Ooo what do you really look like?!

15^th September 2011

"It's a dangerous path I bounce, but I bounce it alone." – Tigger

YAY, I did it, I ran none stop for 25 minutes and the best part of it was, for the first time right from the minute I walked out the door I knew I would, whereas every other time I’ve ventured out I’ve doubted my ability and found it difficult.  It was still dark when I went out, the full moon was still in the sky but I had my music playing and I felt great by the time I’d finished I was singing :D 

So if there’s anything you doubt your ability – DON’T, do your best and believe in yourself, it’s amazing what you can achieve when you tell yourself YOU CAN!  It might sound silly but I feel really, really proud of myself, to a marathon runner 25 minutes might not seem a lot but to me it’s a huge mental barrier I’ve broken, running was something I didn’t believe I could do, especially with my back problems, but I’m telling myself it’s helping my aches and pains and strengthening my mind and body.

I’m also so proud of my members too, another one to goal last night, Norma achieved her gold membership proving that age is nothing but a number.  It is so great to see all these members getting to the weight they want to be.  40 members achieving goal in the last 12 weeks, I have the best job in the world, it’s wonderful watching people change their lives.

It’s a sign it’s Thursday, my brains flitting all over the place I’ve been writing this blog now for 50 minutes but messing with my emails, writing cards, and doing all sorts of stuff, so I better focus and get this wrote so I can go to work. 

I read earlier in the week that if you snack on an orange mid morning it has as much fibre in it as a bowl of cereal, and so helps control blood sugar levels and stave off hunger pangs plus it’s zero ProPoints which is a bonus, so guess what I bought yesterday. 

Last night in my meeting I was discussing a members final weight with her, she’s gorgeous as she is now, but hasn’t quite realised that yet, and the member behind her said, “When I look like you I’ll be grinning from ear to ear!”   Have you noticed we don’t see what others see, have you ever tried to size up other women and determine if they wear the same size as you? Or if their bodies look the same as you? Many of us do this subconsciously and it doesn't have to be a negative thing. This morning I discovered a new site called My Body Gallery http://www.mybodygallery.com that promotes a positive body image, I haven’t had time to really look yet. Basically you plug in your height, weight, shirt and pant size, and body type to browse ladies with similar stats. You can also upload your image into their database anonymously.

"In a world full of images of how we 'should' look it can get difficult to tell how we DO look," the site says. "Most women have spent so many years looking at themselves in mirrors that we can no longer see what's really there. The My Body Gallery project's goal is to help women objectively see what we look like and come to some acceptance that we are all beautiful."

Some other interesting stat the site presents:

* 95% of non-eating disordered women overestimate the size of their hips by 16% and their waists by 25%, yet the same women were able to correctly estimate the width of a box.
* Two out of five women and one out of five men would trade three to five years of their life to achieve their weight goals.

Wow. I quickly tried plugging in my measurements and saw a handful of women in my range. It was interesting to see how different ladies carried their weight, where they were more toned, and how they looked both in clothing and stripped down in underwear. It was equally fascinating to see some women with similar fleshy areas or hip-to-waist ratios that aren't so prevalent in the fashion world. You could also try subtracting and gaining 10 pounds to get an idea of what you might look like at different weights.

It should be obvious, but bodies come in literally every shapes and size imaginable and they're all beautiful! As My Body Gallery points out, "the world is not a place of cookie cutters." This site further proves that you should never feel alone or insecure about yours.

There you are, if you’re bored at work today, go play on the site.

Catch ya tomo xx