Body Image

Hi Fit Friends,

I made an observation yesterday and I thought I would share it with you. I was walking through JC Penny's looking for curtains when I spotted a mannequin in a bikini. Usually I would just walk on by since I will NEVER wear a bikini and haven't worn on since I was 3, but this one caught my eye. There was something different about it and I couldn't quite figure it out. I stood in the middle of the aisle and looked at it, trying to grasp why it bothered me. Then it occurred to me that it was big. It was too big. It's waist was huge. I went over to see what size bikini it was wearing. I couldn't believe it - a 6! I was so used to seeing a size 2, that the 6 really stood out. That revelation made me sad. I was sad that a 6 looked huge to me! I have thought I would LOVE to be a 6, but it looked big on the mannequin so would I really be satisfied if I were a 6? What size would satisfy me? Will I ever be satisfied?

That made me look into mannequins, their sizes and the marketing aspect of using them. Apparently, stores are starting to use "bigger" dummies to reflect the growing size of our population. I think that is a great idea since the average American woman is a size 14. Maybe if we see a realistic dummy we'll feel a little more comfortable about our own size and stop the crazy yo-yo dieting and the lousy body image some of us have.

While I was looking into mannequins I checked on the average size American man. Do you know that I couldn't find "his" size?! I could find his weight and how much he earned, but not his size.

Let's stop comparing ourselves to the mannequins and to each other. Let's focus on eating healthy, exercising, and having a good body image. I want to get to the point where I don't care if I'm a 6 or a 2 or a 12, as long as I'm healthy and active, how about you?