{as always, if an image is from weheartit.com, click the image}
this lovely little Cow image was found on weheartit.com
it often occurs to me that we as humans are obsessive compulsive on so many levels in our life, but few will openly admit it. One that stands out firm in my mind - our body image. Many of us strive to be a tall thin model looking women... and the men strive to be tall, dark and brooding (muscles) just like the celebrities we see in movies and magazines. We each walk around and view each other as a "size" and look first at appearance before we consider speaking to each other. We size up ourselves standing next to people around us - maybe we think we are too large in certain areas, maybe we think we are too small in other areas. When standing next to an attractive man, we are more aware of the way that we are standing - we are also more aware of how we look and feel about ourselves. Because chances are - that man has already sized you up and thought of you as either "attractive" or "not attractive" because of your shape, size, and looks.
Typically we go about our daily lives and give little to no thought about our weight, size, or shape... but from time to time we are made aware of who we are in our bodies. It can either make us feel really good - by standing next to someone larger than us OR it can make us feel really bad - by standing next to someone smaller than us. or perhaps visa-versa if you are ashamed of other features you have that are small and wish they were large (you know what i mean).
Currently it is that time of year when summer is quickly approaching and we are all starting to pull our our shorts, our tank tops, and our tiny tees - and putting away the bulky sweaters and sweatshirts that hid the parts we did not like about ourselves. We realize that over the winter we didn't take the opportunity to drop any weight or work out as much as we kept telling ourselves that we would do the summer before. We either have the choice of sucking it up and being who we are and being OK with it - or going on a crash diet to lose some weight before summer. Recently hubby has taken it upon himself to become more serious about losing some weight. He has put on about 20 pounds this last year and it has not occurred to him that the year before it was 12 pounds and the year before that it was 8 pounds and so on. He is wondering what it will be by next year if he doesn't put a stop to it.
i have been fully supportive of his choice to get healthier by losing some weight - but he is going overboard and eating way less than he should. He is getting zero exercise and just losing weight by "crash dieting". As a forever recovering anorexic - i know just how dangerous having too little calories can be to the human body! I keep telling him "eat a healthy snack" and i keep begging him to stop working from 8am to 1am and say almost daily, "let's go for a walk!" but he is set in his ways and sees results - so he thinks this is working and going to keep working for him.
Today i am asking - "do you think that one cow would call another cow fat?" is that what all that "mooooing" is about? i think not! Most animal species are not so specific about the appearance of size with those who they hang around, call friend, or even decide to mate with. There are some species that seek out the smartest, the most cunning, the fastest runner, etc. But the size doesn't really matter when it comes to who the animal is in it's group/society. A lot of times in nature - the bigger, the better. i keep telling hubby - just get healthy, worry LESS about the size of your waist, the size or your pants, etc. But i do not think he is listening to me anymore - he seems to be eating less and less each day that he sees a change in the number on the scale, and it is making him more and more cranky! (another sign of under-eating! not to mention he is getting more headaches)
i too am less than excited myself about summer and having to put on tighter clothes and skirts/shorts - but mostly because i feel naked without my favorite pair of jeans or my favorite sweatshirt! it is not so much that i care about what my body shape will look like to OTHER people - although i do care somewhat about that.
