I Love Dove

A few weeks ago I wrote about Stay Nadeau and her work on the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. Well, last week Dove outdid themselves, again. I first saw this video on Facebook, and I think it is something that everyone should watch.

This video made me so sad for a variety of reasons. First, I wish that men had been included in this project because I feel like men might view themselves differently than they actually look as well. Second, why do women hate the way the look? Why do women discount how beautiful they actually are, and create fictional ugly people?  I definitely have fallen in to this trap, and it is something that everyone in this country needs to stop doing!

I think this video hits particularly close to home because it is something that I see my mother doing to herself on a daily basis. My mother is a beautiful, yet she does not see herself that way. Every time we take a picture together and I think it is adorable, she comes up with at least ten reasons why she looks terrible. She says a variety of things like "my hair is crazy," "I look pregnant," "I have a double chin," "I wish I wore my contacts today," etc. The fact of the mater is, no one would think any of those things, at all, it is all in her own head and her own insecurities. Here are some of these pictures:

In both of these pictures my mother claimed that she looked pregnant, among other problems. I wish she had been part of the Dove video so she could learn how beautiful she actually is, and how others perceive her. 

Feel free to comment on how body image has affect you, and those you know. Let's get the conversation going! 

The Diet Bet

So, if you have been reading my blog, you know that I have been working to make a lifestyle change in my own life. That being eating healthy, working out, and focusing on myself while I'm in my young twenties. Reading back on my posts since the beginning of the year, I have realized how far I have come in just a few short months. On my post from January 31st, I wrote about how excited I was that I have been biking about 7 miles in thirty minutes. Today I biked 9.83 miles in 32 minutes. For the majority of March I had been biking for about an hour a day. Last week I decided it would be a good idea to add in some strength training to my routine. There is a lot of literature out there on why it is important to add strength training to cardio. Here is an article from Women's Health Magazine. Hopefully I can keep it up!

Yesterday I was invited to do a DietBet, and I was like, WTF is a Dietbet? Well, I will tell you. You sign up, and you pay a predetermined amount of money ($25, $35, $50, etc), and then you have 28 days to lose 4% of your body weight. If you succeed in losing 4% of your body weight, then you split the pot with all the other people who lost 4% of their body weight, and if you don't, then you lose the bet. The one I was invited to yesterday was a $50 bet, which was just a little too high stakes for me. First, I am a poor graduate student, and second, I am not super confident in my ability to lose 4% of my body weight in 4 weeks. That will be almost doubling my current rate of weight loss.

Today I created a new DietBet, for only $25. It starts on Monday, and I am nervous and excited to get started! I will be so proud of myself if I achieve this goal, but I will still be proud of myself if I don't. If you would like to be a part of my DietBet, just let me know and I will invite you!