How You See Yourself

When Your Body Image Doesn’t Measure Up

Cartoon of muscular man frowning at reflection in mirror

Do you like what you see when you look in the mirror? If your answer is “No,” you’re not alone. For many of us, there’s a growing gap between how our bodies look and how we’d like them to look.

Americans have generally gotten wider and flabbier over the past few decades, as obesity rates continue to climb. But at the same time, the media bombard us with images of people who seem impossibly thin or muscular. The gap between reality and expectations can leave many people feeling inadequate.

It’s normal to look in the mirror occasionally and wish for a firmer body or more glamorous hair. But some people find they can’t stop thinking about body flaws they believe they have. They may avoid going out with friends or even stop going to work because they feel ashamed of their skin, hair, weight or other features.

“They say they look ugly, flawed or deformed, but in reality they look fine,” says Dr. Katharine A. Phillips, a psychiatrist at Brown University. “The physical flaws they perceive are things we can’t see at all, or they’re really quite minimal.”

Having a negative body image like this isn’t just an attitude problem. It can take a toll on your mental and physical health. If excessive thoughts about your body cause great distress or interfere with your daily life, you may have a body image disorder, also known as body dysmorphic disorder (BDD).

BDD is a psychiatric condition that affects about 1-2% of the population. It occurs slightly more often in women than in men. “People with BDD frequently think about an imagined defect in their physical appearance. The thoughts are difficult to resist or control,” Phillips says. “On average, these patients report that they think about their perceived appearance flaws for about 3–8 hours a day.”

Because of their imagined flaws, many people with BDD avoid going out in public or shun friends and family. About three-quarters have had major depression, and about 1 in 4 attempt suicide.

Much attention has been paid to how culture and the media can damage women’s feelings about their own bodies. But studies suggest that men and boys can also feel they can’t measure up to the broad-shouldered, narrow-waisted, muscular men they see in ads, cartoons, TV shows, movies and even action figures.

“There’s a climate in American society that rewards muscularity and equates it with masculinity,” says Dr. Harrison Pope, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School.

Pope and his colleagues have found a wide gap between what men think of their own bodies and what they believe women prefer. In one study, researchers asked men in the U.S. and Europe to select a body size and shape on a computer that they felt matched their own bodies. Then they selected a body that they thought women would find most attractive. On average, the men expected that women would prefer bodies with about 20 pounds more muscle than the men actually had.

But when the scientists asked women which body shapes they liked most, “the women chose perfectly ordinary male bodies, without any extra muscle,” Pope says. “The men seemed to have a very distorted view of what women wanted.”

A skewed view of how muscular you are may signal a type of BDD called muscle dysmorphia. It’s sometimes found among bodybuilders. People with the disorder become obsessed with being more muscular. “They might look in a mirror and think that they look small and wimpy, even if they are actually large and muscular,” Pope says. Their poor body image puts them at risk for illegal use of anabolic steroids and other drugs to gain muscle mass.

“Steroids are extremely effective at building muscle, and they aren’t as negatively perceived as other drugs of abuse,” Pope says. “They can give you bulging upper-body muscles that you could never achieve with even the most dedicated exercise and weight-training.”

Information source: http://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2009/July/feature1.htm

But these drug-induced muscles come at a high price. Steroid abuse can lead to serious, sometimes irreversible health problems. It can damage the liver and cause high blood pressure, high cholesterol and skin problems. Growing evidence suggests that steroids can also damage heart muscle. Males may develop breast tissue, and their testicles may shrink. Steroid abuse can also alter certain brain chemicals and affect mood and behavior.

“One surprising effect is that when men take anabolic steroids and gradually become more muscular, they sometimes become more fixated on their body size and even more dissatisfied,” Pope says. “Steroids don’t always relieve body image problems.”

People with BDD, however, might focus on any part of the body. The most common concern is with some aspect of the skin (such as perceived acne or scarring), which occurs in about three-fourths of patients with BDD. Many patients are fixated on their hair or nose. Some worry about their weight, thighs, teeth or face. More than one-third seek cosmetic surgery, although it rarely fixes the appearance problem they believe they have.

BDD can be difficult to diagnose, because affected people look normal and are often too ashamed to talk about their concerns with appearance. Clues include frequent mirror-checking, excessive grooming, skin picking or covering up disliked body parts.

“The good news is that we’re learning a lot about effective treatment for this disorder,” says Phillips. A number of studies suggest that medications known as serotonin-reuptake inhibitors, which are used to treat depression and certain other disorders, can be effective for BDD. A type of therapy known as cognitive-behavioral therapy also seems promising.

If you don’t have a body image disorder, improving your attitude about your body might just be a matter of accepting that healthy bodies come in many shapes and sizes. We all want to look good, but you should never sacrifice your health to try to achieve a “perfect” body.

Diet Pills - Do They Really Work?

I am often asked whether diet pills really work. The answer is a confident but qualified yes. Of course diet pills really do work. However, they only work in conjunction with changes in lifestyle. The changes in lifestyle might relate to changes in diet, changes in the amount of daily physical exercise or changes and the use of stress management techniques.

Not all diet pills which are also referred to as slimming pills,should be considered the same. The specific or appropriate diet pill will vary from person to person and will depend on the preferences of the individuals. Some diet pills are intended to suppress appetite. Some are intended to boost metabolism. Other slimming pills are meant to attach to fat and expel it before it can be absorbed by your body. These pills are often referred to as fat blockers. Some diet pills are synthetic while others are made from all natural ingredients.

My personal preference is for all natural slimming pills. There are natural diet pills that fit into more than one of the above mentioned categories. I do not want you to take my preference for all natural diet pills as a negative statement about synthetic slimming pills. There are some synthetic or manmade pills that are completely safe and have been proven to work really well.

Hoodia Gordonii is an example of an all natural appetite suppressant. Hoodia Gordonii is harvested in Africa. For centuries it was used by bushmen to control their appetites while they went on long hunting trips. In the late 1990s the FDA announced that certain products claiming to be real Hoodia contained no Hoodia at all. Accordingly, be careful to only buy Hoodia from reputable sources.

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is another effective all natural diet pill. Researchers at the University of Guelph in Ontario found that subjects who took a daily CLA supplement lost more weight than a group that took a placebo pill. Both groups were controlled for the amount of calories they consumed and the amount of exercised undertaken. This study was completed in the months leading up to Christmas and over the Christmas period. The results of this study were then replicated by a team of researchers out of an American university.

Diet pills definitely do work and can help you lose weight. If taken properly and in consultation with your doctor they can play an important role in your weight loss regime. However, slimming pills alone cannot perform a miracle. You also need to adopt a healthy lifestyle. A healthy lifestyle includes healthy eating, the utilization of stress management techniques such as deep breathing or yoga and a moderate exercise regime. In order to be successful in your weight loss regime you need to combine the appropriate diet pills with a healthy lifestyle.

How Do You Maintain a Healthy Diet

Those who choose not to quit early are usually faced with many problems such as food intake, exercising regularly and not losing any weight at all. The solution to this is to keep track of everything, keep tabs on your metabolism cause not every person is the same. I know some people that can eat fast food everyday and look leaner and fit while the next person will gain 50 plus pounds. This is usually hereditary.

Choosing what to eat is very important when you want to Lose weight and is a very important factor if you want to learn. If your are asking How do you maintain a healthy a diet then eating eating right should be at the top of your list. What you should try to eat is more fruits and vegetables and less processed foods and make sure to drink lots of water too.

So know we covered food, the next thing is exercise be sure to set a daily routine that will build up a sweat. Many people choose to just jog in the morning but you could also join a gym, the keyword here is Cardio, get that heart pumping. Do this for a week or two and I am absolutely sure you will see results. Remember that practice makes perfect.

Follow these steps and you are guaranteed success in your weight loss endeavors. No longer will you be asking people How do you maintain a healthy diet cause you will know. Keep up the good work and reach that goal.

Men's Health - Killer Abs

Every man says to himself, "I wish I had an amazing midsection." We want that great look so we can impress our friends and it helps our own self esteem. Men think by working out, or doing hundreds of crunches they will get those amazing abs in no time. We don't need to diet or do any other workouts except crunches.

Although I wish it were that easy it usually isn't. Just doing crunches will not be enough to get the thin layer of fat off of your midsection to reveal the abdominal muscles underneath. Crunches will not be enough by themselves to do this, so what is needed is a diet and exercise plan. Neither one will work that well if they are only done by themselves.

A diet is very important because it helps your body get the nutrients and energy it needs to fuel itself through your vigorous workouts. Your body will burn the fat off of your stomach if and only if you are not taking in any more fatty foods, sugars or a lot of red meat. You don't have to completely stop eating these you just have to cut back on them and eat them in moderation.

Exercise is a very big factor when it comes to getting the abs you want. You must do cardiovascular, strength training and stretching exercises. If you only focus on one thing you will not see the results that you want. By being a more rounded person you will lose the weight you want and be happy.