I just watched this video about 10 times over before I could believe the transformation. It was all done so quickly. I didn’t know that was possible! I knew women in photographs were drastically altered, but I had no clue this was the extent of it.

What is produced in this video is impossible for any girl to achieve!

Everyone is abuzz with conversation over this model’s transformation from her face down to her toes! Her body is beautiful with the transformation, but it isn’t even realistic.

I have never really talked to people about my experience when it comes to body image. I can tell you it was something very unsettling for me growing up as a dancer . . .

I wasn’t insecure but I was always very aware and working on it. It wasn’t because I thought I was ugly. It was the fact that I was a performer and there were high expectations as I participated in an art that was physically demanding and artistically oriented.

Some days in the summer I danced 9+ hours a day. At the beginning of my day and prior to sleeping I did 15+ minutes of sit ups and other ab exercises because of the constant images of other dancers and the pictures on the front of the magazines in grocery stores.

As young as about 10 years old I was well aware of the need not to just be skinny but in shape and toned. I remember dreading our weekly weight checks when I was dancing with a Russian ballet company/school over the summer. They even monitored our body fat and other stuff that I didn’t even know what it meant.

All day, prior to our weight checks, girls would starve themselves, throw up, or maybe just have “a little watermelon” and not too much water.

I share all of this as an intro to my first weekly vlog. There I will further discuss my experience as a dancer growing up in a world obsessed with weight and body image.

In the mean time I would love to hear feedback from you about your own experience of dealing with your body. We can all learn something from each other. I know this is something most girls don’t like to talk about in person so do it anonymously if you like.

Timmerie