Just need to get this off my chest.

Me too! Well said!

But like you say, it makes me feel sad for those people for having such low self esteem.

I am just glad my parents gave me the grounding that they did so I never had to feel like that!

My two cents:

If a guy's eyes are going to wander, it will happen regardless of how good you look. It goes back to the old adage: you can't control other people's behaviour. Be healthy, and most of all be yourself, and you will attract the right person for you.

That's what I have learned in my twenties.

So true!!! Even though my husband says he loves me the way I am... I need to be happy with me! I want to run and jump and play with my kids without feeling winded! I want to be around to meet my future grandkids...
Have a great day everyone!!!
Angela :flowerforyou:

I think it is really sad too, but I think you need to take into consideration the ages of these girls. Sometimes being comfortable in your own skin comes with maturity. Many of these woman aren't old enough to have grown out of the teenage mind set that everyone is looking at and judging them.

BIG RANT:

It bothers me to no end that many people, particulary the younger generation, seem to accept just about anything the media tells them.

I have a theory about this.

I see images of women with hip bones sticking out and big huge beachball heads on a shrivelled popsicle stick bodies and I think it's sad, and disgusting, and I extrapolate it to our bizarre amount of wealth and our relative position of comfort in society.

The ideal feminine figure has always been curvaceous -- right up to World War I, and through the Great Depression. There was a blip, with flappers, which is probably related to the depression, but can probably be more closely linked with the first inklings of feminism, its initial iteration being "cut off your hair, smoke, act like a man." The androgynous look began. Then we have the 40s and 50s, perhaps not the most wonderful time to be a woman, but the feminine figure was fack in full form.

Coincidentally, as our wealth increased, and war and economic depression became a distant artifact of the past, the media's representation of the ideal feminine body got skinnier. It started to look like a man's body -- non-existent hips, tight abs -- on a lanky figure. Think Kate Moss and "heroin chic," the grunge look of the 90s. The fashion of that era was a "f--k you" to the excess of the 80s. Then we have our wondrous decade. Media convergence occured, and suddenly models were singers and actresses were models and everyone was shilling for something and everything, considering globalization and the world economy, once mercantile and fractioned, now controlled by a dwindling number of multinational corporations.

Our celebrities -- the people we admire -- became indistinguisable from ourselves. We started to dress and act like them, and think we should have all the things they have. Society began to converge on itself, one big reality TV show. The distinction between image and imagination was lost. Fiction and reality combined horribly into one big oppressive unreality, where the generation coming up believes that Victoria Beckham is beautiful and that a $300 pair of jeans is normal, that yoga pants warrant a $100 purchase, debt is acceptable, ugly fashion is cool because it's more noticeable -- look at me -- it means everyone will know just how much you paid for that hideous bobble-covered handbag. Ugg boots? UGG BOOTS? They look horrible on everyone. But they're a quantifiable purchase -- the label on the back tells everyone you paid way too much money for them. Real beauty has become irrelevant. These are the new standards against which we now are expected to measure ourselves.

What does this have to do with our bodies? In a culture of utter excess, is it suprising that a thin body is an ideal? It supposedly demonstrates control. It supposedly demonstrates that we are authentic in a way that no manfactured item can be. Human beings have a natural need for authenticity to be and to feel real, to express our individuality. Throughout history we did this by overcoming various forms of oppression and strife. We built in ourselves something that used to be called character. It's an old fashioned word that you don't hear anymore. What do we have in North America that could possibly build character? Bad weather?

Paris Hilton, the pentultimate child of the Everything-and-Nothing Generation, said it best: Fat people drink diet cola. Poor is fat and Rich is thin. The struggle for identity takes on new, twisted forms . . .:(

Sorry if this is too negative. I probably should have waited at least until noon.

Amen, mehughes, amen.

When I get bored in spinning, I total up the workout outfit costs of the other people in class. Why do I even know what these evil clothes cost? Because when I first moved to our fair city, I was embarrassed I didn't have them. I am a mid-thirties fairly intelligent woman, but all of a sudden I was back in high school and wanted to have what the cool people were wearing. :noway: Incidentally, my new year's resolution is to turn up my resistance when I notice this happening. Wrong mindset on my part, big time.

It's true that the media is out of control. Victoria Beckham is terrifying to me, but if she's a "role model", what hope do these young ladies have. I recently watched a makeover show on TV, and the makeover winner/victim was told by a doctor at one point during the show that she was "20-25 pounds under a healthy weight". When she went for her fashion/shopping makeover, the fashion "expert" told her she was "so nice and slender". AAAAAAAAARRRRRRGH!! So, the standard of beauty for women in the 21st century is now weak and starving and still teetering around on shoes from the 1950s. Whenever I'm stuck on a TTC stairway behind a woman in heels, I want to scream because she's slowing me and herself down.

Oh, man, now I'm ranting, and I have a TV.

Here I go being the "nay sayer", but let's be honest. Who here doesn't want to get back into "those" jeans or wear something that they just can't wear now? I am tired of not fitting into my clothes and being forced to buy a larger size. So, yes, I am losing weight because I want to get back into a bikini, wear my "skinny" jeans, feel more confident in my body. If I felt good about the way I look at the weight I'm at right now I wouldn't be here!! Don't get me wrong - I absolutely agree that there are insane extremes out there in the media, but that to me is not the real world. THIS is the real world. A bunch of people that have a common goal to get healthy AND look good! :flowerforyou:

You're not being a naysayer at all. It's realistic to want to slim down and look good. It's unrealistic to want to look like Mary Kate Olsen.

My rant was theoretical, meaning it was filled with numerous generalizations on the general state of society. It was intended as an analysis of why I believe some people aspire to look like celebrities who, in my view, look weird.

I too am guilty in fuelling some of the aspects of celebrity culture that I loathe, TV or no TV. I support it with my addiction to glossy magazines!!! I do TRY my very best to pick "healthy" magazines, but even those that don't focus on celebrity still feature too-thin models. WISH magazine is my favourite amongst the guilty pleasures. Somehow it's more relaxing than peeping The Walrus. (That was for the Canadians on this board.)

Najah - The beauty of this site is that we can all support each other. We're here. We're working toward a common goal and we're going to celebrate each other's success! We ROCK! :bigsmile:

Mehughes and Viviakay you made me laugh! :laugh:

Especially about the UGG boots! I have recently had a similar conversion with my younger sister. She is 23 and obsessed with image and labels! Its ridiculous!! She has just purchased a pair of UGG boots!!
Her best friend isn't even like it to the level she is and we tricked her once. Her friend had a pair of cheap £10 jeans on from a discount store that my sister wouldn't be seen dead in! My sister commented on them and her friend said they were from a designer store (i don't remember which one!) so my sister borrowed them without checking the label etc and went out in them! She was mortified when we told her where they were actually from!!

Sorry just had to add that as I found it funny!!
:laugh:

Mehughes and Viviakay you made me laugh! :laugh:

Especially about the UGG boots! I have recently had a similar conversion with my younger sister. She is 23 and obsessed with image and labels! Its ridiculous!! She has just purchased a pair of UGG boots!!
Her best friend isn't even like it to the level she is and we tricked her once. Her friend had a pair of cheap £10 jeans on from a discount store that my sister wouldn't be seen dead in! My sister commented on them and her friend said they were from a designer store (i don't remember which one!) so my sister borrowed them without checking the label etc and went out in them! She was mortified when we told her where they were actually from!!

Sorry just had to add that as I found it funny!!
:laugh:

What is up with having to have all the name brand stuff? I go to yard sales and discount stores to find a good bargain! I still think I look good in my clothes and they dont cost half as much as the name brands. It seems like the stupidist things are the point of interest for the younger kids, hell, even adults my age...there is a certain click at my job that wear the most in style most expensive clothes, jewelry, handbags, ect, and I think its sooo funny that they think they have to look like they walked off the runway just to come to work!