THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 27, 1995 TAG: 9507260042
SECTION: FLAVOR PAGE: F1 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: Fitness Quest
SOURCE: By DIANE TENNANT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 154 lines
THINK YOU'RE too short? Too fat? Too thin? Flat-chested? Four-eyed? Join the crowd. Half of American women and a quarter of American men see such ``defects'' when they look in the mirror.
Some of us do need to lose weight, but fixating on body image isn't the way to go. Change the way you think, some health professionals are saying, and often your body will take care of itself.
Body-image experts, like Dr. Thomas Cash at Old Dominion University, say we can be happier with our bodies as they are if we just change our attitude toward them. Quit obsessing over imperfection. Quit imagining that other people see the same defects we do. Quit fighting our genes. Ditch those diets and start exercising for health. Put on those swimsuits and enjoy.
``We live in a society which places sort of a premium on appearance,'' said Cash, a professor of psychology. ``For a lot of people, that fuels the concern that `If I don't look just right, if I'm a little overweight or too tall or too short, there's something wrong with me. And people won't like me as much.'
``Body image accounts for 25 to 30 percent of one's self-esteem. If you dislike your body, it makes it harder to like the person who lives there.''
Negative body image, taken to extremes, can lead to anorexia, bulimia, depression and other life-threatening problems that need a doctor's intervention. But for most people, changing the inner self will change the way they see their body.
Such a change is difficult, in a society bombarded with pictures of waif-like models and underwear ads featuring bare-chested men with oversized pecs.
Commercials constantly tell us we smell bad, need a shave, have lackluster hair.
And we believe.
``The only reason they have a bad image of themselves is because everybody else tells them that they shouldn't feel good about themselves,'' said Lorene Evans, who plans to open a local dating service for overweight people. ``If you're not absolutely perfect, they've always got something to say about it, yet the person saying it is not perfect.''
Evans, who says she gained weight because of illness and forced inactivity, used to carry 120 pounds on her 5'4'' frame. Now, she says, she'd be happy to stay under 175.
``If I'm with somebody who says negative things, I say, `You're the first person I've ever known who's tried to make me feel bad about myself.' I project it onto them.''
Cash has just released a self-help book to help people who hate their looks to learn to love themselves. His eight-step process leads people through questionnaires to overcome self-defeating behavior.
``For a lot of people, the pursuit of fitness is the pursuit of a certain type of physical appearance,'' he said. ``Everybody's trying to sort of out-look everybody else. For a lot of people, the body image concerns can get in the way of a fitness quest.''
When people start exercising for better health, they start feeling better about the way they look, even if their appearance doesn't substantially change, experts say.
Many people just won't face up to their own genetics. Some are predestined to be heavy (not obese), just as some are meant to be thin.
But when people with a heavy body type try to fight genetics through diets, their bodies fight back.
``Their body keeps trying to get to the right size for their genetics,'' Cash explained. ``A lot of people who are fat are biologically, genetically predisposed to be that way.''
The problem is perception. And it differs between the sexes.
It is rare, Cash said, for a woman to feel too thin. It is much more likely that a man will see himself as skinny and fear having sand kicked in his face at the beach - if he dares to put on a swimsuit at all.
Men have their own insecurities, which include baldness, another genetic condition. Even though balding is probably inevitable for some men, it doesn't mean they have to lose self-esteem. But many do.
``It's this game that people play, in a sense,'' Cash said. ``It ends up being standards that they internalize and expect. It's a dangerous game.''
And the ranks of the dissatisfied are swelling.
Cash, who has devoted 20 years of his professional life to body image, plans to publish data soon showing that American women's perceptions of themselves are worsening. In 1985, 30 percent of those surveyed were unhappy with their appearance. In 1995, that percentage grew to 48.
``We don't have data on men, but I believe that body image has worsened for men as well,'' Cash said. ``They're competing with women in the workplace and women know how to look good, better than men do.
``Gosh, we're talking now about penile injections, pectoral implants - breast implants for men. Some guys go down that anabolic steroid route. What are they trying to do? They're trying to develop That Look.''
Additional surveys have shown that the opposite sex isn't nearly as demanding of perfection as we expect.
Women think men want skinny models with blond hair and blue eyes. Guys are more likely to say they like brunettes and women who are heavier than the ``ideal.''
``We think the other sex is judging us harshly,'' Cash said. ``We're just judging ourselves harshly.'' MEMO: Dr. Thomas Cash is author of ``What Do You See When You Look in the
Mirror? Helping Yourself to a Positive Body Image'' (Bantam, $11.95).Dr.
Thomas Cash is author of ``What Do You See When You Look in the Mirror?
Helping Yourself to a Positive Body Image'' (Bantam, $11.95).Dr. Thomas
Cash is author of ``What Do You See When You Look in the Mirror? Helping
Yourself to a Positive Body Image'' (Bantam, $11.95).
For more information on body image, contact WINS (Women Insisting on
Natural Shapes) at 1-800-600-9467; and the National Association to
Advance Fat Acceptance. P.O. Box 188620, Sacramento, Calif. 95818
(toll-free 1-800-442-1214).
The Virginian-Pilot's Fitness Quest is a six-month project to inspire
our readers to adopt a healthier lifestyle. To learn more about Fitness
Quest, call INFOLINE at 640-5555 and then press BFIT (2348).
DON'T DEFEAT YOURSELF
Avoid this sort of self-defeating thinking:
Unfair to compare. Don't compare yourself with ultra-thin models or
muscular bodybuilders. You are yourself, with your own genetics.
Magnifying glass. Don't zero in on a physical feature you dislike and
magnify it at the expense of your positive features. Hate your nose but
love your eyes? Look at your eyes in the mirror.
Blame game. Don't blame your appearance for all your problems, and
don't blame it for what you think others are thinking about you.
Beauty bound. Don't convince yourself that you can't do certain
things because of your looks. Avoiding water aerobics because you think
others will laugh at your swimsuit-clad body? Think instead about how
good the water will feel against your skin.
Moody mirror. Don't dwell on your appearance and criticize it
whenever you're in a bad mood or have problems. If you do, a bad day can
become a bad body image.
- Diane Tennant
MOVE IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
Don't diet. Read our lips. Study after study finds that self-denial
usually backfires; dieters gain everything back and then some. To change
what you eat, add foods: fresh fruit; vegetables; peas and beans;
whole-grain cereals, breads, pasta; fat-free dairy foods.
Stay off the scale. Body weight is a poor predictor of health, even
appearance. Instead, judge yourself against fitness goals. Work up to an
hour-long walk or run - or a two-hour bike ride - each weekend.
Get mental health help for serious depression or eating disorders
such as binge eating. (For help with compulsive overeating, try
Overeaters Anonymous.)
Exercise for health, not weight loss. Exercise, even without any
weight loss, improves self-esteem and body image. Getting started can be
as simple as a brisk 30-minute walk followed by five minutes of hefting
soup cans, milk jugs or bricks.
Revise your thinking. Recognize that you're your own worst critic;
research shows that others pay far less attention to our looks than we
think. Check your family tree; remember, body size and shape are highly
driven by genetics. Find aspects of your appearance you like; focus on
them whenever you look in a mirror.
- Knight-Ridder Newspapers
ILLUSTRATION: Color drawing by Janet Shaughnessy, Staff
by CNB