No Body Is Perfect | Teen Ink

No Body Is Perfect MAG

By Anonymous

I walked down the aisles looking for a pattern in my favorite clothing store. Just my luck, they had the cutest shorts – but only in sizes 0, 1, 3, 7, and 9. I wear a 13. Annoyed and devastated I walked out thinking, I’m just too fat.

The next week, at my grandmother’s house for the traditional spaghetti dinner, my cousin and his girlfriend, Ivy, joined us. We had a delicious dinner. Afterward, the women sat around talking about dieting and their weight and whatnot. My aunt complimented Ivy on how skinny she looked for weighing 120 pounds. My aunt said that she needed to go on a diet because she weighed almost 140 pounds. This comment kind of hurt me because I weigh almost 160 pounds. So I said, “I probably need to go on a diet too,” but I said this softly so, hopefully, they wouldn’t hear me.

Ivy, however, was sitting right next to me and heard what I said. She took me into the other room with her, and we sat on the bed. “When I was in my senior year of high school, I weighed 140 pounds,” she said. “I felt so insecure. I couldn’t imagine any guys would want to be with me because of how fat I was. I tried eating less, dieting, exercise, but nothing seemed to work. That was when I realized that no body is perfect. No anorexically skinny girl will ever be skinny enough for society to say that her body is ‘perfect,’ because then she would be considered ‘unhealthy.’”

I thought a lot about this for the next few days and realized that no one had ever called me fat, except when my mom was joking with me. So why was I so caught up with how much I weighed? Why was I so consumed by a number that does nothing but mock you? This number labels and classifies you and tells you “You can’t fit into those jeans because you’re 160 pounds. You can’t go out with him because you’re 160 pounds. No one will want to hang out with you because you’re 160 pounds” over and over.

I decided that I wasn’t going to let my weight rule my life. I wasn’t going to let it decide what I should and should not wear. At that point I realized that I, too, believe that no body is perfect, that no girl can be skinny enough, and that all those people who tell you the “anorexic look” is in are probably so uncomfortable with their own weight that they have to make other people self-conscious just to make themselves feel better.

So, anytime I start to feel self-conscious about my weight, I think to myself, Anorexia? I think not.



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This article has 118 comments.


on Mar. 12 2011 at 2:18 pm
HerDreamsGiveHerWings, Berkeley, California
0 articles 0 photos 3 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes go"

Even if yours isn't perfect, or mine, or an anorexicly (sp?) skinny girl, their are definatly (sp?) some people that come pretty close. I think what is important to keep in mind is that those people might have a "better" body then you but you can write! and they have some weeknesses. I think nobodys perfect but idk if no body is perfect

 


Nofattys said...
on Mar. 10 2011 at 5:59 pm
Fat people are disgusting. Society should not tolerate them. They eat more than a regular person should, they are vile creatures who shouldn't even be alive. 

Keeper6 GOLD said...
on Mar. 9 2011 at 4:26 pm
Keeper6 GOLD, Buffalo, Minnesota
16 articles 0 photos 39 comments

Favorite Quote:
Giving up doesn't always mean you are weak, sometimes it just means you are strong enough to let go.

im sorry to say this but i dont really like your mom... even though i dont know her she seems kinda rude. your mom might be the best woman in the world but i dont think any decent mother should even think about joking with there kid about them being fat it just doesnt seem right.........

ScienceKid said...
on Mar. 6 2011 at 5:45 am
Beauty is in the mind of the beholder, so you can't exactly be ugly or pretty. I'm the 2nd-skinnniest kid in my homeroom, and that's OK. What's ugly to one may be beautiful to the next. Average people make fun of fat people, but it just does nothing but hurt their feelings. We shoudn't let appearance rule over us.

on Feb. 21 2011 at 1:39 pm
Marissabd242 GOLD, Nashville, Tennessee
11 articles 0 photos 1 comment

Favorite Quote:
You can bind my body, tie my hands, govern my acts...You have the will of the stronger, and society conforms you in it...But you cannot command my will, monsieur...God alone can bend and subdue it - Indiana, George Sand

I absolutely love this article!  It has such a ring of truth.  Sometimes we try so hard to fit that "perfect" model, to be thin because we believe thin is perfect, thin gets attention, thin is the only kind of beauty.  Who decides beauty anyway? 

on Feb. 19 2011 at 8:22 pm
MonaLisa218 BRONZE, Indianapolis, Indiana
1 article 0 photos 12 comments

Favorite Quote:
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world"

I am what people consider "fat". I look at myself as...well i don't know. When i read this i thought about what people say about me doesn't matter. This gave me more inspiration to be myself. Thanks so much!!!!

on Feb. 19 2011 at 1:12 am
ZombieDanceWithMe SILVER, Rockford, Illinois
7 articles 1 photo 98 comments

Favorite Quote:
“To die is nothing; but it is terrible not to live”



-Victor Hugo

I just wanted to say two things:

1.) I really liked this article! I'm definitely saving this one!

and

2.) I dissagree. The  body's who are perfect are the body's who are comfortable with themselves. If you can be comfortable with who you are in every aspect, then you are perfect. Perfect to yourself. And your proud of that. And I think thats cool c:


keelz said...
on Feb. 17 2011 at 6:03 pm
i used to think i was to short and skinny i hated it now i realize thatif i am healthy it doesnt matter

on Feb. 11 2011 at 10:24 am
SecretSasha SILVER, Cibolo, Texas
5 articles 0 photos 68 comments

Favorite Quote:
"It doesn't matter how slow you go as long as you don't stop"

I really like this article! It's great that you realized to be happy with your body, before you went to extremes like so many girls. Good article!

on Jan. 28 2011 at 3:15 pm
Bribribri BRONZE, Boise, Idaho
2 articles 0 photos 1 comment

Favorite Quote:
If gymnastics were easy it would be called football

Mrs. Isabella Cullen I think you are trying to tell crack head that he shouldn't use crack and be positive!

on Jan. 28 2011 at 3:13 pm
BlackBetty1 GOLD, Boise, Idaho
11 articles 0 photos 1 comment

Favorite Quote:
It will be alright in the end, if its not alright its not the end. -unknown

Please keep your comments positive and constructive. We'll remove anything inappropriate. Thanks!

pimpg2 said...
on Jan. 28 2011 at 10:07 am
i weigh 225 but im 6'2 so yall are all large

on Jan. 26 2011 at 6:02 pm
cookielove BRONZE, Lewes, Delaware
1 article 0 photos 2 comments

Favorite Quote:
Love isn't in the color of the skin but in the loyalty of the heart.

Wow. that's great. i weigh 260... i know i should lose weight. but first, i learned to accept myself. im losing pound after pound now! so good for you realizing 160 is healthy! that's my goal!

on Jan. 13 2011 at 7:05 am
MarissaLaGrange BRONZE, Monmouth, Maine
4 articles 0 photos 18 comments

Favorite Quote:
This too shall pass

I don't see you showing a picture of yourself.

If you had read what I said in the comment correctly you'd know that I have lost weight and still am losing weight.

So before you start saying I should lose some, get your facts right. :D

~*Rissa*~


on Jan. 12 2011 at 1:32 pm
BlahBlah135 BRONZE, Lake Oswego, Oregon
3 articles 0 photos 11 comments

Favorite Quote:
I LOVE MY MOMMY <3

You should lose weight

on Jan. 11 2011 at 7:35 am
MarissaLaGrange BRONZE, Monmouth, Maine
4 articles 0 photos 18 comments

Favorite Quote:
This too shall pass

I hate that also. Makes you go crazy. xD


~*Rissa*~


on Jan. 11 2011 at 7:32 am
MarissaLaGrange BRONZE, Monmouth, Maine
4 articles 0 photos 18 comments

Favorite Quote:
This too shall pass

160 pounds is nothing, I used to weigh 260 pounds. I lost a lot and now weight 189 pounds. I'm still big but I pull it off pretty well. It's taken me forever to get where I am now.

But I have a boyfriend of 3 years, and he likes the way I look so I feel fine.

everyone has a different body build, therefore everyone has a different weight they can be at. As for me I will never be able to be below 140 pounds without looking anorexic.

~*Rissa*~


on Jan. 10 2011 at 11:29 pm
kennapie12 SILVER, St.helens, Oregon
6 articles 0 photos 18 comments

Favorite Quote:
Stand up for something even if it Means standing up alone.

the oversizing on tshirts made me look bigger than what i was!! when i wore the tight shirt i felt that everyone looked at me as if i was a whole different person!!

on Jan. 10 2011 at 11:28 pm
kennapie12 SILVER, St.helens, Oregon
6 articles 0 photos 18 comments

Favorite Quote:
Stand up for something even if it Means standing up alone.

Im in 8th grade and ive been bout the exact same weight for the last 3 years. Ive always been bigger round the middle no matter how many sports i played. To cover it up i always wore oversized t shirts to mask it. In 7th grade i wore a super tight shirt for the first time, i realized i am not fat, ive now thinned out and most of it is muscle i feel so proud now!! Im glad other people have gone through relatively the same thing!!

on Jan. 8 2011 at 11:01 pm
KathrynWilks8492 SILVER, Aurora, Illinois
5 articles 0 photos 3 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Age does not diminish the extreme disappointment of having a scoop of ice cream fall from the cone."
-Jim Fiebig

Thanks for your comment because I thought the same thing when I read this. People make fun of overweight people but they also make fun of skinny people and classify them with the "Anorexic body" and its ignorant. Like you said its not a body type, Its a disease that takes lives. I don't have anorexia but I struggle and dont eat sometimes and people call me anorexic because I'm thin and it hurts. This was a great article but i agree with you anorexic is not a adjective.