Vice Busting Diet Plan and Negative Body Image

I like this take of how women can get that distorted view after eating one cookie, or taking two bites of that chocolate cake. How many times have you heard yourself say, "I feel fat" after just one bite or one scoop of whatever? Is this to keep emotions in check, sort of an internal promise of that means I'm going to really try harder tomorrow to get in shape? Or maybe it actually programs our body to grow a size even if it's only 75 calories that we've just consumed! Wow, that can't be fair!

This is one reason that in the Vice Busting Diet Plan there is an exercise called 'Ten Adjectives' where you're asked to write 10 descriptive words about yourself without giving it too much thought. Well, to give away the ending a bit, what words we use to describe our bodies is not describing WHO we are. Maybe a WHAT such as a human, with arms, legs, some adipose tissue, eyes, etc., but not a WHO. Read this story from CNN as posted on Oprah.com.

One portion of macaroni and cheese. One slice of chocolate cake. One pair of svelte black pants. Do some very simple, if highly emotional, addition and subtraction, and you arrive at a whole new way to see yourself. The first documented instance of my distorted body image is an entry in my fourth-grade journal. "I just ate three cookies," it says. "I feel fat."

There is no way that I actually was; my jeans, although dorky, fit just fine. Nevertheless, the disconnect grew worse as puberty approached -- especially in eighth grade, when the body mass index (BMI) entered my life. This is a formula that tells you whether you need to drop pounds -- and while it's generally reliable, it doesn't take body composition into account.

At 5'4" and 140 pounds, I'm close to the overweight category, but that's only because I've got heavy bones and a sprinters thighs. Every time I calculate my BMI, I get angry at myself, even though I'm aware that I am in good shape.

But what do feelings have to do with numbers? Most women know that it is possible to immediately gain 15 pounds by eating one pint of Ben & Jerry's. And when it comes to your butt (which can enlarge six sizes in the wrong pair of jeans), the rules of physics no longer apply. Read more...

Bottom line: Be careful what you think of yourself. Make it positive. After all, you are the one who's giving YOU the most feedback, and if you make it positive you'll be a positive, productive, happy, enthusiastic, creative, passionate soul!