Why so many fad diets on the forum lately? page 13

[Owly]

I agree with gopintos: sbhikes, I think you look fantastic. I don't think normal necessarily means hollow cheeks, thighs that don't touch (mine sure do!) and no boobs. I think that's maybe normal for some women with ectomorph-type bodies, but most of us aren't those women. You look healthy, fit, and vibrant, which I think is gorgeous.

gopintos, most people are shocked when I say I weigh 150. Recent guesses have placed me at 120-130 (and one notable time when a woman thought she might be offending me when she guessed 115!). I think that's the problem with using scale weight as the defining measure for one's goals, rather than aiming for a dress size, body fat percentage, or other measure. I really don't give a good goddamn if people think 150 is fat--I weigh 150 and wear a size 4, sometimes a 6, with a 26" waist and some awesome muscles. I defy anyone outside of a crazed Hollywood tabloid to call that fat.

And maybe I'm not attractive to everyone with my calves that won't fit into knee-high boots and my increasingly noticeable traps, but that's okay. I'm attractive to my partner. I get enough attention to know that there are other people who find me attractive too.

[gopintos]

I'm attractive to my partner. I get enough attention to know that there are other people who find me attractive too.

Rawk on!

I know DH loves me regardless. He has seen me at both ends of the spectrum. But I do know he is happier now that I am happier with me. And he would never say, you look better now, or anything that would imply I was less of an attractive woman before, love really is blind sometimes --- but I can tell he is equally pleased with the results.

I think he is just glad that I am in a happier place regardless of where that equates on the scale. I know he has always just wanted me to be happy but he was just never sure why I wasn't or what to do about it.

[Owly]

My partner says that it's not about my body size--it's how I feel in my body that really does it for him. We met when I was fatter, so I'm not worried that he's just saying I'm sexy at whatever size. I think a lot of it really is about confidence and how that changes the way a person behaves and moves.

Don't get me wrong, I've had an ED in the past and have some days when I'm pretty unkind to myself about my body. But I'm working on that and trying to look in the mirror and see the things I like more than the things I dislike.

[gopintos]

I think a lot of it really is about confidence and how that changes the way a person behaves and moves.

Totally. I can remember him and I discussing something similar many years ago, and case in point was a woman that we both felt was otherwise fairly unattractive in her facial features, but she just carried herself in such a way, such confidence - that she just oozed sex appeal.

[sbhikes]

I think I look like a top-heavy linebacker. I honestly was shocked when I saw that picture because I thought I looked way better than that. Plus I look like the spitting image of my mother, which totally freaked me out. Everything about me--my smile, the tilt of my head, the shape of my face, the shape of my body, my proportions, everything. I look like my mom. I used to look like my dad! WTF??

[gopintos]

honestly was shocked when I saw that picture because I thought I looked way better than that... I look like my mom. I used to look like my dad! WTF??

Geesh that is what I hate about pictures. I always think I look better and making more progress & then I see a picture. FWIW, I think part of it is the computer. For real. I look better on DH's laptop than I do on this computer

I tried to take some last night, but the light was horrible, I am too short for that mirror, I just don't know how everyone takes these self-portraits. And now I can't even figure out how to send them to myself A few came through but not all of them.

I wish I looked more like my mom. Nothing about me looks like my mom, well aside from the obvious I guess, but she was long and lean and beautiful. I take after my dad

[magnolia1973]

A normal body would be fine

There is no "normal body". You have an athletic look. Other people are waif like. Others have curves. Some are pear shape. Weight loss can't ever change your body type and proportions that much.

You have a healthy body and that is a good thing.