How's your body image? Take the quiz.

In her amazing book, DEALING WITH THE STUFF THAT MAKES LIFE TOUGH, our friend, Jill Zimmerman Rutledge, M.S.W., LCSW wrote some cool stuff about body image. For over 20 years Jill has been counseling adolescent girls and young women who have eating disorders and she knows what she's talking about.

Here is an excerpt from her book:

Some people define body image as how we think and feel about our bodies, but that's only part of it. Body image is also created by what we think and feel about ourselves, how we behave, who we choose for friends, and the culture we live in. If you feel bad about yourself, you probably feel bad about your body too. Or if all your friends are dieting, you may begin to think you need to lose weight too. You may dislike your body for lots of other reasons. For one thing, magazines and other media can have a negative impact on your body image. When we look at pictures of very thin models, many of us want to lose weight immediately so we can look like them. Feeling bad about our bodies interferes with our lives. Your poor body image may make you feel awkward and self-conscious with guys. As 16-year-old Tina put it, "No guy wants a fat girl and I'm fat. I know if I start liking a guy, I'll just get rejected so why bother?" You may feel so uncomfortable about your body that you go to the beach in long shorts and a baggy T-shirt, instead of a bathing suit. When you feel dissatisfied with your body, it's important to look at your life as a whole. What else could you be unhappy about. Do you have low self-esteem? Do you exercise moderately but regularly? (Moderate-not obsessive-exercise helps you develop positive feelings about6 your body.) Are you having problems with family or friends? Are you eating healthily or loading up on junk food? Poor body image feels like it has everything to do with your body but in fact, it also has to do with how you're coping with life.

It is important to be realistic about your body compared to your body image. Here is a quiz Jill posted in her book. Let us know how you did on it and remember to love yourself and get healthy.

Do you have poor body image? Take this short quiz to see:

1. How do you feel about how you look?
a. Very good
b. OK
c. Mixed feelings
d. Bad, ashamed

2. Are you happy with your current weight?
a. Very happy
b. Happy enough
c. Somewhat unhappy
d. Very unhappy

3. Have you ever felt too fat after reading an article that reveals the body weight of a model or actress?
a. Yes
b. No

4. If you gained five pounds, you'd
a. Be OK with that-five pounds isn't a big deal
b. Feel neutral-not good or bad
c. Feel somewhat unahppy
d. Feel very upset

5. When someone says you look nice, you think:
a. I'm looking good.
b. They don't have anything else to say.
c. They're trying to make me feel good.
d. They're lying-they really think I'm gross.

Scoring: For questions 1, 2, 4 and 5, give yourself 1 point or a, 2 points for b, 3 points for c, and 4 points for d. For question 3, give yourself 1 point for a and 2 points for b. If you have a total score of 5-9, you're on the road to a good body image. Keep it up! If you scored 10-15, you may have some body image issues to work out. If you scored more than 16, you may have a poor body image.




If you're spending time worrying about how you look instead of having fun, you'll want to read PICTURE PERFECT another cool book written by Jill S. Zimmerman Rutledge. It will definitely help you feel better about your body. You can purchase PICTURE PERFECT at HeyUGLY.org. Just click on our products page. While your on the site check out all our other cool stuff to help self-esteem.