A few weeks ago I had a casting call for a very popular health magazine. If selected, my photo would accompany an article, a social commentary on the unattainable expectations that “Barbie” has placed on young girls in America.

It came down to three of us – the final decision was to be made the day before the shoot with the photographer and the producer. One by one we stood before the two as they snapped photos of our bare physiques awaiting the final decision. As I sat with these two other women I began to think about the images that we project onto girls, women, of what we should aspire to look like. It occurred to me that “Barbie” shouldn’t bare all the weight, this burden wasn’t hers alone to carry.

Mainstream media is equally, if not more culpable of creating unattainable expectations. We have high fashion, film and television, and magazines that all project strong images that young girls and mature women alike compare themselves to everyday.

As an ex-college athlete and trainer for professional athletes, I know the lithely framed women that parade down the cat-walk, hovering around the six-foot mark, tower above the average American women. The beautiful starlettes of the silver screen are equally thin but most are scraping the 5’6” mark posturing in their 3” heels. And no, I do not pretend to think that all of these women are “unhealthy”. I have traveled to many cities across the globe and I have seen beautiful women of all shapes and sizes. I know that there are some women that are just naturally long and lean, but there are just as many women fighting with their bodies to make sure that they can maintain their stay with their size 2-4 window so that they look good on camera.

I remember the very first photo shoot that I did when I signed with Wilhelmina. There was a young girl that was meeting with the photographer just before me. I overheard the photographer comment how she was “perfect” and she was going to get so much work, “She’s a walking hanger.” It was this comment that altered my perspective on fashion and modeling… women on the “straight size” runway are just that – walking hangers. They are hired to make the clothes look good, to hang well as they sashay across the catwalk.

Not to take anything away from these women, they are beautiful and modeling truly is a craft, and I do believe that maintaining a “prepubescent” frame with a small waist, small hip and small bust can prove to be very lucrative. But holding onto this extreme physique is exceedingly challenging to maintain for many women, even many top models. I have heard stories of girls vomiting in bathrooms, “drinking” their calories; spending and excess of 3 hours a day doing cardio and having memberships at the local colonic therapist office.

In the last 20 years, the fashion industry has started to embrace women on the other edge of the spectrum, exploring the world of “plus-size” fashion, where I discovered how to embrace myself as a woman. The “Plus” world is a much more forgiving world… I remember my girlfriend telling me I had the best job in the world – I got paid to eat whatever I wanted. The beautiful, statuesque woman on any given “Plus board” vary in size from 12-18 and many had strong careers as “straight-size” models and for whatever reason transitioned into the “Plus” column. I believe that this area of fashion will continue to grow as the movement to “embrace our bodies” saturates the American mindset.

Now I am a huge advocate for “embracing our bodies” and choosing to become a “Plus-size” model was one of the best decisions I ever made, but I find fault in this market too. I understand that it’s trying to project fashion for a more “realistic image” of the female body as mirrored in American society but at times is also a disservice. The women of the “Plus” board are still standing gracefully around six-feet, but as they creep towards the 16-20 sizes, I am concerned with the “picture of health” that we are portraying. Standing at six-feet and a size 16 may simply be “voluptuous” but bring that size 16 down to a 5’4” frame and we have a picture of someone who is probably overweight and unhealthy.

Where does our responsibility lie, as women, for young girls and our peers? Yes, we need to encourage each other to grow comfortable with our bodies and accept ourselves whether we are 5’3” or 5’11”; fair and freckled, blonde and blue or olive complected with black hair and brown eyes. However, just as we ask ourselves to embrace our bodies – to “own” them, shouldn’t we do the same with our health? Isn’t that equally, if not more, critical to our longevity, quality of live, livelihood and confidence?

While trying to find hard numbers of the average American woman’s height and weight, I was bombarded by the number of articles, links, etc. to obesity in America. When I looked at “FASTSTATS” provided by the Center for Disease control and Prevention, I was taken aback. The average American woman of the age of 20 is just shy of 5’4”, has a 37” waist and is 164.7 lbs. Take your breath away? Using these numbers to calculate Basal Metabolic Rate (BMI) yields a measurement of 28.1. On a BMI scale, “normal” ranges between 18.5-24.9, “overweight” 25 – 29.9 and “obesity” is indicated by any measurement over 30. So by the BMI standards, the average American woman is “significantly overweight” and teetering close to obesity. This is a startling discovery for me.

Television has helped to drive a new wave of attention as shows celebrate an individual’s 100 pound loss over the course of three months. Now, I cannot and will not negate the hard work, the dedication and discipline involved to accomplish such a fete in such a short frame of time. However, what I’d actually be more interested in knowing is how their body composition changed over those three months. Often times, when an individual has a significant amount of body fat to lose, which is often mislabeled at “weight” if you only pay attention to the scale, what one may not realize is that up to 50% of the “weight” they lose can be from muscle loss.

Why is this potentially problematic? Well, as important as it is to lose body fat, it’s also very important to maintain your muscle mass as it helps to give your body shape, tone and strength in addition to keeping your metabolism moving. When you lose muscle, you slow down your metabolism; counter-intuitive to what you’re trying to accomplish. It’s a *misnomer that muscle “weighs more” than fat, a pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat, but it takes up significantly less space. So theoretically, you could “weigh more” but be “thinner”; just something to think about.

So what am I trying to say with all of this? I want to put forth a challenge – as we work everyday to accept out bodies, to accept ourselves, let’s try to “own” our health as well. Sit down and spend a little bit of time identifying what is a picture of health for you. Health comes in many varied dimensions. There is physical health, emotional health, mental health… the body is an integrated mechanism, one part can not fully function without the aid of another.

I do not have Psychological degree so I cannot offer expert advice on how to attain mental and emotional health. Anything that I suggest for you is all based on experience with individuals that I have worked with or have found helpful myself. However, I feel confident helping to guide you in growth for physical health which we can further breakdown in to cardiovascular health, musculoskeletal health, flexibility, balance, agility, body composition and even neurological health.

Upcoming articles will deal on ways to enhance and better develop physical health with courage. I use courage for a reason here. Sometimes, it takes a very courageous heart to stand alone with ourselves and speak honestly. There is something that we can do that would make us happier – healthier. I am using a foundation of fitness as my platform because that it is what I know, it is what I do.

Look at the next thirty days, challenging because of the holidays and maybe not a time to make a lot of time to make “dramatic” changes but I do believe that it is plenty of time to develop a new pattern of behavior. This is what we’re looking for… creating behavioral change.

Take some time over the weekend and sit with yourself…. Do you want to be able to walk the five flights of stairs to your office without feeling winded? Maybe it’s as simple as touching your toes… or perhaps you want to be able to end your week without feeling exhausted so that you can actually enjoy the weekend that you worked so hard for.

Sit down, acknowledge it, declare your goal! Set yourself up for success: decide what steps you are going to take to accomplish this goal in the next 30 days. Share the plan with your friend, your spouse, your kids… send it back to us and let us support you as you “own” your picture of health.

*BMI- a number calculated from a person’s height and weight employed as an indicator of body fatness and to screen weight categories.  www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/

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CHRISTA PRYOR – Not only a college athlete with a degree in Kinesiology and a Masters in Human Movement, Christa was one of the youngest division 1 Head Strength and Conditioning Coaches in the country. She has trained athletes from diverse sports and skill levels; including the NBA, MLS, and AAA baseball. Christa has contributed to multiple fitness magazines including Fitness Magazine, and been profiled on local news channels highlighting her innovative training methods. Her latest passion is working with Play for Her and Pryor Performance, two non-profit organizations sharing a common objective, to bring strength and conditioning programs to underrepresented young athletes.