I think I have told you I don’t usually watch TV, but last night I caught the finale of Biggest Loser on NBC. Was it just me or did two of the contestants look anorexic? I was worried about Ali, who took home the prize ($250,000) for apparently starving herself and Mark, the comeback kid. Ali worked incredibly hard, and was self described as obsessed with winning. She won but at what expense?
Don’t get me wrong. Being healthy and losing weight the right way with exercise and appropriate diet is the best gift you can give yourself. I’ve been up and down with my own weight and know the struggle too well. What I am talking about here is the growing trend for young girls and guys to take it too far, find the one thing in their life they can control when the rest of their world is spinning out of control, and start starving themselves for attention and praise. “Oh you look great” becomes “Whoa. Wait a minute. Your eyes are sunken with dark circles, and you’re bones protrude.” But the girl still sees herself as fat and continues on a downward spiral.
I see so many of my daughters’ friends with real problems of eating disorders, even life-threatening for one of them. Shows like this worry me tremendously for the accolades they see the contestants get for simply being thin. See another post on this topic here. I will continue lobbying for a Barbie-free society. What do you think? Society keeps saying “You can never be too thin or too rich.” Is this what we want our kids to believe? Lord, we are not meant to be obsessed with our packaging. Help us to be beautiful inside as women, and to see ourselves as You do. Most especially, help our children not buy in to this media and society-driven pressure. Give us all a healthier perspective, Lord. Amen.
annette geffert 
I went too far once in weight-loss, too, and my mother was horrified and nagged me constantly. EVERYONE else said, “You look great.” I was 5’8″ and 115 lbs. I was also very depressed, but everyone thought I had life all together because I was thin. Another perspective: a good friend of mind started losing weight in the fall, and I was envious. Finally, I told her I thought she was looking not so healthy. Long story short, she has been diagnosed with cancer, which was the cause of the loss. I’m a little overweight right now, but I am thankful that I am not fighting that battle.
I agree wholeheartedly, although I must say I wish my arms looked like that! Well, not quite that muscular. A few years ago, I dieted myself back down to the weight of my youth and now when I look at pictures, I realize that I was gaunt and hollow. I confess, I probably went back too far the other way, but now I realize that really, as we age, we need some “filling”. 🙂 We so need to strive to be healthy, mentally and physically and not so thin. I guess I shouldn’t worry since i eat under stress.
When my daughter struggled with her eating disorder I felt so guilty because MY life was out of control. Please, mothers we need to let God invade OUR lives so we can pass on healthy habits to our daughters. We need to let God satisfy our hunger and fill our holes! Thanks for this post. As you can see we all have issues with our body image. We need moderation.
Love you, my beautiful friend!
Angie xoxo
Mmmmm, Annette, are the two pictures shown those of the winners? The girl actually looks very healthy to me; however, looks can be deceiving, too. I watched a show last night about a group of people who were basically not exercisers and were very out of shape. They were trained to run the Boston Marathon. I think most of them were probably pretty close to their goal weight anyway, or maybe not that far off; however one girl was 70 lbs. overweight. With all of the running and training they did, she was the only one to lose any weight and she lost 40 lbs. but she also dieted some. The doctors associated with the program said that the key to weight loss is diet, not so much exercise; though exercise is definitely good for heart and lung health.
It seems most of us struggle with some type of bondage and the girls who won’t eat or are obsessed with what they do eat are trying to fill a spiritual void that only Jesus Christ can fill. Just like myself who overeats, I do it to try to satisfy a soul hunger in me that food never satisfies nor was meant to. Those who smoke or drink, again are looking for something to fill that void that only Jesus can fill. Fill the hearts to overflowing with Jesus and you’ll find fewer ladies looking for the Barbie doll image…..at least that is what I think. I feel sorry for any person who is in that kind of bondage and I believe we need to pray them out.
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives; And freedom to prisoners;” Isa. 61:1
The would be Barbie dolls are prisoners and captives that Jesus came to set free.
Sweet Annie,
Your post was encouraging and so dear! I covet your prayers during the exams. I’ve been working all day and I’m wearing down…
LOVED your Barbie blogpost! As one woman who knows about weight obsession from a very early age, we have to take back “real” from the world!
I know in my darkest days of life in my pit, I stood in front of a mirror at 108 lbs, being 5’4 and 46 years old and I thought I finally looked great and, I was told that as well by the others who roamed the “pit”.
When my family saw me they were horrified at my sunken face and a body that looked like it was dying. It was, literally and figuratively.
Do whatever you have to do to make the women see healthy, not skinny. This is our “temple” and we need to let GOD control it, not the world.
Love you,
T
To be perfectly honest, I think I help perpetuate this too. Because I want to be thin. Instead of being satisfied with my weight. Although I could drop a few pounds, I certainly don’t need to lose the 30 or 40 to take me back to my high school weight. Plus, there’s a difference between losing weight and exercising for health. I would rather cut out food for a few meals and lose pounds the “easy” way when in the long run, I would be healthier if I exercised and ate sensibly. Sigh. Good points. When will we stop caring what others think and start caring about what’s good for us?
love,
karen
Seems many younger ladies in my circle are obsessed. Personally, I find it shallow.
How about replacing the phrase “You can never be too rich or too thin” with “You can never be too grateful or too compassionate”. We could take a lesson from the Asian culture where these things are held most sacred. I have believed for awhile that our greatest natural resource we are missing isn’t oil, it is compassion.
The generation of our children have all but lost these values; my prayer every night is that through example I can make a small impression upon one of them…
AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!! Couldn’t agree with you more. Its so hard these days. Not having girls, I don’t know their pressure today, but boys are under serious pressure too with many other things.
Lord, give us the peace that we need in knowing we are fearfully and wonderfully made….exactly how you want us!
Love you~
Fran