The Preposterous Weight Goal | Teen Ink

The Preposterous Weight Goal

March 4, 2011
By Anonymous

Dieting, something that women of America do to achieve the weight goal, but now a days people have been going to the extreme to get what they want sometimes they even push their bodies to the point where they cant take anymore. We’ve all had our times when we looked in the mirror, turned to the side and pointed out the imperfections in that place that belongs below the chest and above the waist, our stomach. Yes we all wish that the it all could somehow disappear. But miracles don’t come in command; I say dieting is out of control.
Let me tell you a story from my own personal experience that did not happen too long ago. During the summer of 2010 my aunt finally got engaged to her boyfriend who my mom and I set up with. Being the one who set the two lovebirds together my aunt decided to make me the junior bride’s maid as a thank you. I was honored and accepted the offer on the spot not thinking of what I was getting myself into. The wedding was just months away and everything was all falling perfectly into place except one thing. It was always a thing in our family to have picnics and small gatherings every week so can get as much family time before school comes. As the wedding came closer and closer talk of “The wedding” was all I could hear. Everyone started saying that all of the people involved in the wedding should have a good-looking body in order to look good in the dress. Well usually that kind of conversation was always pointed towards me, every family member would constantly make suggestions how I would make “The fit”.
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Being like this wasn’t really my choice, after going through Leukemia I was put through so much treatment like steroids that make me look the way I look right now. I would always have a little voice in my head screaming telling them “I know I have to work on that, thanks Captain obvious!” I must admit though, it really hit me hard I was put down so much that I was afraid to eat in front of my OWN FAMILY. I attempted dieting the healthy way but that never really worked I was always so impatient. So I decided to try making myself throw up, to make the weight loss process go faster. I also attempted to be anorexic. I did research and the side affects didn’t scare me the only thing that I was focused on was getting skinnier. I didn’t care if I put my life at risk, that’s how much I wanted to be skinnier. As time went by I started to think to myself “I was already given a second chance at life, do I want to ruin it now?” I was also hurting myself badly both emotionally and physically. I began to feel weaker and weaker I couldn’t focus and all I wanted to do was sleep. The wedding was a couple weeks away and I still didn’t lose the amount I intentionally wanted to lose. I looked at myself in the mirror once again and told myself I should never ever let anyone change me. It may be hurtful to hear your own family telling you, you need to lose weight but it really isn’t their choice, its mine, its my body and I do what I want when I want. It was never really worth hurting myself and my body to please others, because no one really wins. Yes I get the kind of body I want but what else? Nothing.
According to “inch-aweigh.com/dietstats.com” most fashion models are 98% thinner than the average American woman. Four out of five American women say that they are unsatisfied with the way they look. Dieting may be a decision that everyone
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makes on their own, but it can also be a life threatening choice. There are different types of dieting, the good and the bad. The good keeping your body healthy and still losing weight the right way by eating the right foods and exercising. Then there is the bad kind where both women and teens put their lives at risk. Where they just stop eating on the spot, don’t eat the right type of food which leads to not getting enough nutrients the body needs, over exercising, diet pills, etc. All this could lead to health issues like malnutrition crash dieting, anorexia, bulimia and so much more.
Not only does dieting affect the body physically but it can also make an emotional impact on someone’s life. Losing weight can be someone’s goal that can slowly develop into an obsession. Women tend to be so caught up with wanting to lose weight and when they achieve that goal they try to lose more and more, losing weight can be an addiction. Here are some facts to show that dieting has become out of control in America.
According to healthkicker.com

1 out of 100 young women between the ages of 10-20 years old are starving themselves, sometimes to death.

In 1970 the average age of a girl who would start dieting was 12 in 1990 the average age fell to 8 years old.

Young girls are more afraid of being fat.

Nation-wide 12.3% of high school girls have gone a full 24 hours without eating a single bite.

37% of articles in leading magazines focus on appearance and 50% of the advertisements use that in order to sell their beauty products.

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Not that I’m against dieting. I’m against extreme dieting such as starving one’s self that can lead to major health issues. I also blame the media because they are the reason our perception of beauty is distorted. People especially teenage girls and women should not compare themselves to models anywhere because technology can do remarkable things to the make women more appealing to the world, which can lead to an average and beautiful woman feel small and think negatively of herself because she doesn’t look like the girls she sees in the magazines. We all see pretty girls in the media but do we ever look at the pretty girls around us? Don’t make your body do the impossible. Life is only lived once and extreme dieting isn’t worth taking the risk, trust me I would know we should all just accept ourselves for who and what we are. Who cares if people don’t? Because that’s their loss not ours. Like lady Gaga said, “We’re all beautiful in our own way cause God makes no mistakes”



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