Negative Body Images: Road Blocks To Weight Loss

What is stopping you from losing weight?

Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall….who is the most unfit of them all?   Do you have a negative body image?  Do you ignore your figure in the mirror and say to yourself I really dislike what I see but do nothing about it? Are there parts of your body you wish you could change but you put off making a plan because “there’s nothing I can do.”   Well quit hiding, put down your list of reasons why you can’t lose weight, and do something about it.
 
Most American women don’t like the way they look. Recent surveys suggest that anywhere from 55 percent to an alarming 90 percent of women indicate some level of distaste for their physical appearance, regardless of whether they are objectively overweight (or underweight, for that matter). How could this be? The primary reason is that we’ve been trained by the media to hold women’s shapes to an unrealistic standard of beauty, despite the fact that only a tiny fraction of us can ever hope to look like supermodels. Among those who are seriously overweight, body image is an even bigger problem because our society tends to view obesity with disgust or we are trained in the African American community that thickness=beauty, not realizing that sometimes being thick is obesity with a pretty name and package.

Studies also indicate the following issuse are common themes Black women face regarding weight:  dissatisfaction with current weight; family and social pressure to be self-accepting; and social and physical barriers to weight loss; and a strong cultural pressure to be self-accepting of physical shape, to “be happy with what God gave you,” and to make the most of their appearance. 

To make healthy decisions, we must value ourselves. We must view ourselves as being worth the time and effort to eat right and exercise.  Lack of self-care leads to sabotaging behavior that makes everything worse. Nurturing yourself is crucial for ending this nasty cycle of self-defeat. You need to work on being your own best friend instead of your own worst enemy.
A common theme noted by Black women was they lacked the necessary social support and resources to lose weight.

I really want to help out and encourage us all to be healthy.  So readers here are some questions:

PLEASE answer these questions and you can respond anonymously.  I really want to find ways to encourage healthy living.  Plus, your New Years Resolutions are a few months away.  I want to help you with that weight loss resolution you know you are going to make. 

1. Do you have a negative body image?  Is there some part of your body you wish you could change? 

2. Do you feel black women have negative body images overall?

3.  Do you feel media/male opinion influences your weight loss/size?

4.  Do you feel like you want to lose weight but do not have the appropriate social support to do so?

5.  If your friends, family, and significant others were more supportive would it be easier to lose weight and change your body image?

6.  Do you feel pressure from the community to stay a certain size, or reach a certain weight?

7. Have you tried to lose weight so many times that you feel helpless and can’t get to the size or body image you desire.
 

Let us know why you feel weight is always an issue!

 
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