When I saw and read the article in Us Magazine this month about Jennifer Love Hewitt on losing 18 LBS in ten weeks, my first thought was “I thought weight didn’t matter”.

I know she states in the article that she didn’t lose the weight because of the rude and mean comments, so my questions to her is why go on the cover of Us Magazine and make it such a HUGE deal that you lost 18 LBS, why make it so public?

Lose the weight, be happy, and run your marathon. Don’t make such a production out of losing weight, it sends the wrong message to our teens. Every time a teen see a cover like this one on a popular magazine, it screams “if you looked like I did you need to lose weight.

80% of women feel badly about their bodies, and most women and teens have an immediate reaction to seeing someone on the cover of a magazine showing off their body. The reaction is usually I’m not good enough.

80% of women report that images of women on TV, fashion magazines, and advertising make them feel insecure about their looks.

So I don’t know if Jennifer Love Hewitt thought she was doing our youth a favor, she might want to rethink it. Any image of a women that is showing her slim body with a smiling face, and heavier body with an unhappy face is sending a message that thin is better.

The media is bombarding our youth on all levels, mostly about our bodies not being thin enough.

Talk to your teen about how this makes her feel, and let her know that she is great the way she is and that most of the images in magazines aren’t real. What’s real is the essence of who we are.

Here is a video about how the media is affecting our teenage girls and yes us too. Let me know what you think about it.

Today I am 51 years young, and feeling pretty good in my body all-in-all. A few aches here and there that I presume are normal, considering I have been walking around in this body for 51 years.

It has brought me to a place of looking at my body a bit differently. I have been learning to love my body all of my life, it has been a life long journey. I believe that this is why teenage girls relate to me so well. It is because I can truly understand their hand ups when it comes to their bodies, because it is something I work on everyday.

My body has changed a lot through out the years, but probably more in the last 3 years. I woke up today greeted by a wonderful man telling me Happy Birthday, a man that loves me unconditionally. As I went through the morning to prepare to be with a group of amazing women for the day to swim at the creek, I was looking at my body and realized that even though it is a bit larger than it used to be, and a bit flabbier, I had a new awareness of my love for it. I believe it was also connected to my awareness of how much I have grown throughout these amazing years in this exact body.

Our bodies are only the vehicle that allows us to get around and do the things we need and want to do. I am in gratitude for what a wonderful working vehicle it has been for me. It is so important to be thankful for our bodies, they work hard for us. Thank your body today for being so good to you, for showing up everyday to do the things you ask of it, and love it for exactly what it looks like.

Negative Body Image isn’t just running rapid with teenage girls it’s weighing heavy on all young woman. Everywhere you turn the media is talking about women’s bodies and how they are suppose to look. 

I can’t remember ever liking my body.

My poor body, the judgment it must feel.  “You’re not skinny enough, you’re not tone enough, not tall enough, not shapely enough, you’re stomach is poochy”.  Hearing these words every time I walk by a mirror, trying on cloths, looking at the models in magazines, it’s enough to make my body want to run and hide. Run and hide away from me, because I am the one with all of the judgments. It appears as if the judgments are coming from the outside, but I am the one letting them in and confirming them.

Picture a young child with someone she really loves, and now picture this person saying these harsh words  “You’re not skinny enough, you’re not tone enough, not tall enough, not shapely enough”. OUCH!  These thoughts and words hurt.  Imagine how this child would feel. The feelings she might feel could be unimportance, worthlessness, loneliness, shame, and embarrassment. Can you imagine having a child and making her feel this way? Of course not, so why is okay to make yourself feel this way. We need to treat ourselves like our own little girl. Handle her with care.  

Loving my body is something I work on everyday. I do this by first realizing that my body is a gift, a beautiful gift to get me around for my stay on this earth.  I have to have an understanding that it needs to be healthy and strong for this stay, not be prettier then other girls to do this job. I also need to realize that judging my body does not make my body prettier or make me feel better about myself, it only damages my self-esteem.

So, what is it that we need to do to love our bodies and not judge them?  Here are a few tips to help you create or maintain a healthy body image:

• Appreciate your body for carrying you through this journey on earth, praise your body for what it can do- walk, run, sing, laugh, play sports. I could go on and on.
• Know that real beauty comes from the inside. What makes you shine comes from who you are, not what you look like.
• Embrace those parts of your body that you don’t like, tell them everyday you love them. Like you would if you had a daughter with something she disliked about herself. You would try to strengthen the parts she disliked.
• Focus on what you love about yourself, not what you don’t like.
• Don’t bad talk yourself; keep your thoughts about yourself positive.
• Take care of yourself, eat healthy, exercise do nice things for yourself, read a book, relax, take a bath, pamper yourself.
• Be around people that treat you well, and like you for who you are.
• Don’t feel like you have to follow the fads, dress the way you want to make you feel good about your body.
• Don’t buy into the media telling you your body has to look a certain way to be attractive.
• Every time someone, or something (TV) says something negative about your body or someone else’s, just have a mantra  “I love myself just the way I am, and I am perfect” 
• Stop judging other people, and the way they look. Low self-esteem shows up as judgments.

I am so excited that we now have celebrities like Tyra Banks and Jennifer Love-Hewett that are standing in their power saying “I like my body”.  Let me know how you feel about your body and how you feel about the emphasis on bodies in general. Hugs to our bodies, Debra