Inhale. Exhale. Step up. Hold breath. Step down and…… guilt trip.
Every time I get on the scale, it’s the same thing. My pulse quickens and my stomach flops as the digits whizz across the screen. The numbers are not so much gauges as they are hyper-criticisms of my preference for chicken wings over carrot sticks. I step off the scale and continue on with my day but the numbers are imbedded in the folds of my cerebellum. They sear into my mind an inestimable sense of inadequacy because the number I see on the scale and the girl I see in the mirror are not congruous with the images of slender models that bombard beauty advertisements in a fusillade of long torsos and longer legs.
They are perfect and I am not.
But when did imperfect become ugly?
The idea that the media have profoundly contributed to this neurosis is unequivocal. The promotion of images that few women can obtain has fostered pervasive body dissatisfaction and promoted an irrational fear of being fat amongst us double X-chromosomers.
These negative perceptions of our bodies pose more tangible threats to our health. According to the National Eating Disorders Association, as many as 10 million females are fighting a life and death battle with an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia in the United States today. Among Western women between 15 and 24 years old, approximately 1 out of every 200 suffers from anorexia nervosa, while about 1 in 50 is bulimic. Between 10 and 50 percent of American college women report having binge-eaten and then vomited to control their weight. Individuals with eating disorders are at the highest risk of premature death (from both natural and unnatural causes) of all people who suffer from psychiatric disorders. Yet, due to the secretiveness and shame associated with eating disorders, many cases are not even reported.
In the wake of this overwhelming data, my only question is: how did we get here? Seriously!
Why have we allowed ourselves to become consumed by a narrow, airbrushed standard of womanhood and declare that anyone who does not fit into this compartmentalized definition of beauty is necessarily inferior? When did the “real” become ugly?
The truth, ladies? It never did.
We have been tricked. We have been conditioned that beauty is limited to a single size and a narrow range of numbers on a scale. We have been convinced that, if we could just lose that last ten pounds, we can be beautiful, too. I’m here to tell you that you are beautiful as you are now.
Take a good look in the mirror, ladies, and take your confidence back! As long as you are healthy, why concern yourself with the women on television? You are just as sexy!
So, stop punishing yourselves when you step on the scale. Accept your curves. Embrace your flaws. Love yourself….every inch….because you shine the most when you are comfortable and confident in your own skin!
Sources: https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/get-facts-eating-disorders