Challenge YOUR body image.

[Guzzi]

This WHOLE post contains women in their underwear. You have been warned.

So, tell me something... Are YOU affected by the constant manipulation and Photoshop-ing of the media, by being bombarded by impossibly "perfect" faces and bodies? Well...?

I was horrified when I read Bekah's post in the random thread about the "Plus size model" who's a size 12!!!! Here ya go anyone who missed it...

And all of these Lovely Ladies are Plus Size models too. Just so you know.

And before that one I was still smarting at the injustice of how we set our children up with unrealistic body image and the Barbie vs Real Life comparison that was posted a couple of weeks back.

It's really quite disturbing, but I'm not a Silly Teenager at risk of falling victim to media Hype. I know what a Real Woman looks like, don't I...?

A couple of days ago I sent my bf a photo of me with not much clothes on.... No not that! You bunch of pervs! My progress pic. And whilst he made all the right noises about it, I was left a little sad. I've worked so hard, lost all this weight, and yet my body just isn't what I'd hoped for. Why is that???

It's because even though I detest all the Size 0 nonsense and think women should look like women, not pre-pubescent girls, I STILL have an unrealistic idea of what's attainable AND a pretty poor self image to boot. That's why.

The bf convinced me to do something, and it was a bit of an eye-opener. He got me to go through pics online until I found one that I thought was close to my figure and then do a side-by-side comparison. Here's what I came up with....

Hmmm..... Maybe not. Well, how about this one???

Or this...?

Hmmm.... This is harder than I thought. Try it for yourself, go on!

I challenge you to find a picture of what YOU think YOUR body looks like and then do a comparison. I bet you get it quite far wrong.

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[RedPandaOne]

I think I might give this a try. My body image is so 'effed up.

 

I sent progress picture to my guy friend I have a challenge going with, and he said I quote "Kinda flummoxed at the moment. I can understand the reasons for getting in better shape, for the health benefits and what not, but you already look great."

 

When I sent him that picture (and even more now), I felt like a fat cow.

 

But, here's how my mind works:

When I was 215 pounds, I thought I looked like what I do now (at roughly 185).

When I was 152 pounds, I thought I looked like what I did around this same weight.

So, when I was overweight, I thought I was smaller. When I was smaller I thought I was really overweight. Ugh.

 

Right now, my mental image is of me at 215, however, when I look in the mirror I see a tiny waist, big hips and a stomach. Nothing like when I was at 215. I *know* I'm smaller, but I can't picture it. So, tonight, I'm going to sit down and do a comparison!

[Guzzi]

Yay!

(Except for the "fat cow" bit. Booooo!)

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[kirstenanke]

I just have to jump in her real quick and tell you Guzzi that in BOTH comparison pictures you look MUCH prettier and thinner than

the model you have chosen!!!

 

I think your body is perfect. You have such a nice outline going on... I am nearly at my thinnest at the moment 145lbs at 1.80 which is

close to or just 6 foot BUT there are still funny lumps and bumps. Im sure you look lovely in a tight dress whereas my bits still stick out

at the funniest of places. Bit of tummy, funny bit of double bum, hips, you name it.

 

When I weighed a stone and a half more I felt terribly fat. Then when I lost the weight I felt thin for about a month and now... not so much 

anymore   Body image with me is an ever variable thing. 

 

I am happy enough but always find something to moan at which is awful... 

[tbug]

I love this idea! Of course I immediately went to look up celebrities my height to compare to which I'm pretty sure defeats the purpose, and I feel like I'm going to have to primp for the comparison pictures so clearly I'm still a Silly Teenager at risk of falling victim to media Hype. So this will be good for me!

[SevenofSeven]

What if your body image stops you even taking photos of your body at any stage of the game. And if by chance once you had a photo or two you felt like crap seeing them they were erased forever.

Yep that's me. There are bits of my body that hold me back from taking photos, because after seven children things just don't bounce back and the only real way to show off the hard work is surgery. I kid you not, they have medical terms for my problem areas. So I understand even though I am plus size and have been my entire life, I am never going to achieve " the look " of the lovely ladies in the pictures posted by Guzzi.

However I don't care because I am getting stronger and healthier and my Lads are seeing this, which I hope makes me a good role model.

My older boys have really never brought home GF's that don't eat. They have all been proper, healthy girls who aren't afraid to sit at our table at meal times. If you're not fast here you starve! Some nights it's like sharing a table with vikings. I'm proud of my lads not adding to the body image problems of impressionable girls.

[kaelvan]

I'm tempted to do this, but I'm afraid to show some of my old scars (and burns) from my darker days.

[Guzzi]

I just have to jump in her real quick and tell you Guzzi that in BOTH comparison pictures you look MUCH prettier and thinner than

the model you have chosen!!!

.....When I weighed a stone and a half more I felt terribly fat. Then when I lost the weight I felt thin for about a month and now... not so much..

First, thank you! I love you forever now! But yeah, when I see the pics side by side I can see it, but when I was looking at pics without being able to do a comparison I really couldn't. Every time I picked a model the bf would despair "She's about 2 stone heavier than you, you tattie!"

I love this idea! Of course I immediately went to look up celebrities my height to compare to which I'm pretty sure defeats the purpose, and I feel like I'm going to have to primp for the comparison pictures so clearly I'm still a Silly Teenager at risk of falling victim to media Hype. So this will be good for me!

Nah, primp away. All the bleeding models will be photoshopped anyway so you're just levelling the playing field.

I happen to have a pretty convenient one [i'm on the right]

Sorry Rand, but that guy is too scrawny. You're more muscular and athletic looking. (Oh God, please don't let that go to his head!)

I am plus size and have been my entire life, I am never going to achieve " the look " of the lovely ladies in the pictures posted by Guzzi.

However I don't care because I am getting stronger and healthier and my Lads are seeing this, which I hope makes me a good role model.

+100 points for the last statement, but I reckon you should still do it, even if you don't post the pics, because I bet you see your body differently to how you would see someone else. Have a Google and see....

(And yes! You are a totally Rockin' role model!!!!!)

I'm tempted to do this, but I'm afraid to show some of my old scars (and burns) from my darker days.

I hear you. I've got a lot of scars too, different reason, but they still ain't pretty. I wear mine like a badge of honour. "See these? These are my battle scars! They tell a story. They're my strength, even when my body is weak."

You should be proud of your scars. They show that you came through the other side and conquered those demons.

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[insanity]

I'm not really affected by the societal image that is portrayed, I'm not one to be swayed by what people think I should look like. That said, I don't have any online pictures to do a side by side, but to give you an idea... here's who I compare too.

 

 

Yeah... no pecs, abs, biceps.... anything really, just kinda... there.

 

But this idea did show me something that excites me a little....

 

This guy... is 1 inch taller, and the same weight as I currently am...

 

I have my goals....

[kaelvan]

I hear you. I've got a lot of scars too, different reason, but they still ain't pretty. I wear mine like a badge of honour. "See these? These are my battle scars! They tell a story. They're my strength, even when my body is weak."

You should be proud of your scars. They show that you came through the other side and conquered those demons.

Mostly last person I was with made me feel shitty for having them, especially the burns on my breasts.

[SuperSweed]

I'll jump in on this bandwagon!

Flexing at the candy shop

 

The guy everyone says I look like

 

I am what the professionals call 'fatscular' and I feel like Kevin James in Here Comes the Boom really connects with what I currently see in my minds eye.

[Machete]

17 years ago I looked into the bathroom mirror and was disgusted at what I saw; nothing has changed since.

 

But like I always say, for me it all depends on the current mood.

 

On a good day, usually when I'm not exposed to societal judgement:

 

On most days though:

[Suited hippy]

I've been having a hard time with body image. I'd be willing to bet it has to do with the overarching depressive symptoms that I have been having for years that I just am not dealing with correctly. Certainly my swaying appreciation/acceptance/disappointment in my appearance is something that I can see and feel as related to my current mental state.

For me, seeing your whole world change, then your whole body change is a continual struggle. Sometimes in the morning when I get up in the morning early and groggy I'll get startled walking into the bathroom at the reflection. After a quarter of a second I remember that's what I look like now, but for that groggy moment it is verging of a panic attack at the site of someone else in the mirror. My brain just has yet to accept that this is its vessel now.

For a while i'd enjoy how I was looking in the mirror after recognizing the man staring back at me. Make my pecs do the pec dance, walk around the apartment with my new partner shirtless most of the summer... The first time she said "You have the body of a greek god" I was so flustered, but felt like she meant it. I was hot shit, as pretty as could be.

But something changed a few months ago. I did a photoshoot with a friend of mine who is a great photographer with the intention of making a firefighter style calendar for my partner for Christmas. When I got the pictures back I was just filled with disappointment.  I've been training 5-6 days a week for over 2 years! I was still not Chris Hemsworth, I was no where near Huge Jackedman... 

 

It hit me hard, at the season when the sun was going down earlier and earlier so I did not have my long outdoor ocean runs to steady out my mental state. Last year at this season I really struggled with mood as well, so I was worried about falling off the fitness and mental health wagon so after 15 months I joined a gym again. The cheapest, smelliest, most meat head filled gym in town! Been pouring it on hard with HIIT treadmill work, heavy pressing and rowing, as well as all my other regular forms of fitness.

 

2 months down of that and I knocked 3 whole minutes off my 10k time. My Row has gone up from 55lbs to 80lbs. I feel like an absolute beast picking up two 80lbs dumbbells, but still body image is suffering.

 

My partner tells me that the difference is outstanding, that she can't believe what 2 months back at the gym has been able to do. When I am feeling in a positive mental state I agree with her, I strut with the burning confidence of a thousand neutron stars! Regrettably positive mental states have been fewer and farther in between lately. Why the hell do I want to look like Chris Hemsworth? Why can't I be happy looking like me? or the fitter me? Or even the 2 months of killing it at the gym me?! Why was I more accepting of myself at 45%+ BF than I am at 11%?  

 

I hate body image, it is slowly tearing me apart.

 

 

 

TL:DR-I'm a big ol' crazy pants and swing from happy to disapointed in body image. 

[Noname123]

Feels like this should be here. 

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1413155718825306

[shaar]

 

TL:DR-I'm a big ol' crazy pants and swing from happy to disapointed in body image. 

 

It's like you dug into my mind with everything you said.  Some days I feel fantastic and on top of the world, other days I feel like I look like one of those slimes from Dragon Warrior.  It's ridiculous and, quite frankly, exhausting as well.

[insanity]

I'm not really affected by the societal image that is portrayed, I'm not one to be swayed by what people think I should look like. That said, I don't have any online pictures to do a side by side, but to give you an idea... here's who I compare too.

 

 

Yeah... no pecs, abs, biceps.... anything really, just kinda... there.

 

But this idea did show me something that excites me a little....

 

This guy... is 1 inch taller, and the same weight as I currently am...

 

 

I have my goals....

I'll finish this post by putting this here...

 

 

Yeah... this feels oddly weird. And line starts to the left ladies...

[redtomato501]

[...]

But, here's how my mind works:

When I was 215 pounds, I thought I looked like what I do now (at roughly 185).

When I was 152 pounds, I thought I looked like what I did around this same weight.

So, when I was overweight, I thought I was smaller. When I was smaller I thought I was really overweight. Ugh.   [...]

 

THIS. I remember always feeling so big and overweight when I was younger. And surely, I wasn't as healthy as I could have been, but I was also hanging around really short, less curvy people (so bad people to compare myself to). When I look back, I'm all "Damn I was bangin'!" Now, years and a couple ankle injuries later, I've topped off at 200 lb and yet I still have this mental image of myself at about 165. It startles me every time I look in the mirror and see these soft, round cheeks, or the torso that has thickened to match my always large hips. I don't hate myself for being this size, and am pretty candid about it and how it happened, but I forget that I've put on this much weight, still see myself as smaller.

 

Mostly last person I was with made me feel shitty for having them, especially the burns on my breasts.

 

I'm so sorry to hear that. Whatever redemptive qualities they may or may not have had, they were shit for making you feel that way. Good or bad, however you got them, they are a part of you, wonderful, beautiful you that deserves love and support, not more pain.

 

I've been having a hard time with body image. I'd be willing to bet it has to do with the overarching depressive symptoms that I have been having for years that I just am not dealing with correctly. Certainly my swaying appreciation/acceptance/disappointment in my appearance is something that I can see and feel as related to my current mental state.

For me, seeing your whole world change, then your whole body change is a continual struggle. Sometimes in the morning when I get up in the morning early and groggy I'll get startled walking into the bathroom at the reflection. After a quarter of a second I remember that's what I look like now, but for that groggy moment it is verging of a panic attack at the site of someone else in the mirror. My brain just has yet to accept that this is its vessel now. [...]

It hit me hard, at the season when the sun was going down earlier and earlier so I did not have my long outdoor ocean runs to steady out my mental state. [...]

 

2 months down of that and I knocked 3 whole minutes off my 10k time. My Row has gone up from 55lbs to 80lbs. I feel like an absolute beast picking up two 80lbs dumbbells, but still body image is suffering.[...]

 

First of all, if you're open to it, seriously consider doing something to deal with those overarching depressive symptoms, however mild or severe they are. If you have been dealing with them for years, you'll probably be facing them for years later, so it can only help to explore options that can help you deal with them, whether it's reframing exercises, medication, or whatever. Of course, strategies only work if you're willing to invest in them, buy into and utilize them, but not dealing with them almost never makes anyone feel better. 

 

Okay, social worker hat off, I definitely emphasize with the concept of not recognizing oneself in the mirror. It's always odd when your impression of yourself doesn't match up with what's in the mirror - faced that on both sides of the equation, as did hurley8604 above. Such a weird feeling. Perhaps a little juvenile, but when I was trying to build up my self-confidence years ago, everytime I looked in the mirror I repeated a few phrases that affirmed my beauty and worth in the eyes of others, God and myself. That last one was a stretch most days, but I still said it until I believed it. Look in the mirror and roar like a beast every time? Rawr... I am beast, I am Greek God, I'm damn sexy and I know it?

 

I wonder if there's still a way you can get your long outdoor ocean runs? Is running after dark really out? With a buddy, perhaps? Early morning runs? Run on a treadmill with an "ocean scent" candle burning? :/

[insanity]

 

Flexing at the candy shop

There is something about that sentence, that every time I read it, I have to laugh....  and while I see the connection, going by that picture you look less Kevin James and more The Mountain, from Game of Thrones.

[Guzzi]

Feels like this should be here.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1413155718825306

THIS!^^^^ Oh my God, this!

It's really bizarre how our minds work, they play tricks on is and put us down. Confidence is all about your state of mind, and in reality has little to do with your outward appearance.

I have a memory of my most confident period, a (rare) time when I genuinely thought that I looked great and met the world head-on with a "Is that all you've got?" attitude.

At that point I was more than a stone heavier than I am today. Why the Hell is my brain still not catching up? Why do I still see myself as being bigger than I am? I know I look good, I'm smaller than I've been my entire adult life, everyone around me tells me that I'm looking great, but somehow I still feel that I don't quite measure up.

I like Hurley's idea of positive affirmation. I think I'm going to give that a go.

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[Guzzi]

I'll finish this post by putting this here...

Yeah... this feels oddly weird. And line starts to the left ladies...

Me!!!! I'm first!

Let me show you something. You know that "really cute" guy I fell head over heels for at the TT? The "Oh my God, he's so amazing" one?

You wanna see a photo of him without his clothes on? (Not naked, just without his jeans and t-shirt)

This is the guy I fell for....

I fancied him then, and I fancy him now. He's amazing and I don't give a hoot if his body isn't worthy of a mention in Men's Health, I love his body simply because it's his.

And yeah Insanity, you're a pretty amazing guy too, so I'm heading up the queue.

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[Balthazar]

There is something about that sentence, that every time I read it, I have to laugh....  and while I see the connection, going by that picture you look less Kevin James and more The Mountain, from Game of Thrones.

This

 

And I can read 'flexing at the candy shop' without putting it to the 50 cent 'song'

[insanity]

Me!!!! I'm first!

Let me show you something. You know that "really cute" guy I fell head over heels for at the TT? The "Oh my God, he's so amazing" one?

You wanna see a photo of him without his clothes on? (Not naked, just without his jeans and t-shirt)

This is the guy I fell for....

I fancied him then, and I fancy him now. He's amazing and I don't give a hoot if his body isn't worthy of a mention in Men's Health, I love his body simply because it's his.

And yeah Insanity, you're a pretty amazing guy too, so I'm heading up the queue.

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Wooohoo... there's a line... well at least a point, you need at least two points to make a line. :-)

 

I have no real complaints about my body, functionally it's served me well, it's done everything I've asked of it, and come out the other side asking me if that's all I had. Now I just want to improve and refine the machine...

[SevenofSeven]

Me!!!! I'm first!

Let me show you something. You know that "really cute" guy I fell head over heels for at the TT? The "Oh my God, he's so amazing" one?

You wanna see a photo of him without his clothes on? (Not naked, just without his jeans and t-shirt)

This is the guy I fell for....

I fancied him then, and I fancy him now. He's amazing and I don't give a hoot if his body isn't worthy of a mention in Men's Health, I love his body simply because it's his.

And yeah Insanity, you're a pretty amazing guy too, so I'm heading up the queue.

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LOL, I immediately thought it was the Scottish version of Shortgorilla, and that is a good thing!

[Machete]

This

 

And I can read 'flexing at the candy shop' without putting it to the 50 cent 'song'

 

[Dleffe]

When I look in the mirror I recognize myself pretty well. But for some reason when I see a picture of myself I'm always astonished at how massive I look. I asked some friends and apparanetly how I see myself in pictures is how other see me, so the mirror is lying

 

I'd add a picture but the forum doesn't accept dropbox links it seems >.<