Fat Bride: Who Cares?

Today I was reading some posts by various bloggers about weight gain. I have to say that right now, this minute, I don't give a crap what I weigh. I am so much more relaxed than I used to be while dieting. Dieting really does make people crazy. One of my friends is naturally thin, but recently went on (and off) a diet. She had never dieted before and was amazed how obsessed she became with food. We were talking about how food is all a dieter thinks about. She said she felt cranky and hungry all the time. Both of us agreed we'd rather be fat and happy than thin and grumpy.

My wedding day is fast approaching (37 days left) and I still haven't found a dress! I have been my usual obsessive self, buying and returning several dresses so far. I am freaking out about having everyone stare at me on my big day. My mom keeps assuring me that no one ever speaks poorly about the bride at her wedding, but I am still nervous. My fiance is very fit and I don't want everyone to look at me and think he could have done better. I'm having major anxiety about this. I have always been hyper aware of everyone's opinion of me. In some instances, this has served me well (i.e. job interviews). In others (i.e. wedding day) it is pretty cumbersome.

So, if I'm okay with my weight then why do I care if other people will be okay with it? Maybe I'm not really okay with it, but I feel like I am.

Pink Gets Intervention From Concerned Friends

Pink, Alecia Moore, lovingly refers to her obliques as "tranny abs" in a recent edition of Allure magazine. There is a one page layout consisting of "10 Lessons" we can learn from Pink on how to be as fit as her. I'm not sure why this article hasn't gotten more publicity because it contains some alarming quotes from Pink. Allure sets up the "10 Lessons" by stating that Pink "jogs for an hour and does another hour of yoga each day."

Lesson #1: A Little Obsession Doesn't Hurt
"I'm very dedicated to staying in shape when I'm on tour. In fact, last year my crew staged an intervention to try to get me to stop going to the gym so much." It's possible she is being sarcastic, but the context this quote is presented in the article implies that she is serious. The title of Lesson #1 plays into the idea that it is normal and healthy to be obsessed with how you look. It may be prevalent, but that doesn't make it healthy. Allure should know better, especially since they talk about Hilary Duff's diet obsession in the same issue.

Lesson #6: Accept Your Personal Quirks
"It would be nice to stretch myself a few inches...I wish I looked more feminine...I wish my legs weren't so muscular...there's nothing more beautiful than that feminine, curvy shape with the pouch in the middle. But that's not how I am." Actually Pink, that is how you are. Or at least how you would be if you didn't exercise so much you had a fitness intervention. Why does Allure think it is okay to call this lesson "Accept Your Personal Quirks" when the quotes following it are anything but? Allure should have called this lesson, 'Pick Apart Your Body'.

Lesson #7: Make (and Break) Your Own Rules
"Mostly I eat lots of greens, tofu, and fish...I allow myself one piece of cheese with one cracker a day...You do have to cheat now and then." I hardly call that cheating. Even the use of the word cheating indicates that she is constantly restricting food. Once again, Allure tries to make Pink seem healthy by saying she is not super anal about following rules. But, she is.

This article is just another example of magazines playing to our insecurities. Buyer beware.

Hilary Duff Bounces Back From Crash Diet

In the May edition of Allure, Hilary Duff admits that she was "obsessed" with everything she ate a couple years ago. Some of you may recall her complete transformation from bubbly, blond Nickelodeon star to a skinnier, sexier brunette. I'm not saying she was sexier because she was skinny, but she was trying to promote a new image by wearing...ahem...less clothing.

The Allure interview gives Hilary a great platform to talk about body image. Unfortunately, she doesn't use it very well. Like Jessica Alba , she claims that she wasn't "sick", i.e. had an eating disorder. But, she did say that her dieting got out of hand and she had a negative body image due to tabloids calling her chubby.

It does seem as though Hilary is at a healthier weight, but it's clear that she doesn't think she had a problem. Wake up, Hilary! If you are "obsessed" with what you eat, lose massive amounts of weight, and think you look like crap then you definitely have a problem. Just think of all the girls she could help if she said dieting was no good. If she pointed out that she did have a problem, then girls would think dieting is not normal. Instead, she is relaying the message that having disordered eating patterns doesn't mean you are "sick".

Will Carla Bruni Be Arrested?

"Never will we accept in our profession that a judge decides if a young girl is skinny or not skinny. That doesn't exist in the world, and it will certainly not exist in France," declares Didier Grumbach, president of the French Federation of Couture. Grumbach is hotly contesting French parliament's decision to fine and/or imprison those who incite excessive thinness.

I'm not sure why, but his quote sounds especially sinister. I can imagine him meeting with other top fashion execs, Zoolander-style. They will sit around a stainless steel conference table and allow themselves 3 frozen grapes a piece while they discuss the fate of the female form.

This bill is reminiscent of Spain's 2007 decision to ban models with a BMI of less than 18. Fashion designers who held runway shows in Spain were furious when they did this. They claimed that this was reverse prejudice on skinny models. Seriously? Nobody is being prejudiced against models who are thin, just against those that are dying.

I think it's a little ironic that France might adopt a law that may have put the president's wife, Carla Bruni, out of work. Everyone knows she was a famous model during the 80's and 90's, but they may have forgotten how excessively thin she was.

Didier Grumbach Is A Silver Fox

"Never will we accept in our profession that a judge decides if a young girl is skinny or not skinny. That doesn't exist in the world, and it will certainly not exist in France," announces Didier Gumbach, president of the French Federation of Couture.

What do you think of that NotDieting peeps?

Brideorexia

I found an interesting article from Newsweek on BuzzFeed.com about Brideorexia.

Researcher Lori Neighbors, an assistant professor of nutrition at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, recently took a more scientific look at the relationship between looming nuptials and weight loss. In a study recently published in the journal Appetite, Neighbors followed the dieting patterns of 272 engaged women who were, on average, six months away from their wedding day. She and her co-author, Jeffrey Sobal, professor of nutrition at Cornell, found that 70 percent of them were trying to lose more than 20 pounds and another 20 percent were closely tracking their weight to ensure that they didn't gain anything. "People take their bodies on as projects, and one of the times you want that project to be the most successful is on your wedding day," says Sobal. The study found that most engaged women choose healthy ways to achieve their goals: they cut the junk from their diet and increase their exercise levels. But the researchers were distressed that more than 20 percent of the women they studied used methods they characterized as "extreme," including skipping meals, going on liquid diets, fasting, or taking laxatives or unprescribed diet pills and supplements. A small percentage even started smoking as a weight-loss strategy, while others began vomiting after meals. "With the current high prevalence of anorexia nervosa and bulimia, the pressure of a wedding is one thing that may trigger this kind of unhealthy behavior," says Sobal. (The National Eating Disorders Association estimates that as many as 10 million women and girls in the United States suffer from a serious eating disorder.)

Sweet Valley High Wakefield Twins Lost Weight!

Remember brainy Elizabeth and slutty Jessica? Well, the publishing house of Sweet Valley High is reissuing the series with some new updates. The most disturbing update is that the Wakefield twins have shrunken from a perfect size 6 to a perfect size 4!! I remember reading those books as a girl and hoping I would be 5'7" and size 6. Then I could be as perfect as the California blondes.

Source

Desperate Dieters

"Not eating is a constant struggle. It's like they pay me not to eat. It's a living hell," complains hungry housewife Marcia Cross.
Source

Media, Schmedia....

Some of you may be thinking: who is this crazy nut that is not dieting for one year?

Well, this crazy nut is 28 years old and has spent more than half her life on a diet. In fact, this is the first time since I was 12 that I have been NotDieting for any period of time. Since the age of 12 my life can be placed in two categories, dieting and overeating after the diet.

Strangely, I have never been overweight. I remember reading my mom's Vogue magazines when I was 7 or 8 years old and hoping, praying that one day I would be as beautiful as the models in the picture. I thought they must have perfect lives, filled with happiness and love. My own mom always told me I was beautiful and gave me lots of love, but the glossy pages were too seductive.

I don't blame the magazines themselves. I'm sure there are plenty of young girls who have glanced through the very same pages I once did without feeling completely inadequate. Aren't there? Anyway, I often wonder what would happen if I hadn't been exposed to media that glorifies physical perfection. Well, my skin would be pretty pasty because I'd have to live underground in order for that to happen! Today it is more prevalent then ever and equally dangerous.

I, too, like to live dangerously and I suspect that if you have made it to the bottom of this article, so do you. Let's blow this diet pop stand together and have a life filled with happiness and love, our way.

Did She Really Get Over Her Eating Disorder?

Over the past few years, more and more celebrities are coming forward with their eating disorders. In general, the media applaud these women for their heroic efforts in conquering their demons. It is great that this causes more people to focus on the topic of eating disorder, but it has a dark side as well.

For instance, Jessica Alba revealed she had an eating disorder in the September 2001 issue of Glamour magazine. She believed her eating disorder was caused by the intense training regime she followed in 1999 to prepare for the Fox series Dark Angel.

"I got obsessed with it," Alba admits. She goes on to say, "A lot of girls have eating disorders, and I did too. I got too thin...now I'm concentrating on being normal."

Let's talk about that last word "normal". She insinuates that her eating disorder is far behind her, yet in the same article she says she won't do a nude scene because she is insecure; she is 5' 7" and a size 4; and "I bicycle, work out on an elliptical machine and walk uphill at a hard heart rate of almost 180 for an hour every day. I do some boxing and kicking, too, but since I work for 14 hours, I can't do much more."

Ummm...I'm pretty sure that you don't need to do anymore. It is clear that Alba still suffers from body image issues. And she is still very thin. She says she comes from a family of overweight people, so how is she staying so thin?

It is common for celebrities to say they had an eating disorder, which makes us think that the way they look now is healthy and normal. This is simply not the case. Just like Alcoholics, people diagnosed with eating disorders are always "in recovery". Traces of disordered eating habits and exercise routines may remain for a very long time after the first stage of their initial treatment is over. It is dangerous for celebrities to promote themselves as healthy, normal eaters and as role models for eating disorder recovery when in fact they are not.

Why Can't Kate Moss Get Pregnant?

According to British media, Kate Moss desperately wants a child. So much so, that she is grasping for straws. One straw happens to be Gwyneth Paltrow. When Paltrow was trying to conceive, she reportedly followed a mystery fertility diet that helped her become pregnant.

Here's a thought, maybe the problems Moss and Paltrow had getting pregnant were directly linked to their extremely low body weight. Previously, Moss and Paltrow were both linked to the crazy diet Cate Blanchett follows.

When can I buy a size -3?

Kate Dillon (Plus Sized Model)

Model Facts:

In the 1990's a sample size was 6 or 8.
Now it is a 0 or 2.
Today, a plus size model must be at least 5'9" and a size 12, but can go up to a size 16 if taller.

Cereal Is Back In My Life

Everyone who diets has certain rules that they impose upon themselves each and every day. Well, one of my many rules was "No Cereal Allowed". I would have the same freakin' bowl of oatmeal every day. I love oatmeal, but I also love cereal! So over the past week, guess what I've had for breakfast (and sometimes dinner) every single morning? You guessed it...cereal.

The first day of NotDieting, I ate a bowl quickly. Just like Will Ferrell said in Old School, "it tastes so good once it hits my lips". It had been sooo long since I had eaten cereal, that I quickly had another bowl. I felt too full, but reminded myself that I could be doing this since I had prohibited it for so long.

The next day, I had cereal again. This time I slowed down and enjoyed the bowl. Afterwards I felt full. I wanted some more of the taste, but reminded myself I could have more later when I was hungry.

The reason I'm writing this, is because I want people to be kind to themselves if they initially overindulge a bit when the begin NotDieting. Don't worry, it won't last for long. However, if you are mean to yourself about it afterwards, it will continue. So, if you eat a little too much of those foods that you haven't tasted in a long time...it's okay. Remind yourself that you are having a normal response.

NotDieting Leads to Less Binge Eating

Famous Dove Campaign

It's funny to me that whenever I mention my website to someone, they think that I am promoting a major bingefest. In fact, that is not at all what I am doing. Quite the opposite.

Since I have embarked on this journey 8 days ago, I have noticed my desire to overeat gradually disappear. Don't get me wrong, it's still there from time to time, but I haven't acted on it.

The goal of this website is to promote (to myself and others):
positive body image
listening to hunger cues when eating
removing restrictions of certain foods
enjoyable exercise that makes you feel good

Is Dieting Contagious?

AfterBefore

Last summer, The New York Times reported on a study published which stated, "...that people were most likely to become obese when a friend became obese. That increased a person’s chances of becoming obese by 57 percent."

Well, I've noticed the opposite to be true as well. As you may recall the popular Fox dramedy, Ally McBeal, received a lot of press about its quickly thinning stars. At the time, Portia deRossi, Courtney Thorne-Smith, and Calista Flockhart denied reports of eating disorders. Since then they have all come clean. All three women admit to suffering from bulimia and/or anorexia.

In addition, Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry lost a drastic amount of weight while filming the sitcom, Friends. Courtney Cox seemed to become noticeably slimmer as well. Later Perry admitted his drug addiction was the main cause of his extreme weight loss.

Grey's Anatomy has become the newest TV show to draw attention to its disappearing cast. Ellen Pompeo, Sara Ramirez, Katherine Heigl and T.R. Knight seem to have lost a lot of weight since the series first began in 2004.

Is it possible that dieting and disordered eating are contagious as well?