Stop trying to be who you were and start loving who you are.

[crowhen]

Women make me sad. In my short life, the majority of women my age that I have come to know have all at one point or another said, "I need to lose weight! I don't fit into my old clothes anymore!" Then I would ask why they don't just buy new clothes (something I really enjoy when I have the money and the need), to which they would reply with, "But

Comments

[kimonos_house]

I agree with you in that a lot of women are simply too harsh on themselves and can't accept that a woman's body shifts and changes with age. I hate the perfectionism that and pressure that society puts on women.

At the same time, some of us have legitimate complaints about our bodies, and I don't like being seen as one of "those girls" when I say I need to lose weight. I currently weigh 50 pounds more than I did in high school. Granted, I was a little underweight in high school, but that still leaves me about 40 pounds overweight. I need to lose that weight. I'm having health problems because of it. So yes, I do occasionally complain about my weight. And I do look at the extra flesh with disgust--not just because it makes me feel unattractive, but also because of what it's doing to my heart.

Skinny girls who complain needlessly are annoying. Fad diets are dangerous. But we all need to keep a healthy weight. We all need to exercise. At least give a girl some credit for exercising, even if it might be for the wrong reasons.

[crowhen]

My dear lady, I am not speaking of women who are exercising for their own good, as I am one of them, and I assure you that this journal entry is not pointed at those who are interested in being healthy and fit. I am speaking of those who think they need to be lose weight although they are a perfectly normal and healthy weight because they have fixated on some number in the past.

[kimonos_house]

I know. I was confident that this wasn't aimed at people like me. *hug* I just wanted to say, "Hey! I agree, with one caveat!" ^_^

[sambucivox]

I believe that the women that you are talking about focus more on the media and the opinion of others than in maintaining a healthy, age-apropiate weight and size. I don't feel comfortable when I gain weight -not only because my clothes no longer fit, but because I can not move as swiftly as before, nor run as fast to catch the bus, and, most importantly, my boobs hurt more when I get my period. I also have less energy and I am atracted to additivized and highly addictive food, like gummy bears and twinkies. Being overweight goes far beyond the aesthetic consequences or having to change your whole wardrobe because your size changed

[crowhen]

I am not saying people should be happy to be sedentary. I am saying that if you gain ten pounds when you go from 30 to 40, don't freak out and make yourself out to be an overweight cow when you still look perfectly normal and fine. Bodies change throughout our lives and stressing out over every little pound is silly. All sorts of businesses cash in on the false notion that we are meant to look now exactly as we did ten years ago. But that's not how it works

[sambucivox]

I agree, as I believe that eternal youth is something that you have to drink from a wooden cup found in the crescent moon of a far-away desert... And even them, if you mistake the cup you may quickly become something hidden in a clock at Dr. Frank-n-Further's mansion... ;-)

Creams, surgeries (except in some very specific cases, such as skin repair and stomach implants for the morbidly obese) and specially fad diets are definitely not the way to it. Crow feet are beautiful, and if they are very marked usually indicate a lifetime of smiling, not a lifetime of sacrificing bulls to the god of beauty. And bathing in its blood.

I realize that christian, pagan and rocky horror icons have crept into this post.

[anonymous]

I definitely weigh more than I did in high school, and I was overweight then. This fact used to bother me, but I try to concentrate on the fact(s) that 1. I exercise more now, and 2. most high school aged bodies would not be as attractive on a 20-something, or anyone older. To make a little sense of that second point, a waist to hip ratio of about 0.7 is considered an "attractive" proportion. It's associated with a healthy, fertile body. One day in my high school psych class, the teacher had a couple of girls measure their waists and hips, and asked us to calculate the ratio. Both of the girls who provided measurements were slender in the way that many women want to be, but neither of them had a waist-hip ratio of 0.7. What's my rambling point? These girls were still young girls, not grown women. They hadn't finished sexually maturing

[charissespieces]

You rock. <3

[grimepoch]

This is DEFINITELY not gender specific because I hear it ALL the time from guys as well. Although I will say there are two things at play (and certainly, there are people that are delusional with the viewpoints as you've pointed out