Welcome to Small Steps to Health where we do not take orders from a cookie!
Our office secretary called me a “Barbie” at lunch today. My first reaction was “what?!!” Since I have a transparent face, my confusion was obvious.
Am I suppose to feel honored or insulted?
Apparently the group of women in my new department call any women within their healthy BMI a “Barbie.” As I mention in a previous post, I am the thinnest woman in my new office, at least according to their standards.
According to Scientific Blogging, “Barbie is described as 5′9″ and 110 p0unds. Using NIH’s BMI calculator, her BMI is 16.2.”
Barbie is dangerously underweight! With Barbie’s body fat composition, she “would not be able to menstruate due to being underweight.”
Yeah, that sure sounds like me (I am being sarcastic since you cannot read my tone.). Barbie would freak out if she wakes up one morning with my backside! 
I notice some cattiness in the two divorced women in my office. Both their husbands left them for other women. Though I feel sympathy, I cannot allow them to dwell on it in my presence.
I am at a point in my life where I am happy with myself, my marriage, my family, and my career. I know the path I need to take for the next few years. I find joy just being in the present moment. So I often find myself playing the role of the goalie, deflecting the topic into something more neutral, if not cheerful.
But since they are the alpha females, the other three women, though might not bash males or “Barbies,” would usually laugh along with the others.
Exercise should take care of negative body image!
I have been inviting the least negative of the two alpha females to join my walking group. Why? I am a firm believer that a little exercise makes things seem a little less dreary. Though everything else might be beyond our control, with exercise, we could at least control our health.
When we start to look good on the outside, sometimes it helps us feel better on the inside. That is the reason why women would get a makeover after a breakup or buy a new outfit when they are feeling blue.
When the two alpha females are together, it seems like their negativity would bounce off of each other and keep the anger going. But when I get them away from the other, the anger feels more like a gleam than a flame.
I encourage them to talk about their children and the help they are receiving from their parents. I remind them how they need to take care of themselves in order to help their children. But mostly I listen and enjoy the movement of my body. Gratitude and exercise could make even the grouchiest person a little more cheerful.
Until next time and thanks for stopping by Small Steps to Health.
B&W Barbie Photo by: Sheila Tostes.
Blogger Barbie Photo by: BitchBuzz.
Like what you are reading? How about subscribing?
Related Posts:
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Healthy body image is really important. I don’t think it’s fair when people make comments like that Barbie comment- sometimes I think that’s how I started to get so many body image issues, because people would start telling me I looked too skinny or too muscular or something when my BMI is in the healthy range. It kind of hurts when we’re healthy and we work so hard for it and then it just gets shot down or made fun of.
Sagans last blog post……Exploring Phnom Penh
@Sagan – Maybe that is why I am a little bit offended since I make a conscious effort to eat well and exercise. And it it hard work as anyone who is trying to live a healthy lifestyle should know. To brush all that aside with a Barbie comment makes me feel shallow for putting in that effort. Thanks for the comment Sagan! Sounds like you are having fun in Cambodia.