Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Is your body inspiration realistic?


It seems that for as long as I can remember I’ve always wanted someone else’s body. Janet Jackson’s, Beyonce’s, Toni Braxton’s, Mary J Blige, Tyra Banks, the list goes on and on. I’ve taken dangerous diet pills, engaged in obsessive amounts of cardio and there were times that I actually convinced myself that I could go days without eating if only I let my mind win over my hunger. Pure crazy and ridiculous stuff because I was under the misconception that a thinner body would give me the ‘hot celebrity body of the moment’. I never considered the fact that my genetic make up would never allow me to look like any of these people; all that mattered is that I wanted what they had and then life would be splendid. HA! Fat chance (no pun intended). During those times, the thought never crossed my mind that maybe I should simply try to be healthy as opposed to trying to be someone else. Sure I lost weight doing some of that ridiculous nonsense but you better believe it always came back with a vengeance each and every time. I had no concept of “healthy”; all I was concerned with was not being fat. Being Janet Jackson, being Mary J.

I remember those times and I honestly feel that my obsessing over having someone else’s body kept me unhealthy for far too long. I’m not quite sure when the light bulb went off in my head that my body was good enough, all I needed to do was treat it with kindness and respect. It’s okay to see someone and admire their physique and such but if you have an athletic build you will never be Beyonce who is super curvy. But does that mean that you still can’t have a hot body? Of course not, it’ll just be your kinda hot. Don’t give up on yourself because in all your best efforts you still don’t look like Halle. You never will. If you have a picture of yourself when you were fitter or more trim use that as your motivation. Become obsessed with getting yourself back rather then becoming someone else.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

yeah i think it's authentic!

Will Cooper said...

I'm not black. And I'm not a woman. But I am a believer in fitness...good on you for blogging this topic! Hope to cross your path in the blogosphere down the road.

Fitness Goddess said...

Thanks for stopping by Will and MotorCycle Fairings.


Will,

I will be sure to check out your blog as well.

Anonymous said...

Awesome post. I think we all need to set our goals and standards according to ourselves and our lifestyles. We're all different. We all have different genes. Someone else's regimen may not work for us.Instead of looking up to celebs we need to just look at ourselves and say ok. I want to be this way but, not according to the way someone else looks.

Anonymous said...

@motorcycle fairings nope i disagree with you

Unknown said...

I've NEVER wanted a celebrity body...just my old body back...cause I had a body bad enough for a friend to tell me years later that I was a "9.99999"! Another guy told me I had one of the most beautiful bodies he had ever seen...I don't wish for celebrity bodies I wish for the one my own genes gave me! lol Working on it! But I'm lucky that way to have something so inspirational to get back to cause I have seen women in the gym that I'd rather be fat than be them cause even fat I have shape...they have like 10% body fat and still no curve...no "lady lumps"...smh Not for me at all!

SoNaturelle by Milan said...

I love your post! You are absolute correct, there are a lot of women who have a very unhealthy image of their body. A beautiful body is a healthy body! Not everyone is a size 4 or 6 but you CAN be a healthy size 8 or size 12. Our body composition is completely unique. Cheers to you!