Self Esteem and Body Image

This is kind of a part 2 continued from the last post.
For as long as I can remember I have had self esteem issues. I always wondered why certain girls would just hate me and not want to be my friend. I never got that, and I still don't. My family would just say that they're jealous because I'm so much prettier than the other girls. I never believed them. I thought that they always said that because they had to, they were family.
My exes never told me every day that I was pretty. My last ex was kind of a loser. I still talk to him every now and then, but I don't think he was very secure about himself. He said I could flirt w/ any guys just as long as I never acted on anything and he was still number one. I don't think he was secure w/ the fact that I liked him enough, so he thought he would keep me happy by saying that stuff.
I would think "If I'm so pretty, then why won't the popular guys even look at me or talk to me?" I haven't ever really felt pretty. Chris tells me every single day that I'm pretty, gorgeous, beautiful, hot, etc. My parents would also tell me that I was pretty. I hate the media. I hate how these tall airbrushed models that wear half the clothes I do are shoved into my face and every other single girl out there. It's not fair. Of course we feel inadequate.
I like that Dove and a few others are trying to show real women w/ curves, and I like that more and more women are trying to embrace their curves, but it's almost too little too late. I respect some of the models though. That's some serious work and little sleep. They hafta be extremely active and they have people watching their every bite. I couldn't do that. I couldn't have people telling me that I can't eat those sweet potato fries, and that I can't have a brownie for dessert.
I've been working really hard on my self esteem. There have been times where I think that bulimia would be so much easier, but I know how bad it is, and I know how much I would disappoint everyone if anyone found out about it. I have a feeling once I start getting off of my butt more and exercising and treating my body better that I'll be more content.
As I said in my last post I want my arms and thighs to look better. I would also like my belly to be a bit better as well. I have a feeling though that I will probably struggle w/ this forever. It's a girl thing sadly. I will do my best to just take what Chris says and believe that and keep that in my head and ignore all of the media.