Hi!
I'd like to share my thoughts about role models for weight loss and know yours, both thoughts and role models as well.
Once I was watching DVD of Two Fat Ladies (it's a cooking show). And my best friend told me, you'll never be thin when you admire those two fat ladies. Then I noticed that I really liked not so thin people I saw on screen. Unlike the rest of the world whose favorites are thin Twiggy type of girls.
Now I have been conciously watching myself as what kind of people I draw to my circle of acquaintances or what kind of actresses I admire.
I do like Lauren Graham, Tamilee Webb, Reese Witherspoon, Jane Seymour and Goldie Hawn for example. From now on I'll concentrate more on them.
My rediscovered favorite is Andrea Parker. Of course I'll never get that tall or have such gorgeous legs but she's a great role model to have in front of eyes. And she ages beautifully.
Who have inspired you? How big is role models influence on your life? I do not mean pushing adds or fasion model industry (unless you like it) but people whom you sincerely admire and like.
I have so many random role models, I think you can learn important lessons from anyone, I don't really have famous people role models except maybe writers whose books I read and I get special help from this one blogger Maria Popova who always posts inspiring stuff from all over.
I also don't see any reason not to have fat women as role models, if they have admirable qualities, admire them! Doesn't mean you are going to be more fat, (maybe if you eat their diet.)
I've found some role models on here, even though they probably don't know it!
There's a few that their weight loss success stories and life sound so similar to mine, that they really motivate me to continue.
Agreed! I find the most inspiration here. If ever I am feeling down, or my commitment is faltering, a quick browse of the success stories here is an instant pick me up.
This season of Biggest Loser is particularly inspiring too. Though mostly I just watch it and cry!
I must be a weirdo. I have never idolized anyone or held anyone up higher. Never had celebrity crushes. I was a preteen/teen that totally didn't get the posters, groupie type stuff - ever.
Now... there are some women I admire - a lot. Eleanor Roosevelt, Hilary Clinton and Michele Obama plus a gazillion other. Are they role models? Well, sort of... I just love their strength and their assertiveness and sometimes their quiet ways of leading.
I admire Richard Dawkins, Charles Darwin, Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, and many others too - their ability to buck tradition and speak out and transform the world.
But I still see them as human beings with flaws.. While I could be in awe of someone's accomplishments, I wouldn't feel let down by their falterings: ie - Lance Armstrong (though I can admire is battle of coming back from cancer and being an amazing cyclist, it does seem he's a nasty guy), Tiger Woods made golf popular again and is an amazing athlete - that he cheats on his wife? Does that realllly now make him a villian? or a human caught up in the limelight?
I admire, especially, women who had powerful husbands, but they also made their mark - that they didn't get hidden by their spouses brilliance - as I also admire Franklin D. Roosevelt, Bill Clinton and Barrack Obama - but it's their wives that I find even more inspirational.... But I also see their flaws and that's OK. It doesn't make them less of a role model or less admirable. I like to see that they are human. I think I'm drawn to that as I am married to a brilliant, well educated, highly respected in his field, husband. While I can't compete with his intellect or accomplishments, it doesn't mean my contribution is worthless. I can do other things, along with supporting him and his goals - like these women have done (and many others) without losing myself in the middle of it.
I think that's where I get turned off a bit by the word "role model". I think it's unfair to put anyone up on a pedestal as no one is perfect. And it angers me when people do a 180 on a role model when they stumble as all humans do.
Even when we look back on historical figures that are now seen only for their good side, they had shady sides and secrets too - including Martin Luther King, Jr., Abraham Lincoln, etc.
So, do I have a role model? Someone I would like to pattern/follow as an example. No, not really. Does it give me hope for myself and the world that there are some amazing people who can do amazing things? Yes.
Last edited by berryblondeboys; 02-21-2013 at 09:08 AM.
I agree with Mogzillo, overweight women can be role models depending on their attitude...same with thinner women. I look at some of these women who are not the industry norm, and they have such a positive body image that I think they can be a role model for everyone. I am never going to walk the catwalk or be on the cover of Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition, and that's ok...I don't need to be, I need to be healthy. Look at Kate Upton. She has received some grief for being overweight!!! And according to her industry, she is, but she has a body anyone would be envious of and she has come out and said 'look, I'm not going to starve myself' and pretty much gave her critics the verbal finger!
I may be about to show my age, and I don't know why it has stuck with me all these years, but I saw an interview with Tyne Daly once (she was on Cagney and Lacey). I was just a kid, but I remember the interviewer asked her about all the weight she had gained and how she felt about it and she said "I grew and gave birth to my children with this body, I fed and nurtured my children with this body, why would I hate this body?" So for that I think she is a role model.
Oprah, has come out and said she hates exercise but she knows she has to do it. I think that is a role model type of thing to say, so those people who never fall in love with exercise know there isn't something "wrong" with them if they aren't skipping and whistling to the gym.
I also worked with a woman, who was very very thin. I made a comment once about how thin she was and the more I thought about, the worse I felt. Though the comment was in fun, I went back to her and said "I just want to apologize for what I said. I wouldn't like someone to say something like that about me because I am overweight and it was insensitive to think it was ok to say it to you just because you are thin." She and I ended up having a conversation, and though we don't think about it, women on the other end of the weight spectrum have struggles to accept their bodies as well. We just don't think about it because as fat girls we think "Yeah, I should have such problems..." But, its true. The media criticizes us for being fat and they criticize us for being skinny.
I just think it's important for people (young women especially) to learn that their dress size does not define who they are. Do it for health, not to fit someone else's cookie cutter of beauty. You are beautiful for who and what you are underneath your skin.
Other women I think embody this: Adele, she is talented and beautiful and doesn't apologize for being a big girl! Melissa McCarthy, she's funny and has said she eats healthy and thats more important than the scale. Also when she was nominated for an emmy, she had trouble finding a dress for the awards she designed one herself and rocked it! Christina Hendricks...just beautiful. Queen Latifah, another beautiful woman!
Scarlett Johanson - "I don't need to be skinny to be sexy"
Beyonce - though I can't condone how she lost weight for Dreamgirls, she said she couldn't wait to get back to her curvier figure.
Jessica Simpson - after getting grief for not loosing weight fast enough after her first baby said "I've been busy being a mom"
Kate Winslet - Curvier than the norm, but still fit and trim and just seems confident to me.
I don't really have a role model. But, I have also gotten most of my inspiration from people on these forums. At the beginning I would feel down a lot so I would just look through all the progress pictures and success stories on here and caloriecount.com. They always made me feel a lot better and gave me extra motivation! I love reading stories about actual people losing weight and seeing their before/after.
Something about this post really bothered me. Like fat women can't be good role models just because they're fat. Like Adele isn't an amazing singer? Or Hilary Clinton is less of an amazing politician just because she's gaining a bit of weight as she gets older. Or that Michelle Obama isn't a role model even though I would bet a good stack of cash that her BMI creeps above 'normal' regularly (and I don't think she's fat).
The Two Fat Ladies were clever and creative and although their food isn't really the kind of food I would ever cook and rarely would eat, they were so enjoyable to watch and I really admired their take on things.
It makes me feel like you think less of yourself because you're overweight? Or that you'd think less of my accomplishments because I'm fat??
Let's start judging other women on what they do and accomplish rather solely based on what they look like.
I also don't see any reason not to have fat women as role models, if they have admirable qualities, admire them! Doesn't mean you are going to be more fat, (maybe if you eat their diet.)
Yeah, honestly - I like to see successful fat women. It challenges stereotypes about women's value and I think it takes ALOT of perseverence as a fat woman to achieve, particularly in industries that value looks. That doesn't make me not want to lose weight, and PERSONALLY I find that fat-hatred does NOT help me lose weight, but merely worsens my ongoing issues.
That said: maybe she was referring to the FOOD they were cooking rather than how fat they were. Personally, I find that I am still able to watch TV cooking shows, and I very much prefer the old-fashioned cooking shows like Two Fat Ladies to the contemporary ones that are more focused on restaurant food and/or competition.
I still get inspiration from them sometimes, as you can always try and adapt techniques.
Such a super bad@$$. I don't idolize or put her above anyone, I don't think that's what having a "hero" or "role model" means, at least to me.
RE: having overweight people as role models -- of course EVERY person has admirable qualities. But I think that the OP didn't mean anything negative in her post, I really really don't. I mean, of course I could be wrong, but I don't think she meant ANY offense.
RE: having overweight people as role models -- of course EVERY person has admirable qualities. But I think that the OP didn't mean anything negative in her post, I really really don't. I mean, of course I could be wrong, but I don't think she meant ANY offense.
No, I don't think she meant offense either. AND, I think the best friend meant well...maybe saying you won't get thin if you watch this show and make yourself crave less healthy foods.
So far as the role model goes, I think maybe she meant someone who lives a healthy lifestyle as an example to follow. However, I will add, I think accepting yourself is so much a part of a healthy lifestyle. How many times have you seen women lose a ton of weight and still feel like a fat girl when she looks in the mirror because she still doesn't look like the actresses and models she sees. I think it was Elvislover? that just posted about this yesterday? I also think the lack of self acceptance could lead some women to develop an unhealthy relationship with food when they do start losing weight because we can't accept that sometimes the scale isn't going to move every week, and it's ok. It's ok to take the time to lose it healthy. It's ok if you have a bad day, it's ok to still want to pig out on brownies...it doesn't mean you haven't done an amazing job and have to criticize yourself for one slip up when you haven't taken the time to celebrate your dozens of victories.
I really admire Adele. Here's a young woman with immense talent who is recognized world wide because of her success. She hasn't bowed to societal pressure to become a "prettier, thinner product", in fact she flies in the face of it. She doesn't care what people think, and she's respected for her strength in that regard. She was overweight before she was a sensation, and she is now. She has been thinner, but not to an extreme. Now that she has recently had a baby, I haven't heard any gossip about her not getting her pre-baby figure back.
I think she's changing things for her generation, and others. I totally admire the fact that she is who she is, and she makes music -- and you don't have to be skinny to make great music. I love to see the fabulous fashions she wears and how she rocks the red carpet. In my dreams -- that could be me!
Role models to follow
