That's the spirit. Be happy with yourself, if someone bothers it's their problem. ;)

To a degree. One of the reasons health care is so high is because of lifestyle issues people have that can be better managed (this includes drinking, smoking, nutrition and exercise).

To an extent, someone that does nothing about their weight (healthwise, specifically. I know some who are bigger than me who are actuall yin better cardiovascular shape... I am referring only to those who do not make the efforts to eat well and exercise) - is little better than someone who drinks excessively. Although the weight does not affect you behind the wheel, the other aspects- depression, heart health, mobility- can affect the lives of others around you negatively.

So, while some may embrace their heavier size, their children cannot fully get their arms around them, and may fear that their mommy or daddy will nto live to see them graduate.

Yo mamma is so fat...

Yo momma's so fat she needs a VCR for a pager

Yo Momma's so fat the back of her neck looks like a pack of hotdogs

Your momma's so fat that her belly button makes an echo

Yo momma's so fat her cerial bowl comes with a lifeguard

Yo momma's so fat when she walks past window we lose four days of sun light

Yo momma's so fat she had to get baptized at sea world

Your momma's so fat when she fell over, she rocked herself to sleep tryin to get back up again

Your mammas so fat and stupid, when it was raining she used the freeway for a slip and slide

Yo momma's so fat that when the whales saw her they started singing "we are family"

Yo momma is so fat when she goes to a restaurant she has to be greased in and out of the booths

Yo mamma's so fat she was attacked by Japanese military, they thought she was Godzilla's wife.

Yo mamma's so fat when she went on school field trips the school had to raise fund to feed her.

Your momma's so fat she makes free willy look like a goldfish

Yo mama is so fat when I layed back on her stomach I rolled twice and I was still in the middle

*apologies in advance if this is a little disjointed, I have a bad headache at the moment*

The topic of control that has also been discussed in regards to Anorexia Nervosa is an interesting one. Personally I don't know if I actually agree with Anorexia being a control issue, I think that is something that Psychologists have latched onto as an easy explaination for the disorder and sufferers looking to understand something they don't understand themselves have agreed with it because it makes sense to them. I know when I was trying to work out why I had developed Anorexia and why I did the things I did and felt the way I felt, I latched onto all manner of theories to try and make sense of my disorder....it was my Parent's fault, unresolved guilt issues over the death of my Grandmother, bullying at school, a need for control over my life etc etc etc. Now of course all of those things played a role, they were all part of the rich melting pot that made up my illness, but the only thing I can truly point to and say "that's it, that is what is to blame for it" is my own brain chemistry. Research has shown that Anorexia Nervosa may very well be a biological brain disorder where people who become Anorexic have a difference in brain chemistry which means they react to starvation differently. It doesn't have to be a diet gone wrong, or a need for control, or a desire to fit a media ideal, in certain susceptible individuals whose brains are wired for this something as simple as getting sick and losing a few pounds can trigger the illness. Obviously if you take someone with a biological (and possibly genetical) predisposition to Anorexia and place them in a situation where it is more likely that they will diet or refuse to eat then yes it is highly likely they will develop Anorexia but that still doesn't mean it is their particular environment that is to blame. Put another person, who doesn't have that biological predisposition in the same situation and chances are the same disorder won't develop.

Think about it like this...how many teenage girls go on crash diets to prove they are "in control", to "look like models in magazines", to feel as if they are doing something that their parents and the teachers and everyone else can just shut up about because it's "their body" etc etc. Now how many of these girls go on to develop Anorexia Nervosa? not as many as first started dieting that's for sure. So obviously there is something else at work here and so far the scientific research is all pointing at it being a Neurobiological matter and not a societal or environmental issue.

Actually, the newest research points to A.N. as being linked more to OCD and an actualy mental "glitch" than to peer pressure. Both are conditions which the afflicted feels that they control these actions which gives the illusion of control over their lives- where the opposite is actually true.

Bulimia Nervosa and Bulimia Athletica (purging via exercise) are more linked to peer pressure/social issues.

That's what I said, only I think you managed to say it better and in a shorter amount of time. Anorexia Nervosa is most likely a brain "glitch" and the behaviours an attempt to control that "glitch", but it's not control as some of the more traditional views of Anorexia see it. For example some of the feminist views of Anorexia see it as needing to show control over the body in order to reassure a patriachal society that they still have the upperhand or control over appetite because society deems it to be ladylike behaviour and therefore appealing to potential male partners. Whereas with Anorexia it can be seen as more of the person trying to make sense and order out of certain chaotic thoughts, impulses and anxieties. To use myself as an example, Food restriction and subsequent weightloss helps to calm anxiety, it helps me to cope with the chaos in my head by giving me a singular focus. Starvation for me is physically pleasant, it is calming and grounding, I don't actually feel hunger as a negative thing but rather as something that brings positive changes in my my mind and how I'm feeling. As I said before my Anorexia has absolutely nothing to do with peer pressure or the media or societies value of thinness, and it also has nothing to do with me believing that I need to "control" my food intake in order to have control over at least one area of my life. For me it is more about wanting to quieten and "control" my anxiety and the constant obsessive thoughts about food and weight.

HIGH FIVE! I'm about the same in UK sizes, though I don't know how that compares to Australian sizes. Still.... HIGH FIVE!!

*raids phsyche's closet* yay AMAOAHAHAH

Some XS sizes are too big for me, but if I put on weight I'd look deformed. I'll admit I prefer thin to chubby, but I figure that's just my narcissism showing through since I find people who look like myself attractive. The last guy I had a crush on used to be mistaken for my twin sister after a sex change >_>

That's not to say I can't appreciate the beauty of a fuller-figure though. Physical beauty is mostly about how someone cares for their health and carries themselves. It has very little to do with what the scales have to say (or the media for that matter).

that's because you're just that damn hot ^.~

a woman's smile and her eyes matter more than anything else. The extremes put me off though. The skinny look is endemic because the fashion industry is run by gay men who want their models to look like little boys.