Do You Feel Good About Yourself?

The idea of the perfect body image that societies have is in a state of constant evolution: in the past, women with curves were more popular, whereas today, slimness is put forward. And men are not the exception! More and more, they are expected to be tall, muscular, with little body hair… which, of course, corresponds to the physical features of a small proportion of men!

The influence of the media
Each year, in the USA, tens, even hundreds of billions of dollars are spent in books, products, and weight loss programs. This attraction to slimness and beauty is greatly conditioned by the media. All the publicity to which we are exposed daily gives us the impression that it is imperative to have a face without wrinkles, a tall and slender body, and full lips… It is as if we should all conform to the same mold!

However, we must not ignore the healthy body self-image advertised by a growing number of companies. We only have to think about the Dove Self-Esteem Resources, or the no-photoshop policy of JACOB stores, a Quebec initiative!

How do your perceive your bodyweight?

· Ask yourself if you are starting a weight loss program that enhances health, or harms health. Weight loss can be beneficial for people who are overweight or obese, but not at the price of exaggerated deprivation and unhealthy practices!

· If you are a man, do you want to gain muscle mass in order to be stronger and improve your endurance, or to be liked by others and resemble the masculine stereotypes that we see in magazines?

· Don’t forget that everyone has their own morphology: if we were to compare shapes with the alphabet, there would be people shaped as A, B, I, O, V, and X. All tastes are part of nature!

And you, what do you have to say on this subject? Have you ever had positive or negative experiences linked to the image that you have of your body?

By Vanessa Martin

Do You Feel Good About Yourself? is a post from Nautilus Plus. The Nautilus Plus blog aims to help people in their journey to fitness through articles on training, nutrition, motivation, exercise and healthy recipes.
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