Myths and Facts on Size and Bodies

MYTH: Barbie and Ken are hot!

Fact: If Barbie were a real woman-She would have to grow to be seven feet tall. She would have a bust that was between 38-40 inches, her waist 18-24 inches, her hips around 33-35 inches. Barbie's weight would be 110 pounds. If she were a real woman-Barbie would have to walk on all fours due to her proportions. If Ken were a real man-he would be seven-feet, eight-inches tall. An average man would have to add seven inches to his chest and about eight inches to his neck to equal Ken's measurements.

MYTH: Fat people are ugly. *

Fact: Beauty is a learned concept, and the cultural norm of beauty changes over time. At the turn of the century, the leading sex symbol, Lillian Russell, weighed over 200 pounds. Marilyn Monroe would be considered "overweight" today. The media, advertisers, and the diet industry tend to set the standard of beauty in today's society. We must remember that they are selling us dissatisfaction with our bodies in order to make a profit.

MYTH: Fat people are all at health risk. *

Fact: There are both health risks and benefits associated with being fat. Research seems to indicate that the healthiest weight is a stable weight, even if a person weighs more than average. The best way to maximize your health is to adopt a healthy lifestyle, which includes regular physical activity.

MYTH: You have to exercise a lot for it to do any good. *

Fact: There are big health benefits in accumulating 30 minutes of moderate activity on most days (ten minutes three times a day equals 30 minutes!). But any movement is better than no movement. You could start with a five-minute walk today and build up from there.

MYTH: There's no such thing as too much exercise.

Fact: Compulsive exercising is a disorder and exercising too much can have serious physical and emotional effects. Exercise becomes a problem, or an addiction, when you prioritize it over most other parts of your life. You may feel anxious, guilty, unattractive or out of control when you are unable to exercise. You may continue to exercise even when it poses a risk to your health.

MYTH: Fat people are fat because they are lazy.

Fact: Different people have different bodies. Sure, there might be some lazy fat people, but there are also plenty of lazy thin people. All of our bodies have a different natural baseline size and while food intake and exercise may contribute to changing this some, there are also many other factors involved that can't be controlled, such as metabolism, bone structure and genetics. Just because some people are fat does not mean they are anymore lazy than someone who is thinner.

MYTH: I will be able to tell if someone has an eating disorder.

Fact: There are many types of eating disorders and they all manifest themselves differently. Many people with eating disorders are very good at hiding their eating and exercising habits. People can be fat, thin or anywhere in between and have an eating disorder. Even if they do not meet the medical criteria for size, weight or behavior of an eating disorder, it does not mean that they do not need help. Eating disorders get worse as they go on and it's even possible for the person with the eating disorder to not know that there is a problem.

MYTH: Eating disorders are a woman's problem.

Fact: Eating disorders affect many people regardless of sex, gender identity, race, ethnicity, age, class or sexual orientation. All types of eating disorders affect men as well as women, including anorexia, bulimia, compulsive overeating, and over-exercise. Due to the myth that eating disorders don't affect men, fewer men who have eating disorders have actually been labeled as such. Most figures say that about 10% of people with eating disorders in the U.S. are men, though even this number may be low.

MYTH: All fat people are compulsive overeaters.*

Fact: The compulsive eater, whether fat or thin, is a person with an eating disorder. Simply being fat does not indicate the presence of an eating disorder. Studies which set out to prove that fat people eat more than thin people concluded that there is no measurable difference in the food consumption of fat and thin people. Compulsive dieters, who ignore their body's hunger messages, tend to become obsessed with food, and usually overeat after a round of dieting.

Myth: I want to look like a magazine model in real life.

Fact: You may want to look like a model, but it's important to understand that even models don't look like their pictures in real life. There are many tricks to "doctoring" pictures. Some techniques include airbrushing, computer alterations, special lighting to cast shadows in just the right places, or even black and white photography, especially on "muscular" men so that the definition of muscles is greater. All types of media trick us into thinking that there are people who look far more "perfect" than any person really ever does.

MYTH: If I hate my body, there is nothing I can do about it.

Fact: There may be little you can do to change the body you have, but there are many things you can do to change your way of thinking about your body. To build your body-confidence, try new activities and find things that your body is good at doing. For every negative thought you have about your body come up with a positive one to counter it. Try not to break your body down into parts, but rather think of it as a whole, functional unit.

* Reprinted with permission from National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance www.naafa.org

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