body image

Body Shaming Yourself

Have you ever looked back at a picture of yourself from a few years ago and thought, “I looked good.” But you know that at the time you thought you weren’t good enough. The day of the picture you told yourself you had a bad hair day, thick arms, or weight to lose. We get caught up in body shaming ourselves in little ways, never really thinking we are good enough at the time.

Aside:

I selected the picture here at random. It’s from 2014 or earlier. This is an example of a picture that I see now and think I look fine, but at the time I thought I had all sorts of ways to improve myself. Now, when I catch myself thinking I don’t look good, I try to look at myself from the perspective of Maggie from five years from now. I’m pretty sure she’s thinking I look great.

Sharing What’s Good

Not long ago I read an article about how women meet up with friends and complain about themselves. They never show up and say, “I look great today,” or “I’m having a great hair day.” Part of that is societal. […]

Body Shaming YourselfMaggie Downie2019-07-29T10:51:59-04:00

Body Shaming

Me, Hiding My Fat

My gastroenterologist prescribed me a dietician for guidance doing the Low FODMAP’s diet to help with SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth). Normally, I would handle a diet plan myself, but I wanted to do it right, and every website seemed to differ on what low FODMAP’s meant. Also, I did not expect to wind up dealing with body shaming.

I made an appointment with a local dietician. It went terribly. Somewhat foolishly I made a follow-up appointment because I thought anyone could have a rough day. I didn’t want to judge someone based on one meeting. These are moments I look back on and get frustrated with myself. As I near forty, it’s time to learn that my time is valuable and I can usually trust my first impression. The woman was not having a difficult day; she is just not the right person to guide me in any direction.

Where Things Went Wrong

After listening to her story of Lyme disease and SIBO and how she saved herself, she put me on a scale and gave me the fat pinch test. I have not had a fat pinch test […]

Body ShamingMaggie Downie2019-07-10T17:01:21-04:00

Must I Work Both Sides of My Body Evenly?

What a piece of work is Maggie. Can you see where I’m unbalanced?

Go to one physical therapist and they will focus on the injured side. Go to another and they pay attention to both sides. Come to my Pilates class and though I’ll attempt to work you out evenly, my lack of counting skills may get in the way. So, does it matter? What you do to the right, must you do to the left? Must we work both sides of the body evenly?

When I first started teaching I thought balance was the key to everything. If anyone told me to only work one side, I’d have thought it was an atrocity. Apparently with my youth came a sense of hyperbole in movement. Now I’ve come to realize we will never be even. No matter what we do in our 1-hour exercise class, what we face in life will strengthen and alter one side more than the other. Striving for absolute balance is an impossible task. Our heart is more to the left. Our liver is on […]

Must I Work Both Sides of My Body Evenly?Maggie Downie2017-12-29T19:42:51-05:00

Be Positive & Beat Body Shaming

Warning! Rant to follow.

As I work on a blog about women, beauty and being comfortable with our body, a friend sent me a link to a relevant story making news internationally. Apparently, mean girls can take naked photographs of you at the gym and post them publically on the internet for the world to see.

Playboy Playmate, Dani Mathers, who I’d never heard of before, was at the gym and posted a nude picture with a snide comment about a woman she thought was overweight. (Note: the link above will take you to a news clip, not the photograph.) I was torn about writing this post because I thought it might be a reason people stop going to the gym. I’m more irate about the invasion of privacy than the body shaming. The fact that one human being would do this to another is egregiously disturbing.

I’d like to think Mathers somehow lost sight of what she was doing. I worry that with the internet a mistake, albeit an awful one, can be an error someone can never recover from. I know Mathers is not the victim or the person I should be worried about, but it makes me want to […]

Be Positive & Beat Body ShamingMaggie Downie2018-01-13T16:11:50-05:00

Body Image of Young Girls

A few weeks ago I was swimming at the gym and a young girl (I’m guessing 8-years-old) stopped me and said, “If you want I can teach you how to swim so that you’ll actually lose weight.” After my initial embarrassment (because everyone in the pool heard), I laughed it off. I assumed that she thought I looked so awkward swimming that I was getting nothing out of it. And, I may be reading too much into it, but I think there is a valid discussion point here.

(Picture to left: Me, today with the body of someone an 8-year-old thinks should lose weight.)

I posted the comment on Facebook and told my classes about it. People had differing views but many were really upset. And it got me thinking about young girls and body image.

First of all, there is the good point that I wasn’t swimming to lose weight. I was training for a triathlon. And I swim because it’s good for my joints and keeps me running. Lots of people swim because they enjoy it. Losing weight is certainly not the […]

Body Image of Young GirlsMaggie Downie2017-10-25T15:49:51-04:00