It is approximated that 91% of women are unhappy with their current body. Whether that be displeased with their weight or the overall shape of their body, it seems most everyone has some issue with the way that they look, but it also seems only certain people are allowed to complain or mention anything about it.
We have all heard people in our lives say things like "oh I should really start going to the gym more often I've put on a few pounds recently" or "I should start dieting to try and lose some weight." These statements are considered fine and normal, no one really has an outrageous opinion against someone wanting to lose weight and most times nowadays it is even encouraged, but what about those of us who are also unhappy with our bodies, just not in the "normal" way.
For all of my life, I have been pretty much a walking stick figure. I am five foot four have never broken past 100 pounds, in fact I tend to hover around the 94-95 pound area. I have always been a size double zero in pants and an extra small in tops. Some of you may be reading this now wondering what on earth I have to complain about, everyone strives to to be smaller so why aren't I happy?
I am not happy because I am not healthy. I have a body mass index (BMI) of 16.1, anything under 18.5 is considered to be underweight which, again, is not healthy. In order to be considered healthy I need to be at the very least 110 pounds, that is 16 pounds away and I find it impossible to put on weight (commence eye-rolling, I know.)
The fact that I am so small has given me extremely poor body image. I am constantly wearing oversized clothing to cover up the fact I think my arms look and legs look disgustingly scrawny. I feel as though any small fall and all my bones will break because there is nothing to protect them. I have constant back pain because I have no developed muscle to help hold myself upright all the time. I gather that a lot of what I feel many others feel too, so why do I always feel as though no one really takes me seriously when I try to talk about it?
It seems as though no one really gets it. Any time I mention not feeling comfortable in my body I always receive the same responses. "Wow I wish I had your problem you're so lucky"..."really you're going to complain to me about not being able to gain weight if only I was that skinny." Yes, I understand there are many of you out there who want to lose weight because you want to look and feel better about yourselves, but why can't I wish for the same for me? Why is it suddenly so taboo for me to openly want to gain weight?
I guess the main point of this article is just to let people complain without judging them. You never know what someone is thinking or how someone feels about themselves, and negating their feelings only ever ends up hurting them more. Hopefully in time the percentage of people unhappy with their bodies will continually decrease but until then, please, just let me complain.
