So, what is your idea of the perfect body? Is it strong and athletic? Is it boyish and stick thin? Or is it busty and curvaceous? Whatever your vision of the perfect you, it’s highly likely that it is based on the ideals of the era and not on your own body shape.
A recent poll carried out in America asked women about their opinions of different females body types. This study confirmed that one persons average is another persons extreme! Respondents think that Hillary Clinton has the body most closely associated with "the average woman" (the runner-up was Sarah Ferguson), while the way Goldie Hawn, 54, looks serves an inspiration to women over 50 (according to 27% of those polled, with Tina Turner next in line, by 25%). How many women have tried diet in order to lose weight? 72%. Additionally, 33% have bought a celebrity's exercise book or video. And 62% said they believe that if Julia Roberts were to put on an extra 30 pounds, she'd stop being cast in romantic roles.
Just think about how the ideal body has changed over time…
If you lived during the renaissance you would have happily sported a less than firm tummy – just think of those voluptuous women in the paintings of Botticelli! In the roaring 20’s you would have strapped your breasts under your arms to look less womanly (no, really!), while in the 50’s, your waist would have been cinched and your boobs aloft for the classic Marilyn Monroe hourglass.
By the 60’s, Twiggy was dictating the emaciated look. Cindy Crawford represents the all American athlete of the 80’s. In the 90’s, we had the childlike Kate Moss and now we have the Brazilian beach beauties, and bums seem to be back in fashion thanks to J-Lo!
So where do you fit into this lot?
The bottom line is that living up to the current body ideal is simply a matter of when you were born and what was in fashion at that time. The waif figures so highly sought after at the moment would have been scorned by Victorian women, while the Roman idea that only poor people were thin really wouldn’t catch on in Hollywood! These are extremes of course, but you see the point.
If you can take a step back from the images you are constantly being bombarded with, you will see that none of it makes sense. You can change the length of your skirt or the height of your heel as fashion dictates, but you can’t change your bone structure, or the type of body (ectomorph, mesomorph, endomorph) you were born with.
What you can do, however, is make the most of what you have got.
Since you only have one body, no matter what shape it is, the important thing is to take care of it. Fortunately, taking care of your body from a health perspective also has an impact on how you look.
Watching your weight through healthy eating means that your true shape is visible. Adding exercise allows you to firm, sculpt and tone your muscles. While you can’t control when you appeared in this world, you can do a lot to dictate how you look in it.
So, in a way your perfect body is a matter of time - it only takes a couple of months to make a difference. Perfect!