Do we need to be skinny that badly?

3 Jan 2008 15 Comments »

Photo by RobW

(photo by RobW @ flickr)

I just got my new issue of Fitness, which I honestly read and never use. I’m not really one of those jogging 10 miles a day girls.

But this article disturbed me. Fitness too ka survey of 1,000 women about their thoughts on diet and fitness. The following statistics resulted:

42% of women have used ephedra, hoodia, fen-phen, a diuretic or prescription weight loss pill/other drug to lose weight.

23% of women would spend a week in jail to reach their ideal weight. 23% would shave their head and 21% would trade 10 years of their life.

Women have used desperate measures. 33% have cleared their house of bad food. 24% have drank only liquids for at least a day. 11% have taken laxatives and 6% have purged. 4% have used miracle cleanse.

85% would rather have an extra toe than 50 extra pounds. 

To polish that off, most women described themselves as chunky (30%) or curvy (29%).

OK. There are less shocking statistics, like the two msot prefered bodies were Keira Knightly (51%) and Queen Latifah (49%).

Still, it’s scary. I have found myself doing equally stupid things for weight loss, despite constant reassurance by my friends and The Boy that I look fine. But you never look fine to yourself, you know? The most beautiful girls in the world will find themselves unattractive.

Tell me why that is. Why do otherwise successful and smart women do the stupidest things for weight loss? Laxatives help nothing. An extra toe would make it awfully hard to fit into your favorite pair of shoes. Is it worth it?

What do you think?

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15 Comments

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  7. Christina says:

    OMG that is a horrible article. Unbelievable. I *might* spend a week in jail or shave my head to get rid of these pounds (would it be for forever? LOL), but give up my life? No way. Nor do I care for an extra toe, thanks so much. And on top of that, no way would I want to be Keira (or that girl in the pic above) skinny. I’d rather stay nice and *curvy.* :)

  8. WendyB says:

    What? I assume that Fitness focused its survey on Fitness readers, which are a self-selecting group who are probably a bit more obsessed with their, um, fitness than women in general. Because the 42% for drug use seems INCREDIBLY high to me and not at all applicable to the real world! And yeah, I would definitely take the extra toe. That seems relatively harmless. I’d make sure it was nice and pedicured like all the other toes.

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