Mirror, Mirror on the Wall…

…who’s the fattest one of all?

If Barbie was life-sized, her measurements would be 39-23-33 (in 2004 the average woman in the USA measured 40-34-43). According to studies done by both Yale and Duke Universities, in order for Barbie's measurements to be "normal" she would have to be at least 7 feet, 4 inches tall.)

When I was obese, I used to obsessively compare myself to others in a room.  I mean, my judgement was obviously off since I didn’t even realize that my weight had gotten so out of control!  At first, I would constantly ask my husband to find someone else in the room whose figure compared to mine.  He did not like that request (and he never did comply).  Each time I would find someone who I thought “looked like me”, he would insist that I was skinnier than that…  Oh, he’s a good man.

Once I got back into a healthy weight range (and I felt so much better about myself overall), I stopped comparing myself to others.  We all compare, though, right?  It’s easy enough to compare to the models on television and in magazines.  It’s not a fair comparison, but it’s natural to do.  I was worried that as my waist line decreased, I would try to compare myself to those whose bodies I would never realistically equal (I never aimed to be a size 4, for example, but I worried that I would start to want that once I reached the single digits in general).

The point is, once I regained a healthy focus, my body image issues diminished.  Do I still have a “mommy pouch”?  Sure!  It’s my badge of honor!  Do I still have flabby arms?  You bet!  I have body fat, but I’m healthy.  More important than my healthy body is my healthy mind!