Women in general tend to worry more about their body figures than men. The BBC is showing a special tonight on one's woman struggles to slim down to a size zero just like many catwalk models and even some celebs worldwide promoting.
If you have a chance don't miss out on it.
Super Slim Me: A Mischief Special is on BBC Three, Wednesday, 7 February at 2100 GMT.
Here is the related article:
Zero-sum game
Next week is London Fashion Week and catwalks again will be full of skinny models. So what does a "size zero" diet do to you? Dawn Porter (right) went on a crash slimming course and found a perverse, and worrying, comfort in her misery. When I decided to take on the gruesome task of a starvation diet, I was ignorant to believe that hunger would be my only challenge. The hunger actually became a sick comfort to me, a reassurance that I was doing the "right" thing.
Countdown to zero: read Dawn's diet diary But the depression, the loneliness, and the chronic insomnia were the side effects of a dangerously low calorie diet, that made me worry I had flicked a mental switch, that I would never be able to turn back.
Since as long as I can remember I have been a size 12; 5ft 9ins, with really skinny legs, narrow shoulders, reasonably large boobs, a small bum and a sticky out belly, which continued in motion a little longer than I would have liked, after every step that I took.
I am the consummate "apple" shape; a walking, talking Granny Smith, but with enough height to disguise myself as a banana, if I wore a short enough skirt and a clever enough top.
Dawn's diet was the focus of a BBC programme But where is the line between looking one's best, and taking the whole obsessive body image thing just a touch too far?
The recent "size zero" phenomenon (an American creation which actually translates as a UK size four), gleefully promoted by freakishly large-headed celebs, seems to have spawned a frightening increase in young girls developing eating disorders, as they associate "skinny" with "success".
What happened to making it in life using talent and charm?
How could I show the hoards of young girls what starving themselves actually means; that the short term "gain" of a stick thin frame, had long term detrimental side effects?
I did the unthinkable, and road-tested the size zero lifestyle myself.
Just over eight weeks ago, I introduced a totally new concept of eating into my life, that being - not eating. I decided to go from my usual 1,500 calories a day to an absolute maximum of 500.
By day one I was having headaches, mood swings and demonstrating weird obsessive behaviour... and that was before lunch!
The hunger never goes, but you begin to enjoy it, trust it, and rely on it
Dawn Porter Everyone knows how they feel when they haven't eaten: moody, groggy, low energy. Well picture that a million times more intense, as it increases with every day that passes.
Life becomes a struggle with temptation, and a battle of self will. An unhealthy obsession with food is the only way to deal with the painstaking monotony of daily life.
The hunger never goes. But you begin to enjoy it, trust it, work with it and rely on it. When your goal is to be thin, the hunger is your best friend.
It's the only thing that assures you that you are working hard enough, because no matter how many ribs you can see in the mirror, it is never enough. There is always further to go.
When I began this journey I was 10st 7lbs, and had a healthy Body Mass Index (BMI) of 22. In just 8 weeks I shot down 17lbs, and reached an unhealthy BMI of 19, which meant that just half a stone more and I would have been so worryingly thin, that some countries would have banned me from the catwalk.
Sickness risk
My weekly assessments with my doctor revealed my magnesium and potassium levels plummeted to worrying levels, as did my white blood cell count, and my antioxidant levels. I had increased my chances of contracting serious conditions such as tuberculosis, and dangerously increased my risks of getting cancer.
My mood swings were uncontrollable. Despite my doctor's advice to eat properly, I continued.
The cat walk look that critics say is driving women to extremes Most alarming was how my confidence got so low. As the project went on, and I apparently got the body I thought I always wanted, I felt more and more self aware and hated the idea of anyone looking at me.
I looked at my body in the mirror and hated it because it was the cause of me feeling so down. I couldn't look at the weight loss as an honourable achievement because I was disgusted in what it took to achieve it.
I think it was then that I truly understood the pressures so many models are under, and how miserable their lives must be as they try to keep up with the super skinny look that their industry demands.
My final weigh-in saw that I had lost 17Ibs and 50% of my body fat. Which after everything I had been through strangely, and temporarily, disappointed me. I was nowhere near size zero, and I felt like I had not achieved what I set out to do.
And that's exactly what this is all about: normal women, with normal constitutions set on unachievable goals. And when they don't meet them, they feel like failures.
I could have lost that weight over time, in a healthy, balanced way, and felt wonderful. But being extreme and not giving my body what it needed meant that every effort was futile, and being thin, did not make me happy as you would generally expect.
I was warned to ease myself back into eating slowly, but I can't say I followed that advice. Since ending the diet I have resumed my life as normal. Maybe one day I will try to lose a little more over time. But I never want to go back to how I felt when I was on that diet, and I hope to God, that my experience puts anyone else off trying the same thing. The body needs fuel. Food works, eat it.
What do you think personally about this recent trend? Posted by chimps .. (Member # 11270) on :
if i tried slimming now id look like a sag bag..loveme cushions too much but i wont say who !!!!! to many clips of media and exsercise videos with the slim woman in it but if yo look closer they have cellulite...worse than me i actually havent got it at 42 WOW!!!!!
Posted by NotSleeplessInCairo (Member # 8452) on :
quote:Originally posted by Tigerlily: What do you think personally about this recent trend?
I felt sick when I read about this new trend, it's totally irresponsible of models and other "famous" people to promote such an ideal. I've never personally come into contact with anyone suffering from anorexia, but I've just finished reading a book called "The Invisible Girl" by Peter Barham. It's a true story about his daughter Debbie Barham who was a Comedy writer for shows/celebs like Spitting Image, the News Quiz, Bob Monkhouse, Graham Norton, Angus Deayton, Rory Bremner and Clive Anderson as well as other radio shows. The story is heart wrenching and it brought me to tears. Her father goes through her life, those of her family and friends and how they all coped with it. He knew hardly anything about her (he divorced her mother when she was young) and had to piece the story together by going through her emails and speaking to her friends and colleagues. This woman had such an amazing success from so early in her life, she was incredibly funny, people loved her, supported her, tried to "cure" her, but she lived in denial that she had a problem and continued on the self destructive path until heart failure took her away.
Someone should string those models up by their bony ankles and beat them! Who the hell told them they look attractive anyway?!? Then the media goes and promotes this kind of crap?! They should boycott them, don't show their pictures .. even if their text condemns what they do, just highlighting and giving these women space can affect young girls! Ya Nahar iswid!
Posted by Karah_Mia (Member # 4668) on :
Well...zero is just that: ZERO! Posted by mysticheart (Member # 6838) on :
Well your post gave me some insight as to why i feel as i do most of the time lol. I eat only 700 calories a day, period. I workout 4 days a week but i have condensed my 7 day workout into the 4 days. Occasionally i boost my intake to 1000 to 1100 for a day or 2 just to get rid of the cravings. I am almost never hungry though, so instead of the hunger always being there , it never comes. Most foods dont even sound appealing to me, i often feel empty and depressed, always always tired, head aches come and go. And yes, no matter how small i am , its never good enough, for this reason, no matter what the measuring tape says, i look at the scale. Since i started working out very consistantly the scale numbers have gone up. I started working at Red Lobster 2 and half years ago at a weight of 112, in 4 months time i increased to 125, i was completely freaked out, though my size didnt change. I started working out consistantly at home, bought a home gym and a few dvd's.That didnt work well enough for me so i joined a gym near my work. Increased to 130 in 3 more months, this being the time i didnt pay attention to the calories, i knew i didnt eat much but never paid that much attetion. when the scale hit 130 i needlessly to say, panicked. I started writing everything i ate or drank in a day for a solid week. It came to about 1000 a day sometimes less. I dropped it to 700 because although my size was shrinking a bit, my numbers were increasing. In 2 weeks i was back to 125, in 5 weeks 119. another week 117 but that is where it stopped. i even backed off working out a bit.. then i started back in working out very consistantly 7 days a week. Weight shot back up to 123. I dropped the workouts to 4 days a week but refuse to give up any of the workouts so all 7 are done in 4 days. The food, i have stopped counting because i dont need to, i can know exactly how much i am eating now just by thinking. I thought my feelings were stress related... lol guess not. But even still i cant even imagine eating more because i am not happy with my weight number and want to drop it more.i want back down to my 112. 11 pounds to go.... and i am a size 2 to 3 american size now.
Posted by Mrs C (Member # 10808) on :
"work outs"... be more specific.
could be a simple case of doing the 'wrong' type of exercise for your particular goal.
i can help advise you if you want.
Posted by Mrs C (Member # 10808) on :
quote:Originally posted by NotSleeplessInCairo: Someone should string those models up by their bony ankles and beat them! Who the hell told them they look attractive anyway?!?
the people that employ them.
its not the models that should be strung up... its the designers and promoters that employ them.
Posted by The Conditioned (Member # 12020) on :
How tall are you Mysticheart?
You need counseling to get over these issues.
The reason why you always feel tired, weak or depressed is most likely due to lack of adequate nutrition.
If you don't eat, your body doesn't get the vitamins, minerals etc that it needs to function properly.
Lack of a simple element in your diet such as magnesium for instance, can cause ALOT of problems.
I know that magnesium is linked to sleep, so this could be why you have difficulty sleeping.
Acknowledging the problem is one step.
The next step is to try and rectify it.
Are you willing to do this?
~Alistair
Posted by Ayisha (Member # 4713) on :
My youngest daughter has struggled with anorexia since she was 14, she is now 25.
before it all started she had the most wonderful figure, everything in the right places with beautiful curves, then she met the boyfriend! The boyfriend was an arsehole who needed to control her, so he told her she was fat. For 9 months she was with him he beat her and terrorized her, we knew nothing of this until after, or actually until she didnt come home one night and we were demented with worry. We sat up all night, she came home crying at 5.30am saying he had forced her to stay in his house and locked her in a room. We were banging his mother out of bed at 6am, she had known nothing about it. It was later we discovered she was being sick after every meal. On cleaning out her bedroom one day I found 17 empty laxative bottles. She was 5 and half stone while trying to do her exams at 16, the school were convinced she was on drugs until we confided in a teacher what was happening. I was unable to deal with it or help her in any way, her dad tried all he could, she worshipped her dad. she was still convinced at 5 and half stone that she was fat.
We managed to get her to see a doctor who put her onto liquid energy drinks. She then and still now refuses to see a psychiatrist or a psychologist and is paranoid most of the time. Due to the mental problems this causes she choses crap arsehole men, she has one now who will probably end up putting her in hospital before she *sees the light*. saying that she will probably drive him to it as she is not easy to live with, paranoia, anger, aggresiveness and low self esteeme are not easy to live with.
She was, and still is, an intelligent girl, she is beautiful and funny and strong but her strength is in the wrong places. Her teeth are more or less ruined now due to being sick so often, although she still has her teeth up to date.
She now knows she is too thin, she doesn't see fat in the mirror anymore, but her body has become too used to rejecting food too often, it's something she is tryin hard to combat now as she knows she will die if she doesn't.
Mystic, love your body for what it is. I advise anyone who wants to diet to do it properly and with advice from someone like a nutritianist who knows what they are doing, starving yourself or bringing food back up is NOT an option and will ruin your life and the lives of those who love you and have to sit and watch this while being unable to do or say anything to stop it.
Posted by QueenBee (Member # 9378) on :
Anorexia really isn't about food or weight. It is about control. It is an obsessive compulsive disorder, and one of the ways that anorexics describe their feelings is that their food intake, and the weight is the one thing that they can control. They can't control the past, what has happened to them... they can't control their feelings or the insane behavior of people in their lives, but they can control calories. That's just one part of it, but an important one. I don't think beating up on skinny people or calling them disparaging names is going to help anorexics or bulemics one bit. Just like some people are naturally fat, some people are naturally twigs. Trying to make up some kind of pop culture backlash hatred of thin people is as stupid as idolizing them. By the way, clothing hangs well on twigs, so the industry uses them. There are plenty of models who are naturally this shape, and they can be very healthy all their lives. The best treatment for anorexia and bulemia is therapy, once the person is not "hospital material." Anti-depressants (serotonin re-uptake inhibitors) have been shown to successfully treat many OCDs, this one included.
Posted by SayWhatYouSee (Member # 11552) on :
quote:Originally posted by Mrs C:
quote:Originally posted by NotSleeplessInCairo: Someone should string those models up by their bony ankles and beat them! Who the hell told them they look attractive anyway?!?
the people that employ them.
its not the models that should be strung up... its the designers and promoters that employ them.
Great point, Mrs C!
Posted by mysticheart (Member # 6838) on :
Never stopped to think of the sleep problem either, lol. I am 5ft 3 inches. I am within by bmi it is at 21 bmi. I already know the reason my weight goes up with workouts is because of muscle gain. Muscle weighs more than fat and clothes do not fit tighter at all, usually looser, but its all in my head, i cant stand the numbers. my workouts are based on a web site i pay for, it took information from me and then formulated a workout for me for toning and slimming down. I have 3 days of strength training and 4 days of cardio. i used to alternate between the 2 each day but now i have condensed it. Strength on weds, fri, sun... cardio on weds, thurs, sat and sun... mon and tues off. I also changed the cardio from 45 down to 30 min cause i realized i was overdoing and pushing too hard.
Posted by MK the Most Interlectual (Member # 8356) on :
quote:Originally posted by mysticheart: I already know the reason my weight goes up with workouts is because of muscle gain. Muscle weighs more than fat and clothes do not fit tighter at all, usually looser
Just wanted to stress on this point because some people get a bit down when they start sporting and gain a couple of pounds on the way. A better index is indeed the body circumferences.
quote: but its all in my head
So why don't you lose that head? I don't mean play Saddam's execution, but I mean lose those bad and negative thoughts.
You know where the problem is.
quote: my workouts are based on a web site i pay for, it took information from me and then formulated a workout for me for toning and slimming down. I have 3 days of strength training and 4 days of cardio. i used to alternate between the 2 each day but now i have condensed it. Strength on weds, fri, sun... cardio on weds, thurs, sat and sun... mon and tues off. I also changed the cardio from 45 down to 30 min cause i realized i was overdoing and pushing too hard.
We pay for many sites that steal our money.
Train as much as you want but please eat. I saw your picture sometime ago and I thought yup, she's not eating enough nor right. And guess where I saw it the most? On you hair and under your eyes.
Posted by The Conditioned (Member # 12020) on :
Mysticheart, you have nothing to lose, and everything to gain by going on a well balanced diet, aswell as an exercise routine.
Like MK said, lack of adequate nutrition can affect your appearance, and it usually shows up first in the skin and hair, aswell as the nails.
Your skin will look dull rather than radiant.
Your hair will grow slowly and be more brittle.
Your nails will break easily, and grow slowly.
Basically, you'll be aging MUCH faster than you should.
Then, there's not being able to sleep, and feeling tired and fatigued all the time.
Who wants to live like this?
Why continue to punish yourself when you know the source of your problems?
~Alistair
Posted by Tigerlily (Member # 3567) on :
Okay, did anyone see the documentary last night on TV? If so - what are your thoughts about it?
Posted by Tigerlily (Member # 3567) on :
2 Uruguayan sisters, both models, die
By RAUL GARCES, Associated Press Writer Wed Feb 14, 9:03 PM ET
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay - Two sisters, both models, have died of apparent heart attacks within months of each other — a family tragedy that came as the fashion world debates how to protect the health of painfully thin runway models........
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