~Brown Eyed Gurl~: weight Loss

Saturday, June 26, 2010

No Smoking

(this post is more of a second part to the previous post 'i WANT chocolate')

The other day when my boyfriend kindly suggested I should try out Zumba, I was enraged and then upset. Being the 'feminist' that I am, I sit there thinking, how dare he!?! I thought he loved me for who I was and not expected me to be one of those girls you see in magazines! I think to myself, there is NO WAY I will ever lose weight just because someone tells me I need to lose weight (well I guess a doctor would have the right). I mean, my BMI is fine, I'm not over weight... I just like to indulge myself in the normal junk food every now and then. And yes, during that time of the month I do have a slightly greater desire to chuck down more chocolates and more comfort food.

And so there started my personal debate of whether to make my boyfriend happy or to stick to my guns about losing the weight only for myself. As you will see from my previous post about weight loss and body image, I strongly believe that losing weight should not be because that's what society is pressurizing us to do, but about something you are doing to make yourself happy and for your own wellbeing- whether it be mental or physical. I guess it does sound selfish, and I agree it is. But why should you torture yourself only to make yourself miserable?

While thinking about this, I began to ponder. If I get all defensive for him asking me to 'watch my weight', is it fair for me to ask him to quit smoking?

It's been almost a year we've become serious and his smoking has always bothered me. And it's been awhile I've been hinting that he needs to quit and more recently I've REALLY begun to stress on the fact that it needs to happen.

Now me asking him to quit smoking is for his own health; and me being a non-smoker... well I would say I qualify to say that smoking is bad. But if I think that it's not fair for him to expect me to change because he doesn't like what I eat, why should I expect him to stop smoking because I don't like him smoking.

I guess I still feel confused as to what is really fair in this situation; but one thing I am certain about is my boy. I know that he'd never be happy knowing that I'm not and he'd never ask me to do something against my will or something that would make me miserable. I also know how hard he is trying to give up smoking, something which he really does not seem to want to do, but is doing just to make me happy. Taking these things into consideration plus the fact that I, myself, feel I need to do something about my oh-so-lovely love-handles, I've decided to give Zumba a try....

Images

1. Greece launches anti-smoking campaign ahead of July ban http://www.topnews.in/greece-launches-antismoking-campaign-ahead-july-ban-2158872

2. My own photo

3. Don't look for me, I'll get a hand http://www.afreeman.org/2009/05/05/dont-look-for-me-ill-get-a-hand/

i WANT my chocolate!

When boys ask us to loose weight, is it really for our own benefit? Is it really about looking after our health and staying healthy? Frankly I, like many others out there,

don't think so. I guess for those guys who are actively working on keeping themselves healthy as well, it's fair that they are asking their girlfriends or wives to loose the extra kilos; but when a guy who doesn't really show much interest in his own health tells you to keep off the chocolate... you begin to wonder... is it fair?

Weight gain/loss has been a big issue for young girls and women of all ages. And now more than ever with celebrities and models with the 'perfect' bodies being thrown at your face in all forms of media outlets, not being conscious even the tinsiest bit is a very hard thing for even the most stubborn feminists. And now, with the well toned bodies of male celebrities like Christiano Ronaldo and Taylor Lautner (playing Jacob in Twilight) being thrown around in the mediasphere, body image is not only an issue for girls and women, but men as well.

Maintaining a 'nice' figure is something that most of us are after. Who wouldn't like to be able to slip into a swim suit at the end of winter without worrying about the unwanted wobbly bits? Who wouldn't want to look like a Victoria's Secret model? We all do! And because we want to achieve that picture perfect look, many even resort to more unnatural ways of shedding the kilos like surgery and pills. What's sickening, however, is when young girls, especially teens (and even pre teens!) go on crash diets to look like their role models they see in magazines and television. But the thing that many of us forget to realize is that these celebrities and models are paid to look the way they do; they earn a living through their looks (with a minority actually using their skills and talent).

But why is it that even though we know that the perfect figure exists only in magazines and among celebrities whose priorities lie in maintaining such a figure, we feel guilty while devouring a Ferrero Rocher or a double chocolate mud cake! Possibly it has to do with the society we live in that promotes skinny and size 0. Perhaps it has to do with the thought of visiting relatives who will comment on your weight gain, even if they haven't met you in over a year, making it seem like your weight is in fact the most important issue on the table.

Well regardless of our reasons behind boys asking us to watch what we eat because it is for our own good, or because you want to look like worthy of featuring in the next fashion magazine; it should make you happy, because in the end it is your body.