I'm a 5"6" black guy. Athletic. I'm happy with my body for the most part. My physical appearance is fine but my ability to push myself in working out is limited. I do have to pace myself but my inner drive says push it to the red line.

Keep my tachometer in the red for too long and I'll black out.

I've got them all over my body and I agree they suck. One time at the beach when I was younger an older lady came up to me and asked if my parents beat me. I was all 'wtf' and then she said I have lines all over my back. So apparently when I get tanned the stretch marks on my back turn bright red and look like I got a good whipping. :(

Doctor once told me that cocoa butter (I think that's the one) will help reduce their appearance, but I've never actually cared enough to try.

As much as I hate to say this, I have to agree with Alice and that doesn't happen very often. I always lived with the fact that I never did see myself as being very attractive especially when I was in high school and college, but even now I'm probably not as attractive now as what I was back in youth, I'm more comfortable with my body at the moment mainly because of the fact that I'm in a comfortable position in my life and its not as if I have to look a certain way to impress anybody. I'm getting married to a wonderul woman, and I'm not going to kill myself or put myself through a lot of physical or mental anguish just to get my body to be a certain way.

I only got one life to live so I'm going to eat what I want and do whatever I want with my life. I still do get active from time to time doing the things that I enjoy. Some of my enjoyable physical activity has caused me to lose 35 pounds at the most (this was through playing countless hours of DDR/ITG).

I'm currently 6'1 and 230 lbs, hoping to burn off some of that weight when I get back from working away from home.

Good thread to read...

I haven't read a post that is really similar to what I was going through. Personally all my life I just thought I should fatten up. To me I thought fatties had EVERYTHING. Money, freedom, toys, and definitely FOOD. Yeah I actually envied fatties just for that. Imagine how skinny I was all my childhood. It was pretty bad to where my baby teeth rotted during pre-puberty. :( There's no fatties in my family at all, there's guts and etc, but no fatties. I meant like heavy thighs/extra handles/arm blobs fat. I guess my family just naturally don't have that gene for anyone to really balloon up or anything. I figured its genetics and metabolism or something. But yeah my whole family is naturally damn skinny. So on top of THAT, I was deprived of extra food for so long.

Finally like around teenager stage I developed and fatten up a little to where I was feeling comfortable with myself finally. I was paranoid that my weight would kill me or something. I had a lot of fainting spells as well as lightheaded as a child. And currently? I have been at the same weight since college. High school weight was my personal best which was at 140 and currently its just 170. I'm 5'8.

And like Gechimr, most of weight goes straight to my leg muscles. My legs are like fucking tree trunks. Even my ankles are so damn embarrassing, I wouldn't dare be caught wearing without socks. And yeah I had problems finding a GOOD pair of pants too Gech. Its unbelievable.

170 and 5'8" isn't exactly light. I'm 6'2" and on the upper end of what's considered a "healthy" weight at 175.

I've never been comfortable with my body. I've always had what other people tell me 'an unhealthy obsession' with my weight. About 4 years ago I would weigh myself all the time,If I had gained weight I wouldn't eat until I lost some weight. Im also a vegetarian and a very picky one at that,so it's hard to find something I'll actually eat. I lost alot of weight during that. Before that I was 135 pounds at 5'7" 1/2. I think I got down to around 110. I've just never been comfortable with the way my body looks, always thinking I was to overweight and always trying to find something wrong with my body.

While I was pregnant,I gained weight of course. I do not have any idea how much I gained though,because I would never look at the scales when they would weigh me. I didn't get very big while I was pregnant. When I was 8 months pregnant, people would think I was 4 months. I didn't even get any stretch marks but that probably had alot to do with making OZZ rub Vitamin E on my belly. ;p Anyway,now that I've had my baby I probably hate my body even more. Everyone tells me I've lost all the weight I gained but I don't believe them.

I wish I didn't see myself the way I do,because sometimes it just makes me break down. Yeah I know Im a wuss. ;p I really want to start working out again. Im determined to tighen my belly up and just lose weight all around. I guess the main thing I hate about myself right now is my belly and my hips. Im to stubborn to listen to what other people say.

Also,besides something related to weight,I used to hate my hair. It was so frizzy and when my sister cut it real short parts of it would stick out. I was so self conscious about it. I finally found a good hair straightener so that fixed that,plus it's really long now ^_^.

Garnet: I really hope you ate more healthy and had a proper intake of vitamins and minerals while pregnant. Very unhealthy for both of you otherwise.

As for myself, 3 years ago I would have said I was very uncomfortable with my body. During my teens, I biked/walked around everywhere even in the city, and never had many problems. Going into college though, I looked at myself in the mirror one day and saw something I didn't like. I had a pudgy face and started to develop a bit of a belly, which i never had before. Decided to turn myself around and started going to the gym, that whole thing. It was especially disheartning because of my family members (Uncles, cousins included), i was one of the shortest due to my back problems (6', as opposed to my cousin 3 years younger than myself at 6'6, the next 16 and 6'4 etc.., uncles all being 6'3+), with many being body builders themselves.

Worked at it hard with various reasons to keep me going. Now I still go to the gym 5x a week, and constantly have people I don't know at work and party's coming up and asking me a few tips about bodybuilding and nutrition, so needless to say I feel pretty confident in myself now. Alot of my old buddies and family tell me I seem to carry myself with much more confidence, so being comfortable with your body is fairly important.

I guess I'm at peace with my body, and not unhappy with it in any way. I'm 5'11 and 165, within normal height and weight ranges. I do wish though that my acne is less severe, but perhaps that'll just come with time.

I weight lift, work out, and run daily.

I have a diet that I am on just about all-year-round.

I have a six-pack (and I mean visible)

I have a good chest (people notice it alot, and not just the girls either..)

I have a back with more lines and definition than I can identify.

My legs are muscular and above-average for my size in width, muscularity and thickness.

My arms are defined and the veins are visible at the biceps, definition in the triceps, lines at the shoulders, etc.

I am 5'8 and weigh in at about 160lb.

I am definitely more lean than bulky at this point in my life (though that can and usually does change as I do my cutting and bulking phases), which most people identify as being 'ripped' and 'cut'.

The only complaint I have and a very small one at that is a big butt. I don't know exactly why, but my butt is kind of big, seems genetic, girls have been telling me my whole life that I have a big butt - guys don't really check out my butt so no input there.

Other than that, I enjoy my body. It can get annoying sometimes with people always looking at me(some with envy, some with awe, some with the 'holy $hi!#' look), and asking how much I bench and how many sit-ups I do a day. But hey, it's highschool. And really, the only time people do notice (or atleast openly show signs of noticing) is when I where a wifebeater or a rather smallish shirt, or when I'm at the pool or beach. Other than that, it's the self-knowing of how much hard work you've put in and knowing that you, your mind, and your body are healthy and in prime condition.

Why do I keep my body in such good shape? Some of it is for the ladies. Most of it is for yourself, your confidence, and a better and healthier life. Some train their minds. Some train their bodies. I train both.

I'm okay with my body. There's nothing to create a complex about.

I am 100% fine with my body, from head to toe.

Because I stopped caring long long ago. Haha.

been getting too much muscles in my arms and legs lately...it scares me sometimes

Garnet, you have my sympathy! I've had the same problem, though I have never weighed as little as 110. I'm 5'7 and 125, and can't shake the feeling that I am fat. I have realized that my own perception of myself is false, and won't allow myself to starve for long periods of time because it makes me too sick.
I suppose I have reached a point that I can say, hey, you look pretty good. You may not be as skinny as you wish, but you are NOT FAT.
This may sound silly and corny, but it helps a lot if you look in the mirror and only think positive things about yourself. The worst a person can do is look in the mirror and search for flaws.

Additional Spam:
I used to have a problem with always thinking I was fat. But I realized I have a false perception of myself, and now I try REALLY hard not to think I'm fat. I'm 5'7, and 125 lb and in good shape. I suppose if I could change anything about myself I would have longer fingers (I have small hands and feet) and I would be taller.

Isn't it though :)

It's okay when I'm not feeling ill; that's when I'm most productive with improving my physical health. I guess I have to push past the boundaries when I'm ill too.

Some days, I can feel very very confident about my looks, I won't deny. Others, I feel very uncomfortable about my appearance. It's either side of the coin really. I think the reasons i'm not comfortable about my body is the fact that I have huge boobs - YEAH AWESOME RIGHT? No. It's not for me. They make me look larger than I actually am. And I hate wearing tight clothing because I feel consious that people think i'm trying to show it off. I don't even want to show it off, but to be blunt it's hard not to.

I'm uncomfortable with my frame too, i've not got a small frame so even if I were uber slim I wouldn't look like a stick. I'm ok with it, I do like have a good curve but I really do need to lose a few pounds - for my own self esteem.

For the most part I'm alright with my body, but in the past couple of years I've gained a little more weight than I'd liked to, and working at a cake restaurant doesn't help....

The ONE part of my body I just can't stand are my shoulders. No matter how much weight I lose or how much i work out they just won't..become normal. My shoulders are thick, and I have no idea how to get rid of the thickness :(...

The same for me, but add 3 inches, and about 50 lbs. I was starting to look great about 2 years ago when I was working out with my friends, but their school/personal lives got in the way (which led to me stopping of course). My sister, through some act of god, managed to convince me to try Yoga and Palattes(SP?). I'll just use the video I got in my sig as reference to how it's working out.

I tend to go in cycles at times.

When I was MUCH younger, I was frustrated because I never could put on muscle (I was as thin as a board and anything I ate never amounted to much of anything).

Then I went through a long phase of not caring too much.

Then I went through a phase of feeling I was putting on too much weight. That though changed when I walked a ton more and had a change of diet. I then became fairly happy with myself. However, as time has gone on, my diet has changed again, causing me to pick up some of that weight. As a result, I have been exercising more (although honestly because I want to stay in good health more than for appearance).

Well, I guess I really don't look that bad. I'm 5'9 and weigh about 120 pounds. It may sound like I'm really skinny, but I look very fit and muscular (not beefy muscular though as you may understand). But sure, I'm a thin guy. I just have a ridiculosly high metabolism, so even if I eat lots I just can't gain anything.

But, there are some things that I'm not that very comfortable with, and that is that I have a lot of hair growth on my ass (:tpg:), so I need to shave regularly and that is a bother. And then I have some days when I sweat alot (so much that I killed a dog by sweating once ;)) under my armpits so it usually shows through the sweaters I wear. So I have to wear alot of dark colours or thicker clothes so that it doesn't show that very much. But I like dark colours, so it's okay :p It feels very gross though to be all wet under the armpits.

I'm not comfortable with my body. I'm overweight (not excessively), yet I can't seem to lose pounds even when I'm on an exercise schedule. I also quit eating fast food. I wish I could return to the old days when I was more active in sports. These days, my fatigue and lack of drive for sports is killing me.