:( Body image

I've just been feeling crappy about my body lately. Rather...what people have been saying about it. On another forum (a girls' forum) there was a slew of posts about prom dresses where girls would post a picture of their body, state their measurements, and other girls would help them find a suitable prom dress.

I've always loved my body, but people ALWAYS tell me I look so much heavier than I am.

I'm 5'0 tall and 98 lbs. I've got full 32C's, a 23 inch waist, and 34 inch hips. I'm a lot curvier than other people my size, and I love my curves, but I HATE when people tell me I look fat. It bothers me so much.

Good thing I have enough security to stop myself from being anorexic or something, because honestly those comments could REALLY start to get to a person.

I'll post some pictures.

http://i28.tinypic.com/2vwzer8.jpg
http://i25.tinypic.com/334hr88.jpg
http://i30.tinypic.com/16i9yts.jpg

 

Um yeah...you are not even a LITTLE bit fat. In fact, you are hot. Anyone who's telling you that you look fat must be either jealous, or blind.

 

um if you are heavy then i need my own zip code.

 

Yeah, you have a great body. if anyone is telling you you're fat, they're lying.

Do you mind me asking how old you are?

 

I'm 17.

People don't call me FAT (no one ever has), but they just think I'm way heavier than I am, because I have breasts and a butt. People tell me I'm lying about my weight, and that I'm AT LEAST 110.

 

shit woman, you have practically a perfect body shape (imho). i just like a bit more hip on a chick, but wahtever thats just personal taste. your gorgeous woman, the others are just jealous

 

Look fat? What are they insane?

Sounds to me that they're just jealous.

P.s. I'd hit it.

 

You're fine. Very cute. A little T and A never hurt anyone, believe me! So many women with nothing whatsoever to worry about worry about these things. There are girls heavier than you by far who are totally cute, too.

 

i second this
i must need my own center of gravity

 

you're not fat at all, you have a perfect body, im jealous! man, america must be crazy

 

It is crazy! Certainly in this regard. All colors, shapes, and sizes of gorgeous women and it seems that most of them are insecure. I have come to think that maybe this child was simply fishing for compliments. She has the bait for it. :^)

 

God, Narco, a lot of women would kill their own mothers to have a body like yours. You look amazing.

It's amazing how comfortable a lot of people feel commenting on a woman's body. I get comments like "Wow, you have no ass" - people don't think it's an insult, because they're not calling me fat. But why are you talking about my ass at all? When did the public forum on my body start?

And don't even get me started on "Too bad about your boobs."

So Lust - that's why even women with great bodies can end up insecure about them. Because we're told amazingly often what's wrong with them.

But if she is just fishing for compliments...so what? Nothing wrong with that. I like compliments too.

 

"But if she is just fishing for compliments...so what? Nothing wrong with that. I like compliments too."

Oh I know! Notice how I followed that statement, with another compliment!

There is so much focus on evaluating people's physical attributes, especially with women of course. I don't think I'm a terribly good looking guy but I basically like who I am. I will have women act like I'm not attractive and will on occasion be astonished to have some very attractive women like me. I admit that my mood can go up and down accordingly, but so much of it is subjective either way. I think people should be more polite in general. I hate this kind of Jerry Springer voyeuristic mindset; where everything is everybody's business.

 

I'm not fishing for compliments. I don't dislike my body or think I'm unattractive. I'm not saying I'm fat or anything.

It just drives me crazy that people constantly tell me I'm lying about my weight and that there is no way I can weigh 98 pounds. Maybe it's because they don't realize how short 5'0 and that 98 is a normal weight for that height. When you see a number in the double digits, you think that person is super skinny, but maybe they just don't take my height into account?

Ugh. I'm sick of it. I like my body the way it is and I don't want to change it (maybe get it back to its previous fitness level. Damn I was hot) but when people tell me I look heavier, it makes me feel heavy, even though I'm fully aware that I'm not.

 

Hi, Narcolepsy. I can see what you're saying about the height/weight thing. Most people are kind of stupid really. :^)

Hopefully you can see that my thinking you were fishing for compliments is because any notion of your having issues with your body seems ridiculous. We are way too obsessed with this kind of thing; evaluating someone in terms of statistics and numbers, such as weight and measurements; the sum of our parts rather than how it all comes together in the individual. And for that matter even being so obsessive about the physical at all. I used to be annorexic. It happens to guys, too.

 

I'm 5'3, I've got a 24" waist, 31" hips and A cup boobs and all i ever get is 'slight'. That's annoying too...

 

Slighted! The whole measurement thing. Stats. This obsession is dehumanizing. I agree with Sir Mix A Lot rather than Cosmo. Does that not seem a bit of a paradox? A rapper making a statement which, in this context, might be seen as more feminist than the general skeletore beauty standard of a "women's magazine?" Many types of women are beautiful. Too skinny. Too curvaceous, too voluptuous, too beautiful? LOL!

 

Don't worry about people thinking you weigh more than you do- they're aren't that far off, it's not like they think you weigh 130 or anything. I have the opposite happen, people think that I weigh like 115 or less when I actually weigh 130ish. Doesn't bother me too much, except when girls are like "I could never fit in your jeans! You are SO tiny!" Then I'm ask what size they wear and normally it's around 5 or so- that's when I tell them I wear a 9. Yeah, that might be somewhat flattering to many, but when you have been told you look like "a Holocaust victim," it's really not. I guess I want people to see that I have a normal weight, a healthy weight. Plus, it gets old when girls smaller than me say shit like they need to lose 10 pounds- I want to say "I've been there, done that- being underweight ain't as good as it seems."

Your body is unique, don't let others influence how you see yourself! Think about how much other people influence your body image. When my fiance was younger, he told someone that they were getting shorter- just casually mentioning it every once and a while, nothing over the top. Within a few weeks, that person was asking everyone if they looked shorter and became convinced it was happening. The power of suggestion is powerful, perhaps see how your body image is influenced by others.

Peace and love

 

I get what you're saying, LustandLove, but even if we're okay with our bodies, it still hurts to receive negative comments. I wish those girls would tell me what kind of dress to get instead of comment on my size and shape. I know weight is just a number and a toned, thin person can be a lot heavier than one may think, and vise versa. (Muscle is denser than fat.)

Plus it just got to me because I used to exercise for an hour every day, and I have no time for anything now, so I lament the way my body used to be. I haven't gained much weight, but my abs and legs went from toned and muscular to flabby. It makes me more vulnerable to comments.

If I was still in the heyday of my attractive phase, I would probably brush those comments off in a second.