Female bodybuilding and Eating Disorders
I'm writing a paper for my masters class on Female Bodybuilding and Eating Disorders. What do you all think? Is there a link? Do all of us have some sort of disordered eating in our past? Or do some just have some disordered thinking - self-image issues that are tied into self-worth? Or are we all just Type-A perfectionists who except nothing but the best out of ourselves. Or, is there an issue w/ weakness and a fear of weakness? Do we all want to build muscle to be stronger, on the inside and out.
What is it that makes you want to lift weights, compete, be strong?
Have you heard of Bigorexia? There are new classifications of eating disorders nowadays...not just anorexia and bulimia. I doubt that Bigorexia affects too many women, but maybe. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
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You know, it's funny because I have been meaning to blog about this, or something like it. I honestly feel that looking our 'best' has crept into so many of our heads that we just can't be happy with how we 'used' to look. I say that with caution because I am sure many people do. I have always considered myself to have great self-confidence and self-image and even now I find struggling with putting the little bit of weight back on - and I by no means am 'extreme' lean or big in the muscle category, nor did I have to lose a lot of weight to look 'best' shape of my life, which would be now.
Before I started dieting for this comp, my friend Judy who does them told me it would get into my head. Even knowing that I tried not to let it...I think things to myself like, "even if I don't compete, i need to stay in better shape that I was" or things along that line. Like, "if I could look 2 weeks out from now on"...and i know it's near impossible to look (and prob. not healthY) this way all the time...but yet I want it...
So, I probably didn't help your quest at all, but its def. an issue and i'm excited to read what your thoughts are on this topic.
How does one go from looking their personal best to looking 'normal' again and be happy with it?
You did help! You agreed with my hypothesis essentially. I really do think all of us who want to do this is for some kind of self-image reason and we all want to look that lean or close to it at some point or all the time and we have an internal drive to be perfect or look perfect.
What is normal anyway? I have blogged about that. I don't want to be normal. I want to be better than normal. I feel like being normal is settling and it's be lazy....to me.
There is much more to be said on this subject and I, in no way, am saying that we all are the same but we all I think have something that drives us to do this and I'm wondering if that "thing"is the same in all of us or different.
TO look good naked. :)
Actually, I think it is more of a CONTROL issue for me. And I have blogged about this before but it is to compensate for other things that I do not excel at.
Interesting topic. Love the pic.
Great topic and exciting to me as I am going for my MS in the spring too, love studying this stuff. But anyway, I am not there yet but I have done some of my own personal research on the topic to figure out my own head. I think it's both, (and I can only speak for myself), Type-A who expect and accept nothing but this crazy notion of body and performance perfection falling in love with a sport that demands just that as a measure of real success and it's just a logjam of dissastisfaction and self-criticism and sabatoge.... if you let it. Also I absolutely agree on your weakness theory. I think I feel that getting stronger and stronger on the outside can only strengthen the rest of me, my resolve, my ambitions, my control over my emotions, etc. And to agree with Kriss, yes, it's something we can control (most of the time) when we can't control anything else. I was just informed of Bigorexia and I think figure women can get that too, bigger shoulder caps are what we all want, right? Ha ha, who doesn't? Anyway, not knocking any of it as I think it's a wonderful lifestyle it's just about finding that balance, and I think the pros have it down, at least from what I can see as they do it over and over again and seem content with just being their best. Who knows.
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