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Thin Cycle
Negative body image, harsh self-criticism. While mirrors may not lie, women's perceptions of their bodies can fluctuate dramatically. Whether the source of these distortions is the result of cultural pressures put on women to be thin or possible medical or psychological conditions, experts agree something is skewing--even distorting--many women's sense of reality. To help recognize symptoms of a negative mindset, review the checklist of warning signs below then determine whether or not you are clinging to a distorted body image. Follow up, by answering the true/false questions to see how your body acceptance shapes up.
Warning Signs
• No matter how much weight you lose, you still view your body as unacceptable or too big.
• Do people describe your size in a significantly different way than you do?
• You have difficulty accepting compliments about how good you look or how thin you are.
• You feel large/fatter on days when you are upset, and smaller/thinner on days when you feel good.
• You feel significantly heavier or thinner from day to day, although realistically you know your body couldn't have changed drastically overnight.
• After feeling fine emotionally and physically during part of a day, something goes wrong and you react by suddenly feeling fat and or unattractive.
Courtesy: Lavinia Rodriguez, Ph.D
How Do You Shape Up?
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