I'll probably be crucified for this

I belong to this website called Pinterest. Have you heard of it? You can request an invite, but for the most part you can join when someone you know invites you to do so.

It's pretty much a cyber pin-board. You can have as many pin-boards as you want and name them what ever you want. Then you "pin" links to websites, which include pictures, to the appropriate boards. You can pin from places online, or you can just skim through Pinterest itself and re-pin what you find you like.

For example, I have a board for recipes. On it are pictures of the food and a forever link that will take me to the recipe. I also have another for the house and things that would be good to purchase, make, or change for our home. You get the picture. It can be very addicting.

I also have a fitness board where I like to pin good ideas for getting into better shape. I am by no means a "fit" person. I am overweight, and I know it. I know I need to be healthier. I would like to lose some weight, but here is where I suppose I'm a loner.

In cruising through Pinterest, a LOT of women have posted pics of young women with VERY athletic bodies, with comments under them such as: "Inspiration" or "Motivation"

Ex.

And there are slew of new ones every day. And my first thought was, "How sad." Do you know how much work goes into to looking like this? How much time is involved?


Don't get me wrong, it's good to have goals. It's good to want to be healthier! But the two pics I posted are nothing. Some of the pics are of down right anorexic girls with hipbones showing.

Most of the "motivational" pictures are of women with the tiniest waists. *face palm*



There is even a picture of celebrity in a bikini followed by the following advice:
1. Drink one glass of water every hour. It will make you feel full. 2. Drink ice cold water. Your body will burn calories just getting the water to a normal temperature to digest. Also it is great for your complexion. 3. Drink 3 cups of green tea daily. It will help boost your metabolism, plus its anti-oxidants make your skin look great. 4. Take vitamins daily. Do not take vitamins on an empty stomache, otherwise they have nothing to catalyze with. 5. Eat ice or gum when hungry. This will make your body think it had food without the calories. 6. Do aerobics until you want to faint. 7. Eat spicy foods. They raise your metabolism. 8. Take cold showers because your body will burn calories to heat you back up. 9. DON’T take laxatives. They don’t help you to lose weight. 10. DON’T use diruretics. They only dehydrate you. 11. Brush your teeth constantly so you won’t be tempted to eat afterwards. 12. Weat a rubberband around your wrist. Snap it when you want to eat. 13. Clean something gross (toilet, litter box, boyfriend’s closet) when you want to eat. You will not want to eat after cleaning a litter box. 14. Keep your hair in good condition so no one will suspect anything. 15. Get a job so you’ll have to work through meal times. 16. Exercise twice the amount of calories eaten. 17. Use smaller plates and utensils so it seems like you ate more. 18. Chew eat bite of food thoroughly and then take a sip of water between bites. You will feel full quicker and will not eat as much. 19. Say you are going to eat at a friend’s house and instead go for a walk. You will be burning calories instead of taking them in. 20. Buy clothes that you can’t fit into and hang them wear you can see them. This will motivate you to lose weight to fit into them. 21. Sleep at least six hours a day. If you get less than six this can lower your metabolism by 15%. 22. If you start to feel hungry do situps or punch yourself in the stomach. You will not feel hungry anymore. 23. Pamper yourself! Give yourself a facial, paint your nails, anything to make you feel pretty. 24. Make yourself a snack, but instead of eating it throw it away. Leave the dirty dishes where your parents can find them. They will think you ate. 25. Prepare a list of excuses as to why you can’t eat - You’re sick, you’re a vegetarian, allergic, etc. You’d be amazed at how many good excuses there are. 26. Get out of your house! If you’re not sitting around then people can’t start shit with you about not eating. 27. Join a pro-ana group or start your own website. Anything that will keep you motivated. 28. Make an ANA scrapbook with pics of skinny models. Right down all the reasons you want to lose weight. Keep track of everything you eat. Look at it daily for thinsperation. 29. Keep good posture, burns 10% more calories when you sit up straight. 30. Instead of food, buy something else, a new shirt, flowers, jewelrey etc. 31. Make a list of all the “bad” foods that you crave and tend to binge on. Each day, pick one to take out of your diet that you absolutely, no matter what, cannot eat again. Take one off the list each day until there are no more bad foods you can have. 32. Avoid alcohol! A shot of liquor has 100-120 calories, a glass of wine has 80 calories, a lite beer has 110-120 calories, and a regular beer has 140-170 calories. 33. Never eat anything bigger than about a cup, your stomach will expand and then you’ll get hungry more. 34. Eat in front of a mirror naked. See how much you can eat then! 35. The smell of coffee is suppose to supress appetite. 36. Wear perfectly applied lip gloss. It makes you more aware of what’s going in your mouth. Also, flavored ones help with cravings. 37. Have 6 small meals a day. Take 2 apples, and split them so you can make 6 meals out of them. That way your body will be tricked into thinking it’s eating more. 38. Low calorie hot chocolate curbs chocolate cravings, and makes you feel full. 39. Take anti-heartburn pills if you’re really hungry. They nuetralize the acid that builds and makes you hungry. 40. Take a picture of yourself wearing a bathing suit or something equally revealing, look at it when you want to eat. 41. It takes 20 minutes for the brain to realize the stomach is full. 42. When you get hunger pains curl into a ball, it makes them go away. 43. If you’re a smoker and hungry, light up a cigarette. It curbs your appetite. 44. Eat lots of fiber. It makes you feel full and takes fat with it out of your body. The natural cleansing helps improve both your energy level and overall feeling of wellness. 45. Before you dig into that cake, bag of chips, candy, or whatever, take a deep breath and count to 100. Usually by the time you get to 100 you will have coninced yourself that you don’t really want it. 46. When you’re hungry chug 2 glasses (or how many you need) of straight water. It’ll make you so full and nauseous you will have completely lost your appetite. 47. Celery actually burns calories. Every hour eat a stalk of it. Not only will it fill you up, but it will also get your metabolism kickin’. 48. Weigh yourslef before and after every time you eat. Not only will it eliminate unnecessary eating, but it will make you want to eat less when you see the numbers creep up. 49. Read the nutritional information. Remember, fat-free does not mean calorie-free. Also keep an eye on fiber content. Get as much fiber into your diet as you can, while cutting fat and calories. 50. Don’t eat a lot at once. Spread your food throughout the day. This will help to avoid binging and keep your metabolism going. 51. If you like to drink alcohol, you’ll like this. Make a rule: You can only drink every time you lose 2lbs. So, if you lose 4lbs a week, you can drink Friday and Saturday night. However, if you only lose 2lbs a week, you only get to drink one night. 52. Do not eat in front of the computer or TV. This distracts you from recognizing you’re full. 53. Save the money you would have spent on that meal in a jar. Save it in a bottle instead and watch it grow. 54. Stay away from Slim-fast and other so-called “healthy” candy bars and shakes… one look at the nutition facts will tell you why. With all the carbs and excess calories you may as well go eat a freakin pie or something. Not to mention the rediculous prices… save yourself the money, and the calories. 55. Instead of buying food, buy yourself flowers. Food is depressing, but flowers make you happy. 56. When having cravings drink a couple glasses of water with slices of lemons and count to 100 and it should go away. 57. Eating 100 cals 4 times a day is better than eating a 400 cal meal. 58. An occasional binge doesn’t hurt, in fact it’s quite beneficial if you have reached a plateau (stopped losing weight). Your body will think you have stopped starving yourself, and you will drop at least a pound overnight! Just don’t binge too regularly! 59. Someone told me that if you take a pure cold bath for 15-30 min and lower your body temp, your body burns around 200 cals for every degree it has to raise itself to reach a normal body temperture. This person tried it, a 30 min bath lowered their temp about 3-4 degrees *keeping this for reference when my girls are teenagers.

So many disturbing things in there. But #27 suggesting to join a pro-ana site. WOW. Really?

If this what women are judging themselves by it's no wonder we have poor self-esteems and some of us are joining pro-ana sites. Geesh! When did "this" become our image of beauty? What ever happened to curves?

I'm all for people being healthy, but if this what they aspire to be, I feel bad for them. They are each looking for "perfection". That's a tall order to fill.

Not me! I want healthy, not perfect. I want some of curves. I don't want to be size 2. That's right, you heard me!

I only get the chance to live this life ONCE! That's it. I don't want to miss out on it because I am spending most of my free time trying to achieve a certain "look". You know? I want to spend my evenings with my kids, not out every night trying to obtain the world's definition of beauty.

And more over, I don't want my three daughters to grow up thinking that these images are the ONLY standard of beauty. I want them to know that healthy is beautiful, no matter what package it comes in. I want my kids to strive to be smart. I want them to strive to make a difference in the world, to be kind to others. I do NOT want them consumed by the fact they have to look like the images above. Or if they don't that they are not beautiful people. Because they ARE!

Am I watching what I eat more? Yes. I am trying to do a few exercises during my youngest daughter's nap time. But it's not to achieve the looks above. It's to be healthier and to get down to a healthier weight for me. I have already lost almost 15 lbs! To put this in perspective, my goal is to be a size 12 people, 12!!! Not a 2.

I want to enjoy wine. I want to enjoy cake on birthdays. I want to enjoy pasta. I want to spend time with my loved ones instead of worrying if I have time to make it the gym or out running EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. I want to enjoy this short life I am given. I do not want to squander it on my self image. There are more important things. Like family, memories to made, friends, ect. Do I want to be healthier? yes. But not perfect. I want my kids to know that perfection is NOT required to be loved.