Year end review: The best...and worst...of body image in 2008
When more people are talking about Jennifer Love Hewitt's butt than about Obama being elected the first African-American president of the United States, you know you've hit a major hot-button issue. Body image was a big buzzphrase this year, from celebs to bloggers talking about all things airbrushed, dimpled or disordered. Weighting Game was no exception. Here, I offer you a recap of the Best...and the Worst of 2008:
The BEST
Ali Vincent becomes the first woman ever to win Biggest Loser.
At age 41, Dara Torres becomes the oldest woman ever to make the U.S. Olympic Swimming Team. We love her motto, “The water doesn’t know what age you are when you jump in, so why not?”
Kim Brittingham writes the faux book Fat is Contagious: How Sitting Next to a Fat Person Can Make You Fat and raises America’s consciousness about our fat bias.
Charlotte from The Great Fitness Experiment bears all with her stretch marks…and is beautiful.
I asked, “Is food blogging the next eating disorder?”…and got LOTS of responses.
...and the WORST
Reverse airbrushing makes itself known – apparently you CAN be too rich and too thin!
Christina Aguilera was preggers, naked and on the cover of Marie Claire...airbrushed into oblivion and setting impossible standards for pregnant women everywhere.
Princess Beatrice, daughter of Fergie, the Duchess of York, was on the receiving end of a low-blow body image attack.
Jennfier Love Hewitt dared to bare cellulite and the media tore into her for it.
Have you heard??
Weighting Game has moved to www.neversaydiet.com/bodyimage
Read more here and come join us!
Happy belated T-day!
PS www.neversaydiet.com/lesliegoldman now works!!!
The B-I-G news
No, Palmtreechick, I am not preggers.
But I DO have a different sort of bun in the oven, you could say:
Weighting Game is moving!! My "bun" is the brand spanking new site NeverSayDiet.com, a fresh, new site powered by iVillage that offers real weight-loss and healthy living solutions for women of ALL shapes and sizes who want to feel great, be well and love their body. It's really no different from Weighting Game, except you'll need to change your bookmark to http://www.neversaydiet.com/body-image Eventually, the link will be http://www.neversaydiet.com/lesliegoldman -- I'll let you know when -- but for now, you can also read postings by fitness expert Lindsay Dunlap, "The Curvy Counselor" Liria Mersini, moi, and assorted BlogHer contributors (our beloved Zandria just posted something about Love Your Body Day).
This new site will have TONS of readers - all of whom you can turn on to YOUR blogs via comments (c'mon, admit it, you know you like that) - plus fabulous, original content. Stories on anything from Yoga Booty Ballet to obsessions with peanut butter to daily workout videos ...and at the beginning of the year, I'll be the featured body image coach helping guide readers (hopefully some of you!) through the 6-week NeverSayDiet Community Challenge.
To any of you who have found humor, solace, or friendship here at the Weighting Game, I am begging you really hope you switch out your bookmark so we can continue our relationship and keep talking about all things muffin top, airbrushing and Tree Pose. I'll likely continue to blog here in a limited capacity for the rest of the year, but Never Say Diet will be my major new home.
Lastly, I want to apologize to any of you whom have noticed a dearth of comments lately by me on your blogs. Now that my neck is getting better (doing the Happy Dance here would be the understatement of the decade), my hands have decided that 10 years of hunting and pecking is enough and I've got some major pain going on. I've drastically limited my typing time and recently bought this - I kid you not, it's for ages 8 and up - to relearn how to type without looking like I'm banging out a piano concerto. Last night, I learned where the home keys are. Baby steps.
I love and appreciate you all so much and am grateful for your patience and dedication. It means so much to me.
See you at NeverSayDiet.com!!!
Are you with me?!
PS MizFit is letting me guest blog tomorrow! Check me/us out!
Exciting news coming...
Stay tuned!
I wish everyone a wonderful, warm (it's 18 degrees here) weekend...
x,
Leslie
If Hello Kitty had a mouth, she would tell you to have a fun weekend! Poor Kitty...
My appetite: Lost and found edition
What do Jack, Sawyer, Freckles and my appetite all have in common?
They've all been Lost.
(bad dum bum)
About a month ago, I my appetite went buh-bye for a few days. The doctor had warned me this might happen - I was taking a new medication for some pain in my hands (carpal tunnel? disk-related? busting out one too many cans of whoopass? no one knows) and "anorexia" was a prominent side effect. But I'm not someone who just -whoopsies! - loses her appetite too easily (except for that whole pesky freshman year thing) so I was a bit shocked when, after three days of swallowing the capsules, I didn't want to swallow much else. What a bizarro feeling. I'd find myself wandering into the kitchen like a clueless nomad, unsatisfyingly opening and closing cupboards because nothing looked good. A full bag of caramely delicious, cream-filled Cow Tails went untouched. Not even my beloved oatmeal...or peanut better...or Swedish Fish looked all that special. I remember attending a party for a family friend and sitting at a fancy table with martini glasses full of M&Ms and I barely nursed a few. What kind of an embarrassment had I become?
Within a week, my hunger returned for pretty much everything except -- and I say this with a heavy heart -- sweets. Me, the girl who mixes up Betty Crocker brownie mix with water in a mug to feast on fudge sludge at 11pm. Who straps Rocky Road ice cream (light, but still) to her mouth like a feed bag. Who calls Dan on his way home from work and, filled with PMS-fueled desperation, begs him to stop at Sweet Mandy B's and pick me up a Whoopie Pie. Who finishes off her healthy breakfast of an egg white omelet and fruit with a mini Snickers bar. I didn't even eat candy corn over Halloween. I should have just dressed up as a Black Sheep and roamed the streets of Chicago with my head hung.
Now that about a month has passed, my cravings for sweets have returned...somewhat. And while I can still polish off a plate of espresso-cocoa mousse plus half of Dan's ice cream profiteroles (not that this happened last night or anything), in general I find myself eating less than half the amount of sugary snacks I used to.
This depressed me at first. I'm known for my sweets-a-holic nature. Cookies, brownies, birthday cake - that's my bag! But a funny thing happened on the way to the pharmacist: I've found myself taking a moment to ask myself," Do I really want a fistful of marshmallows right now?" And the answer is often no.
I feel like this is as close to Intuitive Eating as I've ever come. At night, if I find myself hungry after dinner, I've started gravitating toward fruit or hot cocoa or (gulp) yogurt. Yes, I fear I've become one of those crazy bridesmaids in the commercials who spoons a dollop into her mouth and says aloud, "This is "not having to catch the bouquet' good!" Um, cliche, much?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not becoming a treats teetotaler. I just see this seismic shift happening in my eating schedule and have wanted to vent about it for a while. So there it is. I'd love to hear your feedback - have you ever lost your appetite, maybe from the flu, or a new medication, stress or a break-up? And how did you deal with it?
