If we aim for this construct of perfect, we will absolutely fall short. As imperfect humans, if we try to reach any point of perfection we will absolutely fall short. You mentioned that above, but then contradicted yourself later.

Yes, we have an epidemic of obesity. However, why would someone even want to try to lose weight (besides health reasons) if they were striving to look like most of the models in magazines. If there is a perfection as you stated, most see it as being like a swimsuit model. Most “normal” women will never get there. So, instead of being satisfied when they get to Lizzie’s size, some might say what is the point and don’t lose any weight whatsoever. I do realize that every situation is different, some people lose weight when they reach a certain high number, when they have a health issue, or because they just want to be healthier.. Whether the model in question is 180 pounds or 100, the message is never to have a healthy diet and exercise routine. It is absolutely about image and how clothes fit.

I agree that an image should be a healthy one. However who am I, and who are you, to say that this woman is unhealthy. Because she looks a certain way? That’s ridiculous. Healthy does not always mean that every muscle is tight and there is no flab. And you and I don’t know what this woman eats on a daily basis or what kind of exercise she does.

Also, to be specific. She is sitting down and leaning forward in the first photo. I would be willing to bet that most fit celebrities that are in magazines have a little bit of pudge there, it is just airbrushed out. Or, they would just never sit in that position at all in a magazine because it is an unflattering pose. I feel like the magazine wanted to showcase the fact that she had a little flab in the belly and put her in that position. Because, as you pointed out, she looks “somewhat better” in the second picture.

You are welcome to your opinions. I mean, that is why you have a blog. And there is nothing wrong with that. However, in general, we as people have to be careful not to put our own opinions out there as the absolute right one. To me, it reads that you have taken your opinions on your own body and health and applied it to this woman and anyone who has commented after. That is all fine as long as you know that others’ opinions and bodies are different and they might have different standards than you have.

Personally, I think this woman is beautiful. And I cannot say if she is fit or not. She does have some flab, but I do not know one woman who does not have a little flab on her belly…and I know women of all ages, weights, and fitness types. I have also come to realize that almost every woman wishes they could change something about the way they look, and almost every woman is completely different in shape and weight distribution. So I cannot say who is more healthy than the other just by looking at them. A vision of health needs to be the role model, however I think we are a bit idealistic to believe that it is going to come from a fashion magazine.

And on the whole biology bit, how did it stretch in the first place? You are not born big skinned and grow into it over the years, one must actively stretch it – and when you decide not to be as big anymore, you may experience excessive skin. It’s better to not become fat before you become slender, no? Not being big in the first place will reduce or eradicate the problems of too much skin.

Should imperfection be the goal? Will we not fall short if we set our aims too low? I am not perfect in any way, but I would like to be. If my idols body wise are chubby, will I not be content when that is achieved? I think so, and my point was only that what we idolize should be healthy and well proportioned – not extra size and unfit, like most of us already are.

Ms Miller has become the postergirl for this discussion, but it really goes much wider. I find it problematic when a large percentage of children are downright fat, are lacking motor skills and will become diabetes 2 patients in the future. That is a societal problem that we need to fix, if we are to have any chance of sustaining human life on this planet. BTW, speaking of planets; have you seen Wall-E? The future of the human race is bleak..

Many people like imperfect people, be them short, tall, fat, skinny or otherwise different from the norm – its the beauty of humans, there is someone out there for most of us. I am not advocating beauty and perfection, I am promoting healthy idols. That is a totally different thing than promoting the stride for perfection.

As with anything, some people will overdo whatever they do, be it drinking, having sex, sleeping, eating – anything. Still, most of us are equipped with a free will that we can control, and even if we have urges – we have the choice to control them. I am not saying that there are no mental disorders that make people overeat or whatever they do excessively – but for most its a choice we make. We choose to eat more than we need to uphold normal functionality of our bodies, we choose to not move as much as we should compared to the amount of energy we put in our bodies etc.

My initial point of this little blog was to point out the slippery slope that we are on. Once we idolize the ones that are like we are now, we allow ourselves to be slightly less perfect – resulting in us all thinking that semi-fat is the way to go. I, myself, could easily loose a few pounds compared to my ideal weight – and I blame no one for me being like this. Whenever I look in the mirror, I see someone that is a bit lazy, does like food and sweets a little too much and have a tendency to choose to drive rather than walk. That said, I try to eat as healthy as I have the willpower to, and any loss or gain of weight is my own choice.

The model discussed here is not obese or even very overweight, but she looks unhealthy with her somewhat flabby mid-section. I would rather that our role models were healthy, not skinny or model-unhealthy-and-not-very-attractive-thin, but rather fit, toned and in shape. Models today are thin-fat. I see the paradox in my description of them, but they are skinny, but “loose skinned” and unfit, and that is absolutely not something we should strive for!

We all have a choice in this world, some choose to eat too much – for whatever reason – but its not like you suddenly wake up one morning being 300 pounds overweight. You can see it in families with fat parents (sorry for the non-pc description, but its the best one I’ve got ) where the children are fat too. This is not necessarily and actually very rarely, the result of “bad genes” – its malnutrition. Bad habits are hard to break, bad habits implanted in you from childhood can be very difficult to break. Parents overfeeding their children, forcing them to become obese adults is borderline child-abuse in my book, as the kids are forced into a lifestyle chosen for them by their parents. A life with bad health and early death – not always – but often.

Looking at things as if they are a disease is a way to take away the responsibility for your condition. If you choose to drink so much over time that you become an alcoholic, its as much a choice as it is an illness. If you choose to eat so much and over time that you become obese, its as much as choice as it is an illness. I am not debating the fact that obesity and alcoholism makes you sick, both physically and mentally, but its a chicken/egg-situation. Did you become ill because you are obese or did you become obese because you are ill?

I don’t know, but we should strive to be as much as we can – and having chubby role models is not doing just that.

You may think that derogatory language underlines your point, but it does not. Actually, in my view, it reduces the validity of your former statements and puts you into the “idiot” category that everyone has, whether they are aware of it or admits it or not. We all choose who to listen to, who to look up to and who to copy – and persons in the “idiot” category are usually not among them.

Now, I do not have to have a perfect body to think that a slim body is a better ideal than a fat one. Perfect is widely definable, and what may be perfect in one culture is not in another. What used to be viewed as a sign of health and prosperity, like being fat, is now more a symptom of low income, low education, low health and early death. Its all in the eye of the beholder, I guess. Anyhow, obesity is today’s “black plague” and it will put many people in an early grave. My little blog on this subject was just to promote healthy body ideal rather than chubby ones. I know that most women and men today are somewhat overweight, and my point was that they should look to healthy bodies to idealize and strive for. I really do not see the harm in having healthy ideals, but you might.

Where you got the “women are inferior to men” statement from, is beyond me – I have never, ever stated that there is a difference in value or importance between the sexes. You don’t even know what sex I am, do you? If you got this message from what I have written here before, you have decoded it wrongly and should go back and read it again.