Hating Your Body vs. Body Acceptance

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  • Crystalball78
    Crystalball78 Posts: 72
    If we say I Love My Body! Its perfect!... we are either A. a delusional btch or B. obviously wrong :-/

    (but we're allowed to say it inside our head where no one can hear us sometimes, right?)


    Say what!!!!
    Not ONLY am I allowed to THINK my body is perfect...I'm also allowed to SAY it. It doesn't mean YOU have to agree that it is. I've never seen an ugly body. There's really something to be said about confidence. What a tragic world this would be if we were only allowed to think we're beautifully and perfectly made, in or own mind. God made us all in his image....Now, whatchugon' say about that?

    love this and totally agree
  • angng
    angng Posts: 137 Member
    If we say I Love My Body! Its perfect!... we are either A. a delusional btch or B. obviously wrong :-/

    (but we're allowed to say it inside our head where no one can hear us sometimes, right?)

    Your body doesn't have to be perfect to be loved by you, or anyone else for that matter. True perfection is impossible, because it's subjective.

    THIS X100000000

    See also: Health At Every Size.

    And you know, many of us (me included!) may not be "there yet" regarding loving our bodies unconditionally, etc, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't strive toward body acceptance (of our own bodies AND others!) as the ideal. Every time I see someone on this site criticizing someone else's body (usually a woman's, usually some skinny woman who isn't "buff" enough) I just want to shoot lasers out of my eyes.
  • Crystalball78
    Crystalball78 Posts: 72
    Fat is just fat. Contrary to the media and popular belief, fat is not a personality trait. It is just an adjective - a word to describe something. Just as is blue, tall or 35.

    We can choose to give it (and our bodies) the connotation of "worthless, unlovable, unattractive, disgusting, lazy, shameful, hideous" etc. or not.

    Personally I have never actually hated my body as much as I think other people have (especially my mother).

    Is it "perfect"? No, but that is subjective. Am I completely satisfied with where I am? No.. I would like to lose about 100 pounds more. Am I happy? I am getting there. In order to take care of my body now, I have to consider it worth taking care of, and I'm not going to get there by putting it or myself down (that's what my mother is for). :wink:

    I don't have any illness or injuries and this body has performed pretty well for originally being over 300 pounds. It changes and I'm developing a new relationship with it and appreciating it more every month. Go body! Go me! Go you!

    so agree
  • angng
    angng Posts: 137 Member
    Fat is just fat. Contrary to the media and popular belief, fat is not a personality trait. It is just an adjective - a word to describe something. Just as is blue, tall or 35.

    We can choose to give it (and our bodies) the connotation of "worthless, unlovable, unattractive, disgusting, lazy, shameful, hideous" etc. or not.

    Personally I have never actually hated my body as much as I think other people have (especially my mother).

    Is it "perfect"? No, but that is subjective. Am I completely satisfied with where I am? No.. I would like to lose about 100 pounds more. Am I happy? I am getting there. In order to take care of my body now, I have to consider it worth taking care of, and I'm not going to get there by putting it or myself down (that's what my mother is for). :wink:

    I don't have any illness or injuries and this body has performed pretty well for originally being over 300 pounds. It changes and I'm developing a new relationship with it and appreciating it more every month. Go body! Go me! Go you!

    Well said.

    Also, I was way happier with my body at my heaviest than I was at my smallest. Everyone else had something (unsolicited, inapprorpiate) negative to say about it at both ends of the spectrum.
  • sugarandspice27
    sugarandspice27 Posts: 521 Member
    BUMP
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
    If we say I Love My Body! Its perfect!... we are either A. a delusional btch or B. obviously wrong :-/

    (but we're allowed to say it inside our head where no one can hear us sometimes, right?)


    Say what!!!!
    Not ONLY am I allowed to THINK my body is perfect...I'm also allowed to SAY it. It doesn't mean YOU have to agree that it is. I've never seen an ugly body. There's really something to be said about confidence. What a tragic world this would be if we were only allowed to think we're beautifully and perfectly made, in or own mind. God made us all in his image....Now, whatchugon' say about that?

    That regardless of who are what breathed life into my baby body.... that IM the one responsible for how it looks and performs NOW. My decisions, my choices, my actions, my past, my own abuse and my own pampering. Not God.

    I try hard to love my body bydoing physical activities that I love, everything from jumping from bench to bench on the boardwalk to soaking in a bubble bath to eating beauiful food. Because last time I said aloud that I thought I had a beautiful body, I was asked if I wanted a lake to drown in to go with that narcissism.

    I would love to be the kind of person that was allowed to openly love her body and think of it as beautiful, but Im scared of hubris and NYC is a cold hard place to toot your own horn. I walk with confidence, especially in a little black dress and heels, or in my running gear - but you wont catch me saying aloud that I am pleased with my body, not in this world. I'd rather repress it to death and just embrace the actions instead.

    Please dont fuss at me for feeling this way. I know someone will. Some stranger. And they wont care if it hurts.
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
    If we say I Love My Body! Its perfect!... we are either A. a delusional btch or B. obviously wrong :-/

    (but we're allowed to say it inside our head where no one can hear us sometimes, right?)

    Your body doesn't have to be perfect to be loved by you, or anyone else for that matter. True perfection is impossible, because it's subjective.

    I agree, but its not a switch you can just flip.
  • sugarandspice27
    sugarandspice27 Posts: 521 Member
    If we say I Love My Body! Its perfect!... we are either A. a delusional btch or B. obviously wrong :-/

    (but we're allowed to say it inside our head where no one can hear us sometimes, right?)


    Say what!!!!
    Not ONLY am I allowed to THINK my body is perfect...I'm also allowed to SAY it. It doesn't mean YOU have to agree that it is. I've never seen an ugly body. There's really something to be said about confidence. What a tragic world this would be if we were only allowed to think we're beautifully and perfectly made, in or own mind. God made us all in his image....Now, whatchugon' say about that?


    I try hard to love my body bydoing physical activities that I love, everything from jumping from bench to bench on the boardwalk to soaking in a bubble bath to eating beauiful food. Because last time I said aloud that I thought I had a beautiful body, I was asked if I wanted a lake to drown in to go with that narcissism.

    Absurdity! People project all of their own body issues and deeply entrenched self hatred on to everyone else. They are not happy with themselves and don't want anyone else to be either. YOU SHOULD SAY (or at least think it) you have a beautiful body because YOU DO.

    And PS- Self love is NOT narcissism or vanity. It's good for your soul and helps you thrive. We just live in such an *kitten*-backwards, diseased bizzarro world (esp, NYC- I know I used to work in Manhattan) that loving yourself is considered WRONG and hating yourself is considered RIGHT. THEY are the ones that are wrong. NOT YOU. Even if you don't shout it from the rooftops, don't you dare ever bemoan yourself either. I simply won't have it! Especially because you've come so far. Keep doin' what you do cause you're doin' it right. And btw, I think your body is amazing just how it is, but that's just my two cents.
  • EBFNP
    EBFNP Posts: 529 Member
    I completely agree with the OP. How many times you see threads of peeps worried how society or the opposite sex think about a thigh gap or the size of their thighs or boobs? As a society on the whole, we are too concerned what OTHERS think about our lifestyle and choice when the individual has to live the life. Sadly, we live in a society where every one are dying to belong with the "norm." Yes, we are all self conscious and may not love a certain thing about ourselves, but self-loathing our bodies and not accepting the person we are is even more demeaning.
  • sugarandspice27
    sugarandspice27 Posts: 521 Member
    I have no problem BREAKING THE NORM! No problem at all!
  • ladytinkerbell99
    ladytinkerbell99 Posts: 970 Member
    bump
    What a great post! Thank you.
  • Hearts_2015
    Hearts_2015 Posts: 12,031 Member
    I have no problem BREAKING THE NORM! No problem at all!
    :heart: :flowerforyou:
  • SlimSammy2012
    SlimSammy2012 Posts: 893
    <~~~~~So glad the heat is off of me due to my Temporary Insanity!!! :blushing:
  • mfpcopine
    mfpcopine Posts: 3,093 Member
    If we say I Love My Body! Its perfect!... we are either A. a delusional btch or B. obviously wrong :-/

    (but we're allowed to say it inside our head where no one can hear us sometimes, right?)

    Your body doesn't have to be perfect to be loved by you, or anyone else for that matter. True perfection is impossible, because it's subjective.

    I agree, but its not a switch you can just flip.

    Exactly. These "empowerment" self-talks, while of some help, have a limit to their value because there are powerful reasons why people, especially women, have these conflicts. They cannot easily be resolved, if they can be resolved at all. In addition to the fact that the more powerless you feel the more you tend to criticize yourself and women in most societies are still the less powerful, there are aesthetic standards. The standards change from time to time, but only the most narcissistic person seeing s/he did not fit the reigning standard would feel he or she was perfect.

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