How does she stay so thin?

Will I ever be that glamorous? 

Ignore the pressure to be slim.  For some women, the pressure to remain slim and seemingly perfect to  others just isn't an issue. They might not be perfect, as there is no such thing as perfection, but they are not affected by what other people think of them.  

Isn't this a great way to be? But for many of us, living in today's vanity-driver world, even glimpsing a gossip magazine in  a local shop could  trigger self-doubt and anxiety. "Why don't I look like that?  How does she stay so thin? Will I ever be that glamorous? Comparing ourselves to celebrities will never make us feel better, but, let's be honest, it's hard to avoid the comparison when it stares at you in the face every day.  If we're not being bombarded with the latest celebrity weight-loss story, it's a supermodel who has given birth, and two months later flaunting her completely flat stomach.

Then, on the flip side, we have magazines that print pictures of famous people in their bikinis who have gained weight. It seems so cruel to do this, and yet it gives some women hope that celebrities are real, just like us, and they can, too, pile on the pounds. Of course, our happiness shouldn't rely on how we look, but for most people it does matter. 

When you are self-conscious, it is easy to feel that people  are talking about you or commenting on how you look. Paranoia sets in because underneath you yourself are not comfortable in your own skin. That's why some of us spend time covering up-we don't want to reveal what's underneath.

In our of my past birthday parties, I could feel the pressure when I blew out the candles and cut myself an extremely big slice of cake.   However, that didn't stop me from having that slice of cake. My point is, pressure from friends, family or media  is highly unlikely to spur you to make a change. The desire has to come solely from you and your goals need to be clear. 

So how do you avoid the pressure and figure out what makes you happy? Start by putting things into perspective, being realistic and finding a way to be confident in your own skin. As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, changing the relationship with your body is the first step to stopping overeating. Every change you make should be for you alone and nobody else-it won't work.

Related Post:  How Changing Your Relationship with Your Body will Change Everything...

Remember celebrities rarely have real lives

For starters, a team of professional stylists, make-up artists and hair experts surround them daily. Some of them don't step outside the front door until they have been coiffed and preened within an inch of their life. How can we mere mortals live up to this and why would we even try? Yes, for the most part, celebrities appear to be super-slim and equally super-fit. But the truth is they probably  work incredibly hard to achieve their figure. It's not as if the whole celebrity population is naturally a size 4!  

However, for some reason, the media  feel the need to portion these women as extraordinary and in doing so, put enormous pressure on the rest of the population. We should all be aware that in many cases, these women have no only been styled and beautified, but they have been photoshopped! 

They may have a team of chefs, nutrition advisors and personal trainers. The celebrity influence is worrying, but we have to learn not to let it win. Kate Winslet once said, "I'd rather be known as curvy Kate than some skinny stick." I admire her attitude and her honesty. 

Don't compare yourself to others

When you're feeling vulnerable, it's all  too easy to compare yourself with others, we all know the result-we end up feeling even more inadequate about how we look. So I urge you to get out of the habit of not feeling good enough. Learn to love what's on the inside and start to believe in yourself and what you can achieve

Only when you learn to feel comfortable in your own skin, will you truly be happy-and that is a feeling that no one else can take away.