What is the 'perfect' body?

What is the perfect body? Is it pencil thin, is it curves, is it physically fit, or is it just being ‘well endowed’? I know I could lose a few pounds, but I’m glad I’m not a stick figure. I love my curves, as does Dan. I have, what they call, an hourglass shaped body. And even though its by no means perfect, I feel perfect within my body.

But I do honestly believe, that ‘society’ at large is telling me that I’m nowhere near beautiful. You can open any magazine, and see any advertisement, from makeup to perfume, and it shows the ‘perfect’ girl. Much of it is photoshopped, I’ve seen Dan pull off some amazing tricks with photoshop.... Quite a bit of what you see in any social media today is not real. Changing eye color, moving facial features around, putting on makeup after the face, even slimming down is all possible with the power of photoshop.

But then you have runway models. Dan called them ‘moving mannequin’ that aren’t supposed to look like real people.... I myself, modeled from the age of 15 to 18, have far more insight than he does. Not only do you have to...look unrealistic, you have to behave unrealistic. I was on a modeling call, and they watched me walk, even up and down stairs. The took every measurement, they even looked at my teeth and nails, just as a farmer would a prospective new horse. When it was all said and done, they issued what is now a jokingly true phrase, "Need to lose five pounds." And at the time I was right at one hundred pounds.

As a model you have an ultra strict diet, but there are some...unhealthy shortcuts you can take. I, personally, at the time, was a vegetarian, while all my friends ate the ‘good food.’ There is nothing like watching your friends eat candy, ice cream, chips...and even bread.... I cheated sometimes, how could I not, I was a teenager, but at least I had the short cuts. Water dipped cotton balls will fill you up fast, and pass through undigested. I even made myself throw up sometimes.

I was young and impressionable, and it took me awhile to understand what it is to be ‘healthy’ and how much more beautiful that made me feel. I’m so happy I did not hurt myself doing all I did back then, and it scares me when my daughter talks about wanting to model, or wanting to lose weight by going off her ‘natural diet.’ I think my daughter is perfect, though could use what my fiance’s father called an ‘attitude adjustment’ but then she is a teenager....

People are not mannequins, and one should not base their image of beauty off of fake, plastic models that are treated like cattle so as to drape a garment or sell something. That is not what beauty is, beauty is something more, something internal. I agree people should have a healthy body, but it’s the soul that makes people truly beautiful or ugly.

What do you think is beautiful? Please comment below, because I’m curious to know what people think. Being a former model I like the idea of knowing how other people view models, and what their idea of beauty truly is.

–Lisa