January/February weight management challenge

[GLC1968]

Wow. She is amazing. I wish I could remember the magazine that did the swimsuit or underwear shots of the different athletes - all totally different sports and some of those women didn't look rail thin or even traditionally "fit". But they were all strong.

My body fat ranges in the mid to high 20% range, according to triple site caliper testing, but I am riding better than I suspect I would have in my almost anorexic grad school years.

The original photos are kind of hard to find, but here is a blog post where they included all the images. I believe the original spread was to celebrate the diversity of olympic caliber bodies... (and it made me think that I probably should have considered weight lifting since Tara Nott and I have an awful lot in common).

http://ninamatsumoto.wordpress.com/2...e-for-artists/

As someone who has struggled with body image her whole life, I can relate to the need to see more than just one type of image in the media. But I will say that looking at the body of a super model is not much different than looking at the image of an olympic athlete from a young girl's perspective. Both could be classified as 'unattainable'. I was more influenced by the bodies of the women in my life than I was by the media. Though, I will say that the 1980 olympics made me fall in love with watching sports. Mary Lou Retton kind of changed my life, as corny as that sounds. She made me realize that I should appreciate my body more for what it could do and less for what it looked like. I started wearing shorts and short skirts a lot more after seeing her because I felt like my big, muscular legs looked better when you could see the muscles than they did when covered with pants. Thank heaven for leaving the 70's behind. Flat straight hair and flat straight bodies were not attainable for this teen - bring on the 80's!!

[SadieKate]

Mary Lou Retton kind of changed my life, as corny as that sounds. She made me realize that I should appreciate my body more for what it could do and less for what it looked like.

Right on! We've come a long way, baby!

Twiggy was not good a role model.

[GLC1968]

Here is a good post by Krista Scott-Dixon about embracing your body for what it is... (including those same olympic athletes photos):

http://www.stumptuous.com/why-dont-y...-fitness-model

[SadieKate]

Great article! My 2 takeaways:


Low bodyfat. By and large, fitness models are photographed only when they are in “contest shape”, which means that they have dieted down to a low bodyfat for a short period of time. In the “offseason”, most carry a higher bodyfat level because extremely low bodyfat levels are physiologically unmanageable. Many fitness shows hosted by models are filmed only a few weeks out of the year for this reason. And by the way, dieting down to 10-12% bodyfat is much, much less exciting than you would think. You do not feel sexy and attractive. You feel hungry. All you can think about is how crappy you feel, how hard it is to concentrate on anything, and how you would kill your own momma for a bag of Cheetos.

Frankly, I’m sick of other people telling me what I should look like.

Thanks, GLC!

[GLC1968]

Oh, and in all the excitement...I forgot to post my weight! I'm up to 147.1. Three splurge meals in one weekend will do that to a person. I'm OK with it since my plan is to hold pattern until the 22nd when I will start actively trying to lose again. I don't think I'm *really* up two pounds, either...

[Susan Otcenas]

"Don’t try to look like someone else. Try to look like yourself, only fitter. If you have big muscular legs, use them to squat with. If you have narrow hips, take up running. If you have wide shoulders and big hands and feet, enjoy beating the hell out of everyone else at swimming."

This is my favorite quote from the article GLC posted. Good reminder for all of us to celebrate what we have.

[tealtreak]

"Don’t try to look like someone else. Try to look like yourself, only fitter. If you have big muscular legs, use them to squat with. If you have narrow hips, take up running. If you have wide shoulders and big hands and feet, enjoy beating the hell out of everyone else at swimming."

This is my favorite quote from the article GLC posted. Good reminder for all of us to celebrate what we have.

Amen to that and not to sound preachy...........but how about celebrate being free of ALS, Cancer, or even yeah! I was born with all my limbs and my eyesight...........

[salsabike]

Here is a good post by Krista Scott-Dixon about embracing your body for what it is... (including those same olympic athletes photos):

http://www.stumptuous.com/why-dont-y...-fitness-model

Wow, check out Lynne Cox! Formidable swims.

[salsabike]

The original photos are kind of hard to find, but here is a blog post where they included all the images. I believe the original spread was to celebrate the diversity of olympic caliber bodies... (and it made me think that I probably should have considered weight lifting since Tara Nott and I have an awful lot in common).

http://ninamatsumoto.wordpress.com/2...e-for-artists/

Those photos are wonderful! Together, they really make a thing of beauty, don't they? Thanks for posting that link.