get your heart smashed under the jackboot of betrayal.
5) Step back and watch the pounds fade away.

:hi:

RL

Fuck Jenny Craig , Wieght Watchers, South Beach
..We could make Millions!!!!!!!! :)

I'm naturally slender and very active. Have always had a high metabolism. Doesn't change no matter what I do, so I don't bother trying to be "curvaceous." Because it's not going to happen and it would feel strange if it did. My only problem is finding clothes that fit right. I think I was meant to be a tall person who ended up at a medium height with small hips.

Other than that I'm good. And I know I can get to wear I want to be, I just need to, you know, actually work out. :rofl:

And cutting out the excess candy too. (and that's been hard, I love my Jelly Babies candy... :cry: )

There's only one prominent bulge I want to have on display...

And I could stand to build some muscle mass. The only areas where I'm sporting good muscular development are my biceps and back.

...is all that crap goes away. You're just thrilled to pieces that you can still run a half-marathon or cycle 50 miles--so what if your thighs are flabby and look like 3 year old oranges????

I say women should take just this one lesson from men: Play sports, or get athletic about something you love. Suddenly, the emphasis is off how you look and you learn to love your body for how it performs.

This generation of women in their 20s and 30s are a lot more comfortable with their bodies than I was. I hated being 6'1" and a size 10--I thought I should be skinny like a model, and never show my physical strength. Blame society before Title IX--now at 52, I'm as athletic as the poor boomer bod will let me be without risking injury. Gotta make up for lost time.

So the answer to your QQQ is yes, I love my body because of its strength and the heights it takes me to. How it looks is hardly a priority!

intellectually i think my body is perfect. occasionally however if I'm feeling crappy, i translate that to feeling fat.

My mom spent my entire childhood telling everyone who would listen how worried she was about how fat I was going to be (mind you I've never been fat, and was underweight until i hit puberty). Luckily enough people called her on being crazy that my body image wasn't too distorted. I think it was largely projection on her part, she got fat after having me, therefore I was inherently fat. :eyes:

When I was in my twenties and thirties, I had a GREAT body and yet I complained about every single, tiny imagined flaw. Just the curve of my thighs made me think I was fat. Now I'm in my late forties and I think I don't look so bad at all for my age. I'm actually more comfortable now than I was then, wrinkles, gray hair, cellulite and all.

Lesson: Women, give yourselves a break! My bet is you are all too hard on yourselves.

Someone told me I remind them of my mother and I do see it in photos and I HATE IT. I do not want to end up like her at all. Unhealthily overweight, never goes to doctors or exercises, drinks too much (I think- wine glass always filled in the evenings, although considerably watered down with ice (?)), smokes like a chimney.

I am the opposite in many ways. I exercise (well a few times a week), so I haven't really gained weight, just kind of maintained it. I wear the same size clothing as I always have, though I weigh 20 pounds more than in high school. Personally I think it's some conspiracy by clothing companies to make you feel better about yourself. The pants say size 8 when they should say 12 if they were being honest! (When I went to my 20 year reunion recently, I noticed everyone else was heavier too, so I didn't feel bad at all about myself). I am actually pretty fit. But I have no self-restraint whatsoever. I eat what I want to when I want, no matter how bad it might be for me. I swear I have no will-power.

Seriously, I have had too many years of taking my health and well-being for granted, and then I have experienced injury and recovery, which is a great way of realizing how much I've taken it for granted, in the past.

Never again...I give thanks.
I love my body.
I am grateful for the simplest things.
Being able to walk across the room, fix a meal, see the words I am typing...the list is endless....

So, for me, rather than focussing on what I want to change in my body, I want to focus on what I am GRATEFUL for.

Being alive is gift enough. Truly, I mean that.

x(

:hug:

...I still see the old, fat me in the mirror. :(

But I started running and now I'm up to 7 miles in one go and I have MUSCLES in my legs! Honest to god muscles! Who'da thunk? :D

Aside from that, my body image is pretty good. :)

I'm not interested anyway. :P

:shrug:

What's a gorgeous body worth if the spirit is suffering for ice cream.
Yes, I'm a little fluffy but I'm not really fat. Ya just gotta love me like I am ~ I do.

I think you are awesome! :loveya:

I got pale, Celtic, nondescript when I specifically ordered lean, dark, chiseled. I've appealed to the relevant departments and filled out all the forms, but it's been 44 years and nobody's got back to me. Inefficient bastards.

I'm a short male and many women (not all but a large majority) want their men to be tall. Unfortunately, being short is not something one can do much about.

By some peoples standards I have a muscular body but I know I have a few things that could be worked on.

Lose about 20-25lbs. I have a 34-35 inch waist at 6'2 which isn't too bad but I have some love handles which could go.
My Glutes could use some massing, I have strong thick legs but a rather weak butt. I squat 225 but only deadlift 160!

Cardio wise I'm hurting as well. I haven't gone for a run in weeks, and am afraid to because I don't want to acknowledge how much stamina I've lost!
Shoulders could use some widening as well, they aren't proportional to my arms.

Working out was so much easier to fit into my schedule during high school, I would have thought it would have been even more so during college!

Looking good is important to me, our society seems to hold fit, lean, athletic bodies in high regard. It's in your best interest to have one simply because as a male you emit a more dominant and masculine prescence which can be quite useful in demonstrating yourself as a confident and competent invididual when you need to most, like a job interview. Not once in my life have I been turned down from anything that I interviewed for.

I'm healthy, but I could carry my weight better.

I've gained some weight, but that's ok...I'm stil hotttttt :D

You're one of the most beautiful people here.

So there. :P

:blush:

for being over 40.

Feelin' pretty good today. Got my new jeans on. I'm yummy. :D

:hi:

:hug:

:hug:

I have a very very long torso compared to my legs. I am 6'1" and have a 29" inseam, the same as my 5'6" wife. When I sit, I look as tall as someone 4-5 inches taller. I have a hard time with head room in cars. I look funny when I run. I weigh about 100 pounds more than I am supposed to...and have a 44" waist...but enjoy excellent health. My Teeth are ugly. My hair is thinning. I bite my nails. That being said, as long as I am healthy, I could give a rat's ass.

there are days i dont like it...but generally speaking its a hot body!

Mines less of a fixer-upper and more of a tear-down.

Or, at the very least, some marshmallows.

so I've been dealing with body image since I was a wee kid. I exercised my self right into Post Polio Syndrome trying to change my body appearance, until realizing there's not a damn thing I can do about my leg appearance or my walk.

I'm grateful that after years of rejection and ridicule from American men, I found a guy who looked beyond a perfect body and loved me for who I am.

sorry if i am being intrusive..your post was interesting.

something us polio types got approximately 30 years after being diagnosed with Polio. Turns out our muscles & neurons start fading away at a much faster rate than a normal person. Not all people get it, as with most illnesses, women get it more than men. Mine has a lot to do with the exercising I did throughout my life. The doctors told us to exercise and so I did to excess. As a result I am only 53, but physically feel much older. It is very painful.

My honey is from Japan where everyone looks the same...even he would say that, so I don't too feel bad when I say it!

It negatively impacts every aspect of my life. I am overweight, and I am terribly self-conscious about it, and yes, other people treat me differently because of it (I know, because I wasn't always overweight). I am one of those people who would give up years of their life to be skinny. In a heartbeat I would do that. What's the point of living 60 years if you are a social pariah?

Now, I did not feel that way as a teenager. I had curves, but I was still the "pretty one" in my circle of friends. I never lacked for dates, and I had a terrific self image. But then, standards were a little different then. I thought I was smoking hot at a size 6-8. If I were a teenager today, I would probably think I was fat at that size and be dieting and ashamed.

It sucks the way fat people are treated in our society, especially when we're low on social skills to begin with.