Body Image

**jessedi** · 08-04-2005, 08:50 AM

Do any of you feel you look nowhere close to what you would like? I keep seeing pictures on here of women who are about 17-20 % bf and they look good. This is where I'm at, but I think I look like crap still. Could this be in my mind? Or is my mind fine and I really do look flabby? Have any of you gone through this????

**nuttmeg** · 08-04-2005, 08:53 AM

Girl, I deal with this daily. Everyone I know tells me I look great/awesome but I look at myself and think "yuck, look at the fat on my thighs or my as*!" I think I am probably harder on myself than I should be. It is even worse certain times of the month than others. I wish I could be happier with my body and my accomplishments.

**mommy*2*3** · 08-04-2005, 09:28 AM

I think a lot of us deal with this as well. I personally have good days and bad days. Sometimes I look in the mirror and see flab...my husband thinks I'm absolutely crazy. I know that I look good seeing my own pictures but I can't see myself the same way on a daily basis. Overall though I think that bodybuilding has given me a lot of self confidence in other areas not related to my outward appearance.

**caligrl26** · 08-04-2005, 09:33 AM

I'm 19% and i torture myself. One day I think I look great and the next I feel like $hit!!! Keeps me on my toes tho.

**Ms. Highside** · 08-04-2005, 02:52 PM

My body image stinks.... but I'm definately holding into too much fat right now, so it's understandable. I feel much better/more confidant when I'm closer to about 140-145lbs. I'm between 157-159 right now. My lean mass never really goes down, so atleast I'm lucky there.

(I wouldn't mind being 180, if my bodyfat was low.) I just hate that most of my fat-weight is right around my middle... so I'm kinda lean almost everywhere except my stomach, and a little extra fat on my inner thighs and hips. (not ripped, but lean)

Why do we beat ourlselves up so much???

At 21, I was at 137 at 19% (before I put on about another 8-10 lbs of muscle)... and looked great to everyone else, but I still thought I was fat. **rolleyes**

**barenaked** · 08-04-2005, 03:20 PM

I don't think I look terrible, but I am still striving for that ripped look and I know it'll eventually come if I stay dedicated. But I do have those days when I look at my butt and think "How many free squats do I have do actually do before this thing looks like it did when I was 19?" But then I look at my back and think "Holy sh*t, I never knew what traps actually looked like!"
But no matter what anyone tells you, you have to be happy with yourself. And usually we're our own worst critics.

**TurbulentFluid** · 08-05-2005, 01:03 PM

Well... Even though the main reasons why I work out is being fit, strong and endurant, and being able to do certain things, I must admitt how I look often bothers me. I posted my pics a few days ago, some of you saw them - well, I'm still rather desparate about my mid-section and am pissed off about all the skin. I often feel I could furnish someone's living room in leather. I know I'm quite good-looking now, I'm just not "there" yet.

**teechur20** · 08-05-2005, 02:31 PM

I definitely struggle with this...sometimes it seems from moment to moment! Like many previous posters said one minute I'll think 'hey, I'm lookin' pretty good' and ten minutes later I'll catch a different reflection and think 'I'm a hideous beast!' Maybe not quite that dramatic, but I'd settle for somewhere in between! Wouldn't it be great to see ourselves through our partners' eyes, or our children's eyes? They just see the beautiful person they love...why can't we see ourselves like that?

**back40** · 08-08-2005, 12:47 PM

One thing I am learning, as far as body image goes, is not to compare yourself to others' stats. I am 5'4" and at the moment 127 - 120 is the norm but I let a little too much eating hike me up. I look at others who have posted pics with my same stats and they look wonderful at 127, or 120-127. It's all about how and where we hold our weight, but it's hard not to go - whay don't I look like that?!

**gymgrrl** · 08-08-2005, 01:15 PM

There you will see scads of people, men and women, who don't give a CRAP what they look like or who sees it. We went to King's Dominion in VA this weekend and there were people walking around in bikinis that should be cautious walking around in a one-piece with a sarong on! MY GOD!! It's kind of like the people who live in nudist colonies......we wouldn't want to see them clothed, let alone nekkid! Looking at all of that for an afternoon made me feel like a supermodel.

Never again!

**Dr. Bread** · 08-08-2005, 01:33 PM

Originally Posted by teechur20

Like many previous posters said one minute I'll think 'hey, I'm lookin' pretty good' and ten minutes later I'll catch a different reflection and think 'I'm a hideous beast!' Maybe not quite that dramatic

haha that's EXACTLY how I am....except precisely that dramatic.

**spytechs_wife** · 08-08-2005, 01:43 PM

i stopped buying fashion and celebrity mags cuz i was constantly comparing. i have a TERRIBLE self image. im at 15-16% bf and all i can look at in the mirror is my tummy pocket. for every 1 thing my husband says nice about me, i retort with 10 things i hate about myself.

im currently in the process of fixing my attitude and i vow to succeed at it.

**Illana** · 08-08-2005, 02:41 PM

Originally Posted by jessedi

Do any of you feel you look nowhere close to what you would like? I keep seeing pictures on here of women who are about 17-20 % bf and they look good. This is where I'm at, but I think I look like crap still. Could this be in my mind? Or is my mind fine and I really do look flabby? Have any of you gone through this????

I totally hear you. Im 15% and yet I look in the mirror and think "gee Im gross look at that fat tummy!" But I dont starve myself or anything. I still eat clean and workout but I just cant help thinking I look fatish! My partner says Im an idiot and that I look awesome but I cant see it.

**lorabeann** · 08-08-2005, 08:51 PM

yeah i have had days that i am completely like whoa, i'm getting way better- looking awesome, looking hot! then the next day... well, more of a period of a few days after that- everything has completely changed. i feel gross, big, and my tummy is sticking out again. its like i cant get that pouch to go away. :\ aghhh.

**Miranda** · 08-08-2005, 09:28 PM

getting serious with weights has helped me a lot. i want to be STRONG, not a skinny chick with stick thin legs . . . on the subject though, i have a hard time with them. i mean, all my life i've had long and lean legs (albeit with saddlebags but they're much better now

) worthy of the shortest miniskirts and the fact that they're thicker bothers me in a way. it's not fat, i've gained muscle on them and they look good, but they're THICKer and i find myself thinking 'you sure have a nice pair of tree trunks there'. how do you handle this?

**Mo_ria** · 08-08-2005, 10:30 PM

Hmmm...I think I *like* my she hulk legs! I have come to terms with the fact that I will NEVER have thin, willowy legs because apparently due to my Italian peasant ancestry I am built to be able to birth multiple children by the side of the road in a ditch if necessary. All muscle. Either that or I am a mutant distant relative of some thai kickboxer/ju jitsu fighter/sumo wrestler...
Now my stomach...if it doesn't start behaving when I am down closer to my goals, well, I'm just going to have to take drastic measures. Like surgery. I am over it. It is the one part of my body that feels so out of proportion to everything else. I can handle having thick legs, a big butt, big shoulders and being chesty. They all match. The stomach? Why???!!!! I am not a marsupial, dammit!
I guess we all have something we would like to change.
Mo

**Via Funktion** · 08-09-2005, 04:01 AM

""yuck, look at the fat on my thighs or my as*!" "

Lady having big ass and thighs are the sexiest things in the world on a woman...

**Boots** · 08-09-2005, 04:49 AM

Originally Posted by lorabeann

yeah i have had days that i am completely like whoa, i'm getting way better- looking awesome, looking hot! then the next day... well, more of a period of a few days after that- everything has completely changed. i feel gross, big, and my tummy is sticking out again. its like i cant get that pouch to go away. :\ aghhh.

I feel ya...couldnt have said it getter myself! I think most of the time I feel pretty good about the way I look. I'm short so sometimes I feel frumpy!

**moon girl** · 08-09-2005, 09:40 AM

I think my biggest problem when it comes to body image is that I still think I'm as chubby as I was before. I don't see myself in the way other people see me. For example, I'll say to my boyfriend "I wish I was as skinny as that girl" and he'll say I'm crazy because she's bigger than I am. I can't seem to feel good about my improvements for very long - I tend to linger on the things that aren't going so well - bits of fat, straying from my diet, that kind of things.

My main goal, for right now, is to learn to love myself - while eating clean and exercising of course. I think that once I can accept myself for who I am it will be easier to get to where I want to be because I won't be as obsessed with my body. I have to admit that I'm liking myself more now that I'm doing better at working out hard and eating clean. I hate knowing that I'm not giving it everything that I've got - that makes me feel even worse than looking in the mirror.

**bostonbootgirl** · 08-09-2005, 02:57 PM

The worst things are mirror and store front windows.....they can ruin your day! One mirror makes you look 10 lb.s lighter, the other makes you look 10 lbs. (or more!!) heavier.

I have a short waist and a large chest so even when I'm slimmer I still feel stumpy.

**Titania** · 08-10-2005, 05:40 AM

Wow. Looks like none of us are alone on this matter. My physical self image swings around like a pendulum continuously. One minute I'll be working out, pumped and feeling pretty damn good about my achievements, then, all it takes is one bad photo from a photoshoot and I'm thinking, "My god... I look skinny."
My boyfriend just looks at me with a cheeky nod and says, "Yeah, right, REAL skinny arms. Look at them. They're tiny."
That usually makes me smile again. I think I have anti-anorexia. LOL

**barenaked** · 08-10-2005, 06:27 AM

Originally Posted by Titania

I'm thinking, "My god... I look skinny."
I think I have anti-anorexia. LOL

It's weird, but I know what you mean. I'm trying to gain mass and have made some progress, but I get insulted when people refer to me as "tiny." Maybe people think they're paying a compliment, but when you want the big muscles it really throws your self-esteem off. A female customer came into my store and made a comment about her shoulders being bigger than mine. I'm thinking "Lady, I'm 4" taller and 20lbs heavier than your - and yes even proportionately, my shoulders are bigger." I felt so insulted, I went home and worked on my shoulders like a mad woman.

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