Thoughts on the Elliptical

So I am soooooo proud of myself. I actually went to the gym in addition to going for my 1 hour and 15 minute walks.

During my gym session, I spent a half hour on the elliptical and I was watching a documentary on Haute Couture.

The documentary was about the Haute Couture industry and it focused on an exclusive group of women that would buy and wear Haute Couture clothing.

The commentator mentioned how the women who were in this club were often on perpetual diets because if they could fit into the Haute Couture dress that was fitted for the runway model, they could get 30% discount.

I was somewhat amused by that. Many women would kill to have a model’s body shape and yet, here there was an actual monetary benefit to having a model’s body….30% off the price of a very expensive piece of clothing!

I realized that even if I had enough money to afford an Haute Couture dress, I would never, ever get the discount even if I had managed to get the exact waistline of the model. I’m 5 foot 2 inches and while it may be possible for me to get the “preferred” waistline of a model, I could never stretch myself into the typical height of a model (which I’m told is about 6 feet).

And that got me to thinking about models, body images and our standards of beauty. When I was growing up, many of my contemporaries wanted to look like the models that graced the covers of the fashion magazines. They would get all kinds makeup, do their hair in specific ways and be on perpetual diets to meet this goal. I think I would have fallen into that trap too, but since I stopped growing beyond 5 feet 2 inches and didn’t have blonde hair, I knew that there was no point in even entertaining that idea, so I didn’t bother.

But in truth, how many of us do look like a fashion model? Does that make us look less beautiful? Of course not. Although we may know this intellectually, many of us get negative attitudes about our bodies and those negative attitudes can really affect our perception of ourselves. This has been wonderfully shown in the TV show called “How to Look Good Naked”. In this show they portray women who feel absolutely ugly and overweight. They “feel” as though they are bigger than everyone and uglier than everyone. When the host asks the woman to compare herself to other women of various sizes, she always ends up over-estimating her actual size. As the show progresses, you see how the woman is transformed into loving her body for what it is, instead of loathing it. And all this is done without the woman shedding one pound.

Beauty exists in all shapes and sizes, and I just wonder when the fashion industry will also realize and celebrate that fact. When will they start designing for real women and when will they stop putting out unrealistic standards for women to live up to? When will real mental and physical health and wellness be celebrated by our media?

I honestly don’t know the answers to those questions, but I do believe we can create a change by not buying into their ideals. We can start to value true beauty, regardless of its shape and size, and we can value true mental and physical wellness.

By making these changes, who knows what can happen? May be women won’t have to be on a perpetual diet to get a 30% discount off an Haute Couture gown. And may be we will feel more beautiful and a lot more happier with ourselves regardless of what our shape or what our size.