Body Image for Teen Girls

[3girls2dogs]

I just read a fascinating blurb about Tyra Banks today. I read that she weighed 150 pounds. Now it was not a negative article, but rather referred to how she had put on a obesity suit and was amazed at how differently people treated her (no suprise there to me).

But, I think she is so beautiful and I know she is 5'9" which makes a difference, but I truly thought she must weigh like 115. I am glad I am wrong, but it made me think.

When we took Samm to the doctor for these headaches, one of the things we discussed is that she does not eat well. Honestly, she barely eats at all. She is 5'6" and weighs 123, and she said she doesn't like to eat because she feels fat. I have always tried very hard to not make weight an issue in our house, but I know teen girls are exposed to it everywhere.

I don't want to debate how the media portrays this. That is a losing battle. What I wanted to do, though, was ask other parents how they handle this issue with their own teen daughters.

I have to admit, I, myself, am always worried about my weight, so when I stopped to think about it, I felt a bit hypocritical telling her to not worry about hers. Problem is, I actually do have to lose weight, where she doesn't. My husband and I have decided that for everyone's sake, we are no longer going to buy junk food and the like, but she doesn't spend much time at home at her age. How does one balance the nutrition/weight issue? Do your daughters have the same weight concerns as mine? How do you deal with them? Also, another question. Having 3 daughters, I have no idea if boys have these issues as well. Do they?

 

[sreno7]

I have teen son and a teen daughter, less than fifteen months apart. They both have body issues but in different ways. My daughter could stand to lose a few pounds but we dont make an issue of it. However when she was a size three she used to obsess about her weight. She used to be underweight and she has always obsessed about her weight. She knows about eating disorders and she knows that she is an emotional eater. She is also fully aware of which of her friends don't eat lunch and don't eat all for various reasons. She is worried about one friend who stopped eating when she broke up with her last boyfriend and she is concerned that the relationship this girl is in now is more serious and if something goes wrong she will stop eating even longer. My daughter has friends who induce vomitting to stay slim. I don't know a single teenage girl (and I know lots of teens) who will believe she is pretty or slim.
Now my son likes to work out. He weighs himself more than my daughter does and loves to go to the gym and is all about his muscles. He has a friend who works out at the gym weight training every day and I don't think that is healthy either. This young man works and goes to the gym, he no longer socializes. He and my son used to hang out and go to movies. Now they go to the gymj together. I know that guys can have eating disorders and my brother had a friend who was anorexic. I think we expect guys to work out so we don't think about it.