What If the Unrealistic Body Image I’m Chasing Is Mine?

Those women in the magazines did a job on my head — after all, I was one of them

My sordid past, as captured in Oxygen magazine, 2003–2004

The media has changed its tune. First they told me I had to be beautiful and fit. Now they tell me I need to build my self-confidence, regain my self-esteem, and separate my self-image from how my body looks. They insist I need to put…