Tell us your best bits
 

:) hello everyone. Don't know about everyone else but I get sick of looking through magazines and seeing pictures of the "perfect" figure. Articles about which celebs have gained weight etc. I find it very easy to look in the mirror and criticize myself. Not sure wether it's a ladies thing or not.

So tell me what are your best bits? What do you like about yourself? :)

Re: Tell us your best bits
 

I would agree that body image in the media has a negative effect. I like that my wife comes from a Scandinavian culture, in particular using sauna's there is lots of different body types, no particular hang ups. I just hope my two girls grow up to be as comfortable in their own skin.

I remember a line from a song, so guy rambling on about life advice, especially about suncream use.

"dont read "beauty" magazines, they will only make you feel ugly"

From a guys perspective, if he is in the same room as a naked girl, as far as he is concerned, he has just won the lottery.

Re: Tell us your best bits
 

I was just reading about 'thigh gap' and how it's now considered attractive :confused:

Women are mental :lol:

Re: Tell us your best bits
 

Wear Sunscreen by Buz Luhrmann;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTJ7AzBIJoI


Body image is a frankly ridiculous notion as in my opinion it goes both ways.

People who are obese and heading for an early grave are told they are big and beautiful, which in many cases they are. But being beautiful isn't going to reduce the likliehood of diabetes, heart disease and other organ failure, etc.

I watched a programme on India's recent rise in Obesity - due to so -called "Western Food" - one lad was 18 and tipped the scales at 140kgs. The reporter had convinced him to see a doctor and take a few tests. His Mum blocked the path and told the reported to clear off - parents like this are part of the problem.

On the other hand you have the mega skinny; perhaps those purported as the 'Yoga' ideal. I'm not talking about people who seem to be able to keep the weight off, but those where you can see thier muscle tissue, because there is no fat, but no definition.

I'm not having a go at yoga, but one might feel that pictures of yogis doing their stuff might just make people think they're going to obtain the unobtainable and therefore become body conscious in their attempt to make the impossible, possible. It'll never happen and certainly not by yoga alone, it takes a lot more than that.

Education on excercise and nutrition is poor which means that beauty and Health & Fitness magazines can continue to market just enough to generate interest, but not enough for the vast majority to actually reach and more importantly MAINTAIN thier ideal.

To answer the OP question, my favourite part in my legs. My whole life they've been what the girls have commented on, so I suppose that has stuck with me :o

Re: Tell us your best bits
 

This is another thing;

I'm no saint nor a feminist, I've had a few tasty conversation about women in my time but quite how something so misogenystic and crass is allowed by females to be another potentially unachieveable exercise obessesion is ridiculous.

What we have at the moment is the 'the plank challenge' whereby you plank (on your toes and forearms, keeping your back straight) for incrementally longer period of time for 30 days. And then what ... ?

You get a tiny bit fitter, you may lose some weight (not much) on the basis that you're doing more excercise than you had been, but then you stop and go back to the start. Probably with a back back because your technique was all over the shop.

The squat challange is exactly the same.

Then the 'thigh gap'. Jesus wept. Thinking about it this is probably got something to do with the rush of women doing leg workouts in my gym all of a sudden. It's a good thing because leg work out are the toughest (using the biggest muscles, therefore burns loadsa calories) but you simply can not target where the fat comes off. It's genetic.

Doing sit ups wont necessarily burn belly fat (although it will strengthen your core stability, if done correctly).

Like I said in a previous post; lack of education.

It makes me so mad that the public are flooded with all this information and most of it utter crap from marketing companies, supermarkets, beauty brands all in the name of money. With my business hat on; it's genius.

If a cereal bar box tells you it's contents is 'healthy' in all probability it isn't - why you need to be told something is healthy? Is Broccolli, Carrots and Spinach ever labelled as healthy? Or course not, it's bloody obvious that fresh, vibrantly, but naturally coloured food is healthy.

I could rant on this FOREVER ...

PS Not trying to be patronising with explaining stuff in brackets. Some people might simply not know what I'm referring to.

Re: Tell us your best bits
 

Women are their own worst enemies, constantly picking on other women's looks; Hillary Clinton springs to mind, and Kate Middleton 24 hours after having a baby. Oh all is well with Kate now, a TV news item here showed her flat stomach.

When I was younger, I thought women would be freed from a lot of this, but it's constantly getting worse.

Re: Tell us your best bits
 

It's bonkers, though men do suffer as well as women - it's just perhaps more hidden due to social acceptance.

For instance would many of ladies pop out the house without a bra, with bare hairy legs without brishing your hair?

No they wouldn't, unless in uttery emergency, but convention says that it wont make me look very good - it's all the same principle.

There is a time and a place to look smart, but it's centuries of body image and what other people might think that had driven this.

I have some pretty gammy feet, partly genetics, partly through various injuries and operations - but it's not going to stop me wearing flip flops for fear of someone turning their nose up at the state of my feet!! That's their problem as far as I am concerned.

I wouldn't do something obviousy offensive, like get on like pack into a busy place after excercising still in gym gear dripping with sweat. That's just plain rude.

Fad dieting is getting worse, and worse, and worse too.

The 5:2 diet all the rage - in principle and on the face of it it seemed it could be a way forward.

5 days eating what you like, 2 days on a resricted diet on any days in any 7 day period.

It's flexible, but I'm not sure that it's all that nutritious. The 2 days of restricted diet are pretty close to fasting, which done correctly seems to have benefits (from experience - I fast for 16 - 24 hours every 10-14 days).

It's the other 5 that worry me; eat what you like.

Eating is about the nutritional make up of what we eat, not the volume. Most people are on the 5:2 because they don't have the disciple to balance things out they way they should on a daily basis, so that ill discipline just get sandwiched in to those 5 days.

This means that they take in LESS nutrients because the lack of discipine mean less good nutrition on 5 days, which can't be made up on the 2 days because you're lacking in nutrition based on the fact your under eating, or fasting.


I'm not scientific master on the subject but as the article I posted the other day attests, I've been through the mill on this and it's a genuine interest of mine and I do lot of reading and experiementation on it; fad exercise and fad dieting might, at best, work in the short term - but is seldom sustained for months through to years and just because you lose weight, are you really any healthier for it ... ?

Some good reading on the subject come from Dr Robert Lustig and Michael Mosley.


New Zealand has been an interesting place to come to on this front.

3 of the 5 days of a work week I eat salmon, boiled eggs and spinach for breakfast in the office - the vibe I got in London was that I was insane and extreme, that somehow the wholesome nutritious foods I was eating were 'a treat'.

To me a treat are sugary, high calories foods and alcohol.

Here in NZ it is accepted that it's obviously healthy and I'm actively applauded (not literally) for it. The knowledge on the benefits of fresh food and nutrition in NZ is good - the irony is, plenty of people don't heed their own knowledge and still eat like the Brits do!!


Sorry, I'm taking over the thread ... I did say I could rant on all day about this ...

Re: Tell us your best bits
 

:D


Men just generally think we are fantastic but are riddled with faults. Of course women just generally are fantastic but are riddled with insecurities. Overall we could learn a lot from one another.

My top 5 tips if I had a daughter:
1. Don’t read glossy magazines that are 30 pages of “be thin, be thin!” followed by a recipe for chocolate cake. There are actually books you can read that are meaningful and can teach you many, many interesting and useful things so read those instead. Take an interest in the world, arts and sciences etc.
2. Be very ambitious in work/business/finances, women are generally better than men at most things (according to extensive research) and this certainly extends to the previously mentioned fields. You have to wonder if our economy and western civilisation generally has got this far often treating women as second class citizens/employees, what could be achieved by unleashing the fullness of their awesome potential? There is much to be optimistic about.
3. Don’t make life more difficult than it needs to be for each other (i.e. other women), you face enough adversity in life as it is so no gossiping or knives in each other’s backs. On the same note be less diplomatic with men, men famously don’t do subtle but the flip side of that is that we easily set aside our differences. Just because a man punches another man in the face and then sleeps with his girlfriend doesn’t mean they can’t be best friends (though drinks may have to be purchased as peace offerings to one another ;)). The greater goals in life come first (like attaining more status, power and position to impress women!).
4. Spend less time lamenting your mistakes. Your biggest mistakes in life will always be those of omission rather than commission, where you knew enough about a situation to make some money or rise in your job or put that man you like in the palm of your hand but instead you sat on your hands (actually this applies equally to men).
5. You are likely much more physically attractive to men than they are to you, women were born dealt the better hand when it comes to looks. The idea that you’ll get that man of your dreams if you just have slightly bigger boobs or a slightly smaller bottom is ridiculous, deck chairs on the titanic really.

Re: Tell us your best bits
 

:lol:

Unfortunately my daughter won't listen to a word of that.

Re: Tell us your best bits
 

Perhaps women stifle their own potential that you elude to in point 2, with the bitchiness eluded to in point 3 ... ?

Being their own worst enemy (collectively or individually) isn't a good trait and as this point proves, can prove to be your own downfall no matter how good you are.


I think a lot of what you say is true however (despite the fact your cited resesrch evidence is missing from your post?) but there are far more more women who have glass ceiling above them simply because the may seek to move in to motherhood.

It's brutal, at best.

As it is businesses just can not plan for the unknown to a degree making the promotion of women a difficult task. It's a tricky subject and the solution is difficult.

I work in a business lauded for it's equality and there are many women in C level positions and above, the vast majority of them are 50 or over however. In comparison the men are about 7-10 years younger in equivalent positions.

It should be noted that companies are working toward making this better. One family member (in the UK) got 12 months maternity on FULL PAY working for Management Consultancy firm, apparently this is the norm there.

Re: Tell us your best bits
 

I've always quite liked my left eye.

Re: Tell us your best bits
 

That's eyeist!!

What makes it better than the right eye?

Re: Tell us your best bits
 

The right eye is imperfect through no fault of it's own.

Re: Tell us your best bits
 

I like my fine but lots-of-it, fast growing hair on my head (just clear that up now) Would be better if it wasn't in need of a dye every 4 weeks xx

Re: Tell us your best bits
 

I like strong. I have great arms - not a bingo wing in site. If I was younger this is perfect for me