Learn to Love Your FUPA, or at Least Laugh at Yourself for Being Ridiculous
July 8, 2009 | (4)
Depending on a number of factors, on any given day I will find myself obsessing over some body part in a most unconstructive way. You guys know what I’m talking about. I’ll stand in front of the mirror and poke at the fupa, turn to the side and cringe at the saddle bags, wave my arms around to watch the upper arm jiggle. I spend a lot of time engaging in this behavior, which got me to thinking…why the hell do I do that?
The crap I say to myself I would never say to anyone else, it does little to motivate me to change the “problem areas” and it sure as shit doesn’t make me feel too good. My body image issues may not be serious enough to make me sick, but I feel like I gotta stop this nonsense. I’ve come up with a few ideas to help me develop a more realistic body image:
- Make a cartoon drawing of myself as I see myself on my worst day and share it with my girlfriends. I know this sounds nutz, but hear me out. When I was in grad school one of my best friends and I had a conversation about the body parts we hate. As I listened to her describe her “moon face” I thought how funny it would be to actually draw out our bad body images and share them with each other. You see, I never thought of her as having a moon face, in fact I find her quite lovely. We said we would do it one day, but we never did. I’m totally going to force my friends to do this with me, just to prove how ridiculous our body obsessions are. It may require a few bottles of wine, but be forewarned, I’m coming after you with crayons in hand…you know who you are…
- For every insult I hurl at the mirror, I will also force out one compliment. This one is a little easier. Take the picture above, for example. My biggest complaints are the fupa and jiggly thighs, but dang I got some great cleavage and a super-cute booty. This little exercise is my way of finding some positive motivation within to get my butt to the yoga studio or to give me the will power to stick to my healthy diet.
- When I find myself being overly critical, I will think of one small thing I can do that day to “fix” the “problem”. Tacking on a few extra sit-ups (fupa), taking the stairs instead of the elevator (saddle bags) and avoiding the M&M jar (all of it) are examples a small things I can do that may or may not “fix” the “problem”. At least I’ll feel like I’m doing something about it.
Do you think any of these ideas would work for you? Better yet, will you share your ridiculous body image drawings with me? I can always use a good laugh 
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Doug Says:
