Picture vs. Reality

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-07-2005
Picture vs. Reality
33
Sun, 06-18-2006 - 8:27pm
I just met someone from Match who doesn't look like his picture. The picture must be old and about 20 pounds ago. He also claimed to be "toned and athletic." NO WAY. I am getting frustrated with all this. Aren't there any honest people any more?????

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iVillage Member
Registered: 05-06-2006
Sun, 06-18-2006 - 10:07pm

I'm beginning to wonder if it is lack of honesty or lack of objectivity about themselves. The guy I met the other day told me, the night before he met me, that he was lucky in that his hair had almost no gray in it. It is pepper-and-salt.

Since it makes no sense to lie about something like that when he knew I was going to see him the next day, I can only conclude that when he looks in the mirror he still thinks what he used to look like instead of what he actually looks like today.

That would explain all those pictures from youth ("But I haven't changed!") and the false claims to be "athletic and toned" ("I watch sports on tv, that makes me athletic, and I am just as toned as I was when I was nineteen even if I've gained a few pounds.").

Laughing is the only solution.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-07-2005
Sun, 06-18-2006 - 11:25pm
I didn't feel like laughing when I laid eyes on this guy. I felt like turning around and running.
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-06-2006
Sun, 06-18-2006 - 11:59pm
Yeah, I can understand that. Hope you don't get too many more like that.
Avatar for mhash
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Mon, 06-19-2006 - 12:22am

Since the 60% of the people in the U.S. are overweight with 30% obese, what is considered acceptable and average is changing. I realize that women who call themselves "average" are 10-15 lbs overweight in my eyes. The last woman who I had a relationship with called herself "athletic" in her profile and I thought her to be "average." She worked out regularly and is fairly toned but I would not have consider her body to be athletic.

So in most cases, (1) people's self perceptions are way off and (2) the categories of body types seemed to have shifted in what they mean to match the trend of obesity in America.

Mark

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-07-2005
Mon, 06-19-2006 - 7:28am

Hi Mark,

I totally agree. But I lift, run, take boxing class, work on my abs. I am represented by two model and talent agencies. My definition of athletic and toned is consonant with what should be the definition....

Bunny

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-03-2004
Mon, 06-19-2006 - 12:04pm
I agree, also. The perceptions of thin and heavy have both changed, in my view. For ex., when I was a teen-ager (I'm 38 now) Christie Brinkley and Demi Moore were both "hot". Now they'd probably be considered kind of "fat". Conversely, as Mark pointed out, the number of people who are overweight and obese has increased. So, on the one hand, there's a very, very small percentage of the population who is actually underweight, which is the only segment really considered thin. Then there are the rest of us. The terms thin, average, a few extra pounds, etc. are so malleable. I'm 5'8", 140 lbs. and I really don't feel thin any more, but I put slender in my profile because average is heavier, generally. There are so many inconsistencies in society anymore.
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-01-2005
Mon, 06-19-2006 - 7:08pm
I realize that women who call themselves "average" are 10-15 lbs overweight in my eyes.


The problem is, they're overweight "in your eyes". In the eyes of every chart and every physician, I'm perfectly normal. In the eyes of most men, I'm "obese" because I have hips and a butt. Am I fit? Yep. Run 2 miles every few days, all I have time for, and scuba dive on the weekends. Men really need to start being a little more accepting of different body types. I honestly thought we as a society had moved past thinking women need to be a size 2 to be beautiful.







iVillage Member
Registered: 03-15-2004
Mon, 06-19-2006 - 8:50pm
Boy, you sure are a positive person to look at it that way! lol Good for you!
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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-15-2004
Mon, 06-19-2006 - 8:53pm
You're right. I didnt know WHAT to put myself down as. I suppose i SHOULD have, in most peoples reality, put down "a few extra pounds" ... since its about 20# overweight. BUT ... that IS "average" in this day & age. But i AM curvy, lol.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-15-2004
Mon, 06-19-2006 - 8:55pm

*Here here!*

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