Kate Moore

Blog: From the moment I wake up until the moment I go to sleep I think about food and the way my body looks.

I think about how hungry I am, how many calories I should consume and how I detest my body.

My perfectly normal body.

I hate everything about myself from the waist down. My pot belly, huge bum and thunder thighs disgust me.

But I am a UK size 10 and well within the healthy weight range for my age and height.

My BMI (body mass index) is perfect. I don’t think I’ve ever been called fat in my life, and people tell me I don’t need to lose weight.

So tell me why I hate the way I look? I’ll tell you. Media pressure, and mindset. The media we can’t change, mindset we can.

Miranda Kerr looks amazing, and incredibly skinny. She dropped her baby weight within just weeks of having her first child, and has since maintained this very slender figure. Countless celebrities claim to be ‘naturally thin’ without changing their eating habits but when you look at some of them you think  ‘Nobody can be that thin naturally.’

Even the girls on Magnum and various other chocolate commercials are thin and beautiful. But I guarantee you they wouldn’t be eating a magnum off air — they probably spit it out when the cameras stop rolling!

We are constantly bombarded with everything from diet fads to free gym passes to fat binding pills, and all with one aim – to create the body beautiful.

Eat six small meals a day, eat one large one, limit your caloric intake, eat as much as you want of healthy foods only, do cardio three times a week, exercise every second day, don’t change how you eat but make sure to do weight training five days a week, take weight loss pills three times a day, detox for 24 hours, don’t eat at all… Our world is jam packed with everything imaginable to ensure that body image is our primary focus.

If you’re not overweight you may not take much notice now, until one day (like myself) you wake up and can’t remember a time you didn’t obsess over your body – the body you know is perfectly healthy but never pleasing enough to satisfy you.

What I’ve realised is that nobody is ever completely happy with their body – there’s always something you want to change. Most people I know are constantly trying to change their image when they don’t need to. One friend is forever on a ‘diet’ and I can assure you she is absolutely perfect the way she is. I’m a hypocrite though, aren’t I? I do the same. I give great advice, but can’t seem to take it.

So perhaps the problem is not the media anymore. Sure, they play a huge role and there’s no escaping their influence. They planted a seed in our heads a long time ago, but that seed should not be the basis of our entire lives. Life is less than enjoyable when it  revolves around negative thoughts about food.

Food is such a huge and usually joyful part of each and every day; not just socially but culturally, mentally and physically. A healthy balance of eating the right foods and exercise, along with a positive relationship with yourself is possible. Do what you have to do to make this a reality.

It doesn’t matter how much or how little you eat, how many slimming shakes you consume or whether or not you are one step closer to the terrible but sought after size zero – the only way to be happy is to accept your body the way it is, give it what it needs and love yourself unconditionally.

There will always be somebody fatter than you, and somebody skinnier than you. You will always find flaws in yourself, and you will exaggerate these more than anyone else ever would. To accept these flaws and focus on what you like about your image is the key to fulfilment.

Be healthy from the inside, and it will show on the outside. From dawn to dusk, I want to think about something other than how much food I’ve consumed. I want to free my mind, and focus on the things I know are more important. Change your mindset, and change your life.

By Kate Moore