Do I look fat in this? Does this make my thighs look big? Are you sure? Most girls ask themselves these questions all the time. Why do we spend so much time worrying about how we look, how others look at us and how we measure up to our idea of perfection? We spend an average of 57 hours per week staring a screens and magazines loaded with pictures of skinny, perfect looking models. Could that be our problem? Of course, most of them are starving and air brushed but all we can see is how we don’t measure up.
I recently read the blog of a 5/3 River Bank Runner named Jill for Eating Disorder Awareness Week, she posted some amazing stats that shocked me! Here’s just a few of them:
16,952 a year die from eating disorders
42% of 1st-3rd grade girls want to be thinner
81% of 10 year olds are afraid of being fat
51% of 9 and 10 year-old girls feel better about themselves if they are on a diet
46% of 9-11 year-olds are “sometimes” or “very often” on diets
82% of their families are “sometimes” or “very often” on diets.
I think our world is way to focused on looking perfect. Everywhere I look I see things that remind me I’m not good enough and can’t measure up. Seems like everyone is selling something to make me feel better about myself: teeth whitener, acne cream, brand name clothes, makeup, tanning packages and many more. Why can’t I just be me? Why do I let these commercials and ads tell me that I need their products because it will make me feel better about myself?

I don’t need any of this stuff. Girls my age should not feel like they need to go on a diet or change anything about their physical appearance. The thing that girls need to realize is that beauty is what’s on the inside, not the outside. You must have a positive self image before a positive body image. We need more commercials and ads that encourage girls to eat healthy, exercise, laugh and dream big.

My goal is to not look in the mirror and say, “Look at all that’s wrong with me.” Instead I will look in the mirror and say, “Look at all that’s right with me.” I will tell my friends how beautiful they really are. I will not let the ads and commercials get to me. And to answer the questions at the beginning; no you don’t look fat in that, no that does not make your thighs look big, you look great! And yes, I’m sure of that.