Exercise in Peace

Coming to the end of a challenging spin class, our instructor walked us through the readouts on the gym's new bike consoles.

"Now look down at the most important number on your console: the calories."

I disagree.

As a fitness professional, I think the most important number on the bike console is the watts, how much power generated during the workout, followed second by miles, how much (albeit fake) distance traversed. Calories? Eh.

The calories listed on any workout machine are grossly inaccurate. The instructor completely missed the boat on this one, stating that the caloric reading was accurate, independent of height and weight and other individual variables. Not so. Calories burned during a workout are a reflection of the energy used by the heart and muscles, and each person uses a different amount of energy to complete a workout. If you're less fit, you'll burn more calories at the same level of work than your marathoner friend. Your heart rate can typically predict caloric output, but unless you're wearing a heart rate monitor, this measure on cardio machines is inaccurate, too.

The instructor then went through a crowd-rousing competition. "Who burned more than 400 calories? 500? 600? 700?" Participants cheered out in celebration of their (inaccurate) caloric burn.

As a psychologist, I think there is no number tied to a successful workout. My biggest gripe with this ending to a positive and inspiring class is that, even if the readout were 100% accurate, it doesn't matter how many calories you burned. Spinning classes, like any workout, are about increasing fitness, strength, endurance, and power. It's a time to challenge yourself and clear your head. It's a celebration of being healthy and alive.

When you start measuring calories, you miss the point. For some, this turns into a compulsive relationship with exercise, where movement becomes penance for intake. Workouts become painful, instead of challenging, punishing instead of inspiring. For the class participants who struggle with an eating disorder or body image concerns (and yes, they are taking these classes), comments about calories can be difficult to hear and can even trigger disordered behavior.

Join me in challenging the fitness industry's focus on exercise as compensation for meals. Choose a goal for your workouts that is independent of calories burned (think goals related to speed, distance, experiencing feel-good chemicals, just getting out the door). Explain to your trainers and group fitness instructors why a focus on calories is tangential at best and harmful for many.

Exercise in peace.

#ICED2014 Recap (Media Highlights)

I just returned from the International Conference on Eating Disorders and was thrilled to connect with like-minded colleagues and learn the latest on eating-disorder and body-image research.

The keynote speaker was Frank Bruni, current Op-Ed columnist and past restaurant critic for the New York Times. Bruni, a heavy child, spoke about his history with dieting, weight stigma, and ultimately, an eating disorder, as he began purging as a way to compensate for eating off-diet foods. Here are a few things Bruni found useful in his recovery:

1) Recognizing that he's not built to be a skinny man and accepting that he has a larger appetite than others
2) Becoming obsessed with food quality rather than quantity - thus his parlay into food criticism
3) Refusing to cast eating behavior as a measure of willpower or character
4) Getting bothered by how much time he was spending on food obsession and how ultimately boring an endeavor this was

Here's a picture of the Academy's social media committee and frequent tweeters, who passed along tons of good content throughout the event:

If you want to read ALL our tweets (it's as if you were there!), check out #ICED2014 on Twubs.

My favorite event was a plenary entitled, "Adolescents and the Media: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly."

So, long story short, the media doesn't cause eating disorders, but the 10-plus hours a day (reported by Mediatrician, Dr. Michael Rich) of media that teens are currently consuming certainly don't help. Eating disorders are complicated illnesses with various causal factors. Sociocultural influences can trigger eating disorders in those biologically/genetically susceptible, as well as disordered thought patterns and behaviors in the general population (which, as research shows, can sometimes morph into clinical pathology). We saw several examples of this in our plenary.

Kristina Saffran, a 21-year-old Harvard student wowed a roomful of 1000+ professionals with her inspiring talk about recovery and the birth of her nonprofit. Saffran is co-founder of Project Heal, an organization designed to increase awareness about eating disorders, as well as access to treatment - the foundation offers scholarships to those who don't have the means to finance treatment themselves. Part of Saffran's motivation to create Project Heal occurred out of her use of social media in her own recovery - what she found as she attempted to connect with others recovering online was a host of triggering images, updates, and comments. Saffran wanted to establish a space that was more recovery-oriented for those leaving treatment and needing ongoing, positive support.

Anne Becker, an anthropologist and psychologist who conducted the classic Fiji study, also spoke at this event. The Fiji study demonstrated the significant influence of media access on disordered eating and body-image disturbances. In a three-year period during which Fijian subjects first got access to television, the island nation witnessed rapid decreases in body image measures among teens, and researchers also documented a substantial increase in purging to manage weight among these same girls.

Phillippa Diedrichs, a health psychology researcher, spoke about some increasing efforts toward diversity in modeling/advertising (which still have ways to go), and discussed research around Photo-shopping/retouching on body image. My favorite point from her? We can "become the media" through our informed and relentless use of social media.

So, let's use this as a call to action and just as Saffran has done, and as I've attempted to do with this blog, find a way to use media actively and responsibly. We can counter the hoards of pernicious content available today by offering healthy, positive alternatives. Be active on social media to change the climate. We need your help.

Facebook and Disordered Eating

A recent study suggested that high levels of Facebook use are associated with an increased risk for eating disorders. The study, out of Florida State University, was published in a recent issue of the International Journal of Eating Disorders.

Why is it that spending more time on Facebook could increase disordered eating? Check out some of my theories here. Can you think of any others?

Still, let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater. Facebook, and other forms of social media, can be used for good, too. 

Body image/eating disorder warrior Claire Mysko makes the case for social media as a advocacy tool in a response article here.

As Mysko writes: "Social media can stoke body dissatisfaction and reinforce disordered eating. It can also empower individuals to use their voices and resist mainstream media messages about beauty and thinness. Let's keep working to understand the nuances of those risks and leverage the benefits to build a movement of change."

So, as with most other concepts, Facebook is neither all good nor all bad when it comes to eating disorders. If you find that your Facebook use is resulting in destructive thoughts and behaviors, it might be time to scale back your use. You might also choose to like some body positive sites to counteract the hoards of other posts and advertisements celebrating restrictive eating, overexercising, and the thin ideal that make their way across your feed each day. 

And Every Man, Too?

You might think that in writing this blog, I think that only women are afflicted with eating disorders. Not so.

The reality is that men, too, suffer from eating disorder and body image problems, and they seem to be closing the gap in the gender discrepancy we previously knew - or thought we knew.

A number of people and organizations are getting loud about the problem in eating disorders in men. One is Sam Thomas, the founder of director of Men Get Eating Disorders Too, a UK-based charity designed to raise awareness and provide support to men with eating disorders.

Recently, Thomas wrote an article* dedicated to Jeremy Gillitzer, whom he credits as helping him inspire him to found his organization. In the article, Thomas mentions that Gillitzer lost his life to his eating disorder (in 2010 at age 38).

Reading this article struck me like a ton of bricks. I remember Jeremy posting in these circles back in my early blogging days. I remember reading his story and seeing his pictures and, to be one hundred percent honest, thinking to myself, "This guy is going to die." And sadly, he did. I disclose this with a sense of helplessness and regret that none of us were able to bolster Jeremy in fighting this disease.

So, be clear, as Thomas says, men get eating disorders, too. They may not get treatment as frequently or quickly as women because of the shame associated with having a traditionally "female" disorder and because they fly under the radar of professionals and the world around them, but it is imperative that we support and take action on behalf of all of our brothers in need.

*Note: There is a picture of Jeremy at the bottom of the article (in his illness) that may be triggering and/or difficult to view.

Surfer Girl

On a beach walk one morning, two groups of children caught my eye. The first was a group of boys, with a fairly large age range, maybe 6-16. They were little surfers, hitting the morning Pacific waves with spirited tries.

Next I came across a smaller group of tween girls participating in a makeshift photo shoot. Clad in cute tops and short shorts, hair and make-up done, they jumped in the air and splashed in the surf, flirting with the photographer, while the sand-mounted camera flickered away.

Encountering these two groups of kids cemented for me how differently we socialize our children to be in this world. We tell our sons to be active and have fun, our daughters to look flirty and be cute. Boys are taught to do; girls are taught to be. And it's not surprising that so many girls grow up to have body image and self-esteem concerns, as we all but coach them to equate their identity with their appearance.

But each one of us can do something about this now. If you have a daughter or niece or favorite little girl in your life, teach her to surf. Teach her to climb trees, sing loud, ride bikes, chase the moon, and get dirty on a Sunday afternoon. Teach her that she's capable of doing and learning and being a presence, rather than just an image, in this world. She might cast a glance at a camera every once in a while, but she'll be too busy to look for long.

Book Review - Making Peace with Your Plate

"No one tells you that eating disorders are ugly," says Robyn Cruze, co-author of Making Peace with Your Plate: Eating Disorder Recovery. "When I was enmeshed in my eating disorder, I felt the opposite. I believed it would keep me safe and in control, and make me desirable. I thought it would protect me from myself."

So, how does the balance shift for Cruze? Eventually she finds motivation for change in the desire for freedom: "I so desperately wanted to experience life without the shackles of my eating disorder. I wanted to live, not just survive." At one point, Cruze declares: "My need to recover eventually became greater than my need to be thin." In my mind, this one pithy line captures recovery to a tee - almost everyone I've worked with has had a similar type of shift that ultimately drove her toward change.

As part of her journey, Cruze meets Espra Andrus, LCSW, a therapist trained in DBT. Though their time together was brief, Cruze was so moved by their meeting that she sought out Andrus to help her co-write this book. The result is a back-and-forth narrative that alternately captures Cruze's story with Andrus's clinical wisdom.

One of the best aspects to this book is the many exercises that help readers challenge their eating disorder voices with the truth, a common cognitive therapy technique and useful externalization of the eating disorder.
Here's one example:

Eating disorder: "There is no better way to get off of a spinning merry-go-round than to hang out with me."
Truth: It is true that getting lost in eating-disorder thoughts and/or behaviors makes the chaos of things whirling around you disappear. The problem is that the merry-go-round hasn't actually stopped. You just close your eyes."

And another:

Eating disorder: "Honest, I really do help. I number the pain. Numbing pains the secret to life. . . and you need me."
Truth: Yes, your eating disorder serves as a quick fix for hard emotions - before it takes everything from you. And it will take everything from you.

Andrus also provides specific techniques designed to aid in the recovery process. For instance, she encourages readers to make a list of potentially triggering comments from others (e.g., "You've lost some weight, you look good") and then "For each of these triggering words or phrases, write down what you might say, not say, do, or not do, when you hear them, then practice saying your responses out loud." As anyone in recovery can tell you, being prepared for these conversational challenges can go a long way.

Now recovered, Cruze reports: "The true value of recovery is in the process of "checking in" with myself and honoring that voice that longs to be heard and that encourages me to keep moving forward. And with each positive action I take toward this, I secure a little more self-worth from deep within."

What an inspirational definition of recovery. . .

Eating Disorder Memoirs: Helpful or Harmful?

What do you think?

The Academy for Eating Disorders is hosting a Twitter Chat on 3/13 (5pm EST) entitled, "Eating Disorders: Helpful or Harmful?" According to the blurb:

Eating disorder memoirs have received significant attention as of late. Some diagnosed with eating disorders find writing and sharing their story helpful in the process of their recovery. But are these stories beneficial to their target audience? If you have an eating disorder, does reading eating disorder memoirs provide guidance on recovery and pocket support? Or, can reading these stories trigger increased eating-disorder behavior? AED takes a careful look at the pros and cons of eating disorder memoirs with the help of guests Carrie Arnold and Dr. Jennifer Thomas, in a lively chat you won't want to miss.

On behalf of the Academy's Social Media Committee (@aedweb), I'll be asking our guests some thought-provoking questions, and the discussion promises to be an engaging one.

If you'd like to join, just follow these instructions provided by AED:

It's easy to join in the chat! - Try it!1. Go to www.tweetchat.com2. Enter the name of the chat: #AEDchat
3. Next, read the posts and/or sign in to add your tweets.
Note: If you're tweeting, Tweetchat will add the chat hashtag (#AEDchat) each time for you.
Don't have Twitter account yet? You can create one here. You'll then be ready to follow the AED Twitter chat using hashtag #aedchat.

Would love to see you all there!

"She Doesn't Need to See the Menu"

Check out "She Doesn't Need to See the Menu" by Blythe Baird.

Baird uses words in phenomenal ways.

*Note: The poem may be a bit triggering for some.

The Biggest Eating Disorder?

The Biggest Loser winner Rachel Frederickson has made waves across the nation with her 155-pound weight loss. Frederickson dropped about a pound a day, a loss more rapid than any health professional would advise, and landed herself south of a healthy BMI.

Many have criticized Frederickson's new physique, calling her "unhealthy" or "anorexic." Truth be told, we know nothing of her health or eating disorder status. We do know that it isn't healthy to drop such a large amount of weight in a short period time (regardless of starting and ending weight), but we don't know where Frederickson falls on various health metrics.

But let's zoom out a bit. . . .

In our culture, we seem to stand on the sidelines, cheering weight loss among celebrities, fat reality show contestants, personal contacts, etc. It's as if we chant, "Thinner, thinner, thinner!" until, "Oops, too thin." I've seen this happen with a number of stars and hear it constantly in my work and in the world around me.

Millions of people watch TBL and cheer unhealthy weight loss methods until, oops, someone takes it a bit too far. But Frederickson was just playing the game well. This is a show that is predicated upon an eating disorder. It's a show that demands over-(compulsive) exercise and a very low calorie diet. It's a show that encourages weight stigma and fat shaming. And it's a show that gives the not-so-subtle message that it doesn't matter what you do, as long as you lose weight.

Just recently, trainer Jillian Michaels was slapped on the wrist for supplying her team with caffeine supplements in her quest to get them thin. Would you consider Adderall or cocaine, Jillian, if it meant securing the win? Where do you draw the line?

In the pursuit of skinny, lines are blurred and health is relegated to back-burner status. The only reason Frederickson's possibly unhealthy loss has garnered so much attention is that she happens to look so gaunt. As prior TBL contestants have revealed, the show promotes disordered behavior and unhealthy measures. Just because other contestants haven't dropped to Frederickson's low doesn't mean that they haven't compromised their physical and psychological health as a result of their participation on the show.

Michaels and fellow trainer Bob Harper declined to comment on Frederickson's weight loss, but as a personal trainer, I will. Frederickson's weight loss is unhealthy, as is the other contestants'. It's accomplished via destructive and humiliating behaviors and beliefs, and it lands a sucker punch on America's self-esteem. I can't even tell you how many people have ended up on my therapeutic couch who begin their story with some variation of, "I lost a lot of weight when following a personal trainer's diet and exercise guidelines."

Leslie Goldman, author of The Locker Room Diaries, thinks that Frederickson's weight loss "sets the body image movement back." I think the show itself, and its celebrated place in our culture, proves we still have work to do.

Why I Choose to Eat Intuitively and How You Can, Too

A friend visited weeks ago and asked how I don't go overboard on all the treats I have stocked in my kitchen cupboard (when she visits, she does a self-acknowledged mini-raid).  "How is it that you're not always eating this stuff?" she wondered, and I replied, "Because it's always here."

When you decide to loosen the rules around food restriction, it's surprising how the forbidden fruit becomes just fruit.

Another friend was visiting recently and while we were gabbing in the kitchen, I grabbed a few cookies from the counter.

My friend interrupted her own speech and said, "That's so great that you can grab a handful of cookies and not feel bad about it in the morning."

I paused, as I digested what she was saying.  She assumed that I don't regret my food choices in the morning, but she was actually right.  My pause, however, was more about the reality that anyone can make this choice, to eat dessert without guilt.  I don't have special powers.  What I do have is an intention to have a healthy relationship with food.  I've decided that for me, enjoying food is more important than fitting into the jeans I wore in my twenties.  I could probably do that if I really, really restricted my diet, but it's just not worth it to me.

Drew Barrymore seems to feel the same.  The actress, gearing up to be a second-time mom, reflected on food, weight, and body image in an issue of Allure magazine: "I cannot live a life where I"m deprived. I'd much rather be five, 10 pounds heavier." Barrymore went on, "With my luck, I'll get myself to that perfect goal weight, and I'll get hit by a bus. Then, I'll be like. . . looking at myself from some afterlife going, 'You idiot. You could have had that agnolotti, dummy.'"

I love the freedom of eating intuitively.  I love the freedom of not thinking about food all the time.  So, the jeans from years ago, well, they just had to go.

Resolutions

To start the year off on a positive note, avoid resolutions in the spirit of self-dislike.  Rather than focusing on weight loss, why not resolve to improve your relationship with food, and while you're at it, your relationship with your body?  This will help you now and will last way beyond the crash-diet/gym-heavy January norm.

Other ideas for resolutions:

• Develop a healthier relationship with exercise
• Improve self-acceptance
• Practice imperfection
• Accept yourself as is, while still leaving room for change and growth

Happy New Year.

Truth in Advertising

Have you seen the new Special K campaign that encourages us to put an end to Fat Talk? 



So inspirational, right?  Except that the video tells us that fat talk is a barrier to managing our weight, rather than a barrier to being happy or being alive. . .  And this is the same Special K that asked us "What will you gain when you lose?", that promised us we could drop a jean size in two weeks, and that introduced us to weightless Melissa. Remember her?

Pantene is responsible for a simultaneous viral campaign that encourages us to buck the women-as-bossy or-bitchy stereotype and lean in just like Sheryl.  



But is Pantene really after our best interests?  In a Time article, research psychologist Peggy Drexler asks: "After all, is there anything more sexist than the notion that professional women need a hair care brand—or anyone, really—to help them learn to 'be strong and shine'?" Keep in mind, this is the same Pantene of the 1980's "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful" campaign.  Remember her?

Unilever's Dove "Real Beauty" campaign was perhaps the first to market with the purpose of body positivity. But in these ads, which aimed to cast "flawless" women, we saw gradations of thin, curvy physiques with spotless skin and beautiful hair. This is the same Unilever that owns Slim Fast.

These companies don't really care if you love your body or achieve your personal or career goals. If so, they would have built themselves around this philosophy from the start. They want you to buy their products. Consultants have advised them that the route to enviable sales now lies in promoting self-empowerment.  So they are.  But body love and personal growth are independent of cereal, body wash, and shampoo selection, and these campaigns are hypocritical at worst, see through at best. Don't believe the hype.

Fatness: A Public Health Crisis?

Hey Tweet Peeps,

Do you have plans for Friday, December 13th, at 1pm EST?

If not, join the Academy for Eating Disorders' upcoming TweetChat!  We will be hosting UCLA sociology professor and author Dr. Abigail Saguy, who wrote the book, What's Wrong With Fat? released earlier this year. (Hint: Buy it--it's good!)

I'm honored to be helping out with the TweetChat behind the scenes.  You can follow the buzz using #aedchat or the handles @aedweb, @WhatsWrongWithFat, or mine, @drstaceyla.

Enjoy the dialogue!

My Thoughts on Lululemon

Last week, yoga/fitness/lifestyle clothier Lululemon's founder Chip Wilson made a huge body image/weight stigma blunder by refusing to take any responsibility when accused of poor product construction. Instead, he blamed yoga pant pilling on poorly constructed women. "Some women's bodies just actually don't work," he said. "It's about the rubbing through the thighs." It's not the fabric's fault, silly; it's your bulging gams.



Wilson has apologized publicly for the offense, but many in the eating disorder community just won't have it. Body Image Advocate Marci Warfhaft-Nadler makes some excellent points here and also started a change.org petition encouraging Lululemon founder Chip Wilson to "stop shaming women's bodies" and "apologize and make clothes for women of all sizes!"

In defense of Lululemon, I happen to like their products, swayed early on by the brand's comfort, fit, and seeming impermeability to sweat smells and stains.* Granted, unlike the average American woman, I wear a size that entitles me to shop at Lululemon in the first place, but in my experience, their yoga and running pants actually pill less than other brands. And, for those of you who have never seen me, I'm sans thigh gap and not even close to a top-shelf Lululemon'er. And yet, my trusted Lulus have held up over
time. . .

Wilson made an offensive comment and for that, he should take responsibility, but let's hate the player and the game. Wilson's fat-shaming sentiment, and the brand's refusal to carry larger sizes, are not at all unique to Wilson or Lululemon.  Rather, they are problems that plague the fashion industry and our culture as a whole. The conversation about bodies, clothing, and weight stigma goes way beyond Chip Wilson and Lululemon and must evolve, along with the industry, to be more inclusive and less offensive to all of us.

*Product plugs:  I'm grateful to Lululemon, Nike, Hard Tail, New Balance, and Apple products for outfitting and entertaining me during today's morning workout, which allowed me the time and space to write this blog post in my head.

FLOTUS on TBL?

You may have heard that Michelle Obama is scheduled to appear (again) on an episode of NBC's The Biggest Loser.

This time, the eating disorder community won't go down without a fight.

The last couple of weeks have witnessed a social media* blitz suggesting our first lady reconsider her appearance. The folks over at Binge Behavior started a change.org petition encouraging Mrs. Obama to cancel on TBL. The petition already has 3,500 signatures, including mine!

Binge Behavior, together with the Binge Eating Disorder Association, the Academy of Eating Disorders and some other key e.d. players, also sent a letter to Mrs. Obama explaining why we are challenging her appearance on the show.

What do you think?

*Speaking of social media, a couple of months ago, I signed on as one of the official Tweeters for the Academy of Eating Disorders.  For great content on eating disorders, check out their Twitter feed: @aedweb (and mine, too: @drstaceyla)!

No Excuses

By now, you've probably seen this photo (motivational campaign?), which has quickly made the internet rounds.

Maria Kang is, as she describes on her website, a "recovering bulimic."  I would hope that all women in recovery understand that images and messages like this are often difficult for women, with and without eating disorders, to tolerate.

The word "excuse" has a judgmental, shaming connotation to it.  If you're not doing it her way, then clearly, you're not doing it right.  Already, many women have spoken out with their "excuses," from lack of time or other resources, to serious illness.  How's cancer for an excuse for not rocking Kangian abs?

The reality is, most women's "excuse" is simply genetics.  Even if they spent three hours daily at the gym (and really, how healthy would that be?) and ate only unprocessed, organic, vegan, dairy-free, sugar-free, gluten-free morsels at two-hour intervals throughout the day, stopping by 7pm, of course (and really, how healthy would that be?), they still wouldn't look like this.  Because their genes just don't want them to.  Their bodies would rebel from over-training by getting sick and injured and they would compensate for caloric restriction by overeating or bingeing when given the chance.  And their lives would be monumentally out of balance. . .

There are hoards of athletic, flexible, strong, in-shape women who can run marathons or climb mountains, hoist dumbbells, office printers, or six-year-olds, who earn cardiovascular and metabolic gold stars at each and every doctor's visit, who look nothing like this.  The reality is, by looking at the photo of Kang, we can't even know if she's healthy.  We simply know that she's thin.  The more we equate health with appearance, the more we encourage exercise as punishment (rather than life-affirming recreation) and promote cultural-sanctioned disordered eating and body dissatisfaction.

And until women can come together and stop judging, criticizing and attacking one another, we really don't stand a chance in tackling the many forms of competition and adversity we experience in our roles as mothers, in the workplace, as sexual objects, etc., etc., etc.

Motivating people through judgment, shame, and attack isn't motivating, at least not in the long-run.  My hope is that women like Kang can motivate her fitness audience through accurate information, encouragement, and support.  There are plenty of forces and factors in this world that denigrate women; let's at least call it a truce with one another.

Should She Rebel?

It looks like Aussie export Rebel Wilson is getting the full-court press by the diet industry, as companies bid to have her crowned their newest weight-loss spokesperson.

Wilson, praised for her comedic talent and now the star of her own show, is apparently set to encounter tons of money if she signs on to endorse one of these plans.

Should she do it for the money (who's the biggest loser, then?) or say no, I'm happy and successful the way I am?

Is Strong the New Skinny?

I remember the first "Fitspiration" ad I clipped many years ago.  It was a print ad from Nike, and the rookie fitness professional in me liked the message.  It said something to the effect of how we never go out for a run and later regret that we did.  Couldn't really argue that. . .

Flash forward almost 20 years and these ads have morphed into something entirely different.

Nike still plays it relatively safe, but commands hard work and harder bodies.



Others have a more radical tone.  Following in the footsteps of thinspiration, fitspiration (nicknamed "fitspo"), offers internet images and slogans designed to motivate us toward our fitness goals. Popping up on social media sites are images of women with toned, muscular bodies and especially chiseled abs accompanied by inspirational messages evoking themes of discipline, failure, and pain.

Charlotte Anderson of the blog (and book), The Great Fitness Experiment, writes about fitspo:  

Looking at rock-hard body after rock-hard body it occurred to met hat fitspo may be in thinspo in a sports bra.  After all ,the problem with thinspo is that the images represent a mostly unattainable ideal that requires great sacrifices (both physical and mental) to achieve and I daresay that most of those "perfect" female bodies, albeit muscular instead of bony, are equally as problematic.

What do you think?  Do fitspo images and slogans motivate fitness behavior in the masses or promote an unhealthy relationship with exercise, food, and weight?  Are these ads just more socially acceptable forms of thinspo?

Strong is certainly a healthier goal than skinny, and I'd love to see images of strong women of various shapes and sizes.  But if strong really is the new sexy, then why are these women all so skinny?  

We Have a Cover!

Calling All Commenters!

I'm excited to announce that my blog has generated interest from a publisher to create a book on the important subject of eating/body image concerns. Through the years the comments from readers have been an important part of this blog. If you have commented at any time, I would appreciate your contacting me at drstaceyla at gmail dot com. Thank you.