Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

If you thought that you would feel better about your body once you were thin, you might be wrong. If you thought that you would feel better about your body if thousands of fans loved and adored you, once again, you might be wrong. According to Gunnar Peterson, a personal trainer to the stars, even his clients have body issues.

• National Nine News – Stars battle the bulge too, says trainer

If Angelina Jolie, Gwen Stefani, Jennifer Lopez and Cameron Diaz have body issues, is there no escape? The first time I heard this, I remember thinking, “What’s the point of dieting? I’m going to feel like shit about my body even if I get thin. I might as well eat whatever I want. Then I have a reason to feel inadequate.” It took me years to realize that the idea, “Then I have a reason to feel inadequate” was the whole problem.

It was like I was overeating to punish myself. I felt inadequate. Everybody does at some times. When I was overweight, I could just blame it on my weight. The big fear was that when I was thin, I would have no reason to feel inadequate and I would have nothing to blame it all on. If I didn’t get a raise at work, I couldn’t blame it on my weight. If someone pointed and laughed at me in the gym, then I couldn’t blame it on my jiggling hips. I wouldn’t have a scape goat anymore.

Once I stopped letting myself blame everything on being overweight, I was able to start clearing up those body issues. Here is the best quote from the above article:

“Those people are just people. They have two legs, two arms, a torso and a head,” Peterson said. “The body works in three plains of motion. It has a cardio pulmonary system. It has the same muscles and bones, they just happen to be on the screen.”

Once you realize that you have the same general makeup as all those stars and you have the same worries and concerns as they do, you can concentrate on the incredible and wonderful things that your body CAN do.

Via: About.com – Stars Are People Too – by Paige Waehner

Most people say that they read Playboy magazine for the articles. I “read” Dakota’s Weblog for the pictures. This entry, however, was a beautiful picture and an inspiring entry.

• Dakota – Embodiment

I love the way she describes this picture:

“This is a body/spirit(s) shot. Whether the spirits are coming or going isn’t clear, but, since I took the picture, I am going to assume that it is about my wish to embody my whole self, all of who I really am, and I will take it as a measure of my progress thus far.”

Lofty goal indeed!

The author of the Food Museum Blog calls herself Foodie. In the following entry, she considers what it would be like to wear a fat suit, such as the kind they use to make movie stars look fat.

• food museum blog: Fat Suits Featured

The movie industry really burns me up when it comes to portraying fat people. Even the kid who played Fat Albert in the live action movie wore a fat suit. You can’t convince me that there wasn’t one black kid who was fat AND could act better than that guy. I know Gwyneth Paltrow is an Oscar winning actress, but I think there were too many furniture breaking jokes in Shallow Hal. I am intimately familiar with the morbidly obese and I have never seen a chair break under them. It’s like the movie industry takes the cheap shot every time.

I don’t wish for a day in a fat suit. I know what it feels like. I know how I would look if I were fat again. I would recognize the looks on the faces of the people who feel like they are superior to me just because they are thin. I can vividly remember being discounted again and again because of my weight. I know what it feels like to be working my butt off and still be viewed as lazy. I don’t want a fat suit.

When I was fat, the first thing that got me on the road to living healthy was loving my body so much that I wanted to keep it around for awhile. Don’t let the movie industry tell you that you are only valuable if you are thin and svelte.

The full title of the webcomic is: “I hope, someday, to spend some time in a world like my own,” but it’s “A World Like My Own” for short. I don’t know what the answer to her dilemna was. She cut her hair after this.

Body image is such a nebulous thing. I’ve never had an experience like this because there never was a time in my life where I felt I was thin. I had been overweight since I was four. The rare times I had been thin, were the result of summers of starvation at the hands of my grandmother, so they don’t really represent a positive time in my life.

I think that comparing myself to a past me is just as useless as comparing myself to someone else. Past Me is a different age and has had less experiences than I have. Another person has lived a completely different life.

Self-loathing is never the path to a healthy weight. You need to love yourself so much that you are willing to treat your body with respect. Treating your body with respect is the key to getting to a healthy weight. A healthy body image will follow, don’t you worry.

It looks like the FTC has cracked down on Cytodyne for their claims about Xenadrine CarboCurb. Surprise, surprise… Those claims that their product would cause dramatic weight loss weren’t substantiated. Imagine that…

• FTC Takes Action Against Marketers of Xenadrine EFX

• FTC Warning Letter to Cytodyne LLC

More importantly, Cytodyne is currently marketing other products that are supposed to increase your energy within 30 minutes and help you burn calories. Since they have come under the scrutiny of the FTC before, don’t trust them.

Via: Consumer Health Digest, July 26, 2005

When I lost 30 pounds, I went to the DI to get some clothes that would fit me and tide me over until I lost the rest of my weight. It was a difficult day. When you shop at a thrift store, you can’t really trust the sizes listed on the clothes. Sizes change with the years, but these clothes have been sitting in peoples’ basements for ages. Plus, back then, I had no idea what size I was. I was size 24 when I started with Weight Watchers, but after losing 30 pounds, I didn’t know anymore.

I went through the jeans several times. The first time, I was drowning in the pants. The second time, half the pants fit, the others were too big. I remember holding up a pair of jeans that fit comfortably. They looked so small, like clothing for a little girl. They were size 18. I look at size 18 clothes right now and they look too big, but back then, they seemed tiny.

When I first started losing weight, I struggled to know my body. Even now, I’ll look at a cute outfit and immediately reach for the back of the rack. My size isn’t there anymore, but my mind still hasn’t learned that yet.

I stayed at a loss of 50 pounds for over two years. It took that long to learn what size I was. To be able to pick up a piece of clothing and know whether it would fit was a skill that took two years to develop. Sometimes I think that people regain the weight because they don’t allow themselves enough time to relearn their new body size. Maintaining a weight loss for over two years is what it takes. Until then, your mind isn’t reprogrammed yet.

Body image has nothing to do with the size of your body. I lived in a size 18 body, but still reached for size 24 clothes. Body image is something that you have to consciously visualize in your mind, both before and after you have lost the weight.

Just a quick link to the top search result for the words “Body Image”. This is brought to you by the Eating Disorder Referral and Information Center.

• EDReferral.com – Improving Body Image – by Judy Lightstone

It has some good recommendations for overeaters:

• Listen to your body. Eat when you are hungry.

• Be realistic about the size you are likely to be based on your genetic and environmental history.

• Exercise regularly in an enjoyable way, regardless of size.

• Expect normal weekly and monthly changes in weight and shape.

• Work towards self acceptance and self forgiveness- be gentle with yourself.

• Ask for support and encouragement from friends and family when life is stressful.

• Decide how you wish to spend your energy — pursuing the “perfect body image” or enjoying family, friends, school and, most importantly, life.

I think this advice is for anorexic and bulimics, but I found it to be good advice from the point of view of an binge eater. Check out the whole article.

Remember: The first step toward healthy weight loss is loving yourself so much that you want to keep your body healthy and strong for a long time.

PostSecret‘s beneficiary is the National Hopeline Network. It is a 24-hour hotline (1 (800) SUICIDE) for anyone who is thinking about suicide or knows someone who is considering it. As of June 26^th, over $3,000.00 has been raised.

Paige Waehner has a great article on About.com about Body Image:

• About.com – What’s Your Body Image? Are you punishing yourself for being imperfect? – by Paige Waehner

In the second half of this article, she has a fantastic list of imperatives to improve your body image:

• Stop nitpicking
• Eat
• Get real
• If you can’t say anything nice…
• Find the perfect jeans
• Exercise
• Lighten Up
• Take it with a grain of salt
• Get a life
• Get a clue

You’ll have to read her entire article to get the details. Take these imperatives to heart and you will be well on the road to loving your body so much that you want to keep it around for a long time.

We are smack dab in the middle of “Swimsuit Season.” The weather is hot and the natural instinct is to shed clothing in an effort to cool down. Being able to wear tank tops and shorts without cringing in public is not just a luxury reserved for the slender. Getting comfortable with your body now will actually help you get to your ideal weight.

This week, I’m posting entries about body image and how it can affect us.