I just want to say thank you to Dove, Glamour Magazine , Drop Dead Diva and pop media (collectively) for making it ok to eat again. The average American woman is a size 14. We have bellies, boobies and butts. Size 0 is not average and may not even be healthy.
Originally Jamie Lee Curtis tried to give real women a dose of self esteem by allowing herself to be photographed without make-up or touch-ups. She's amazing. The idea just kind of died off for a few years though.
Originally Jamie Lee Curtis tried to give real women a dose of self esteem by allowing herself to be photographed without make-up or touch-ups. She's amazing. The idea just kind of died off for a few years though. Dove recently jump-started it all again with its Real Beauty campaign. Pop media hosts like Tyra, Oprah and many others are great at the self empowerment issues and really understand the plight of us who used to be thin but just can't go there anymore.
Drop Dead Diva is awesome. The main character carries herself with grace and dresses herself with style while maintaining an amazing intellect and beautiful outlook on life. She makes me feel that its ok to eat a donut now and again.
I especially love the recent spread in Glamour Magazine. If only I could find some decent clothes to put over the underwear I would be happy. I had to do the happy-feet dance when I spotted a real belly.
Its ok to be average. Well I guess technically average is plus size. But really....its ok now. All the media is telling us so but.....
All the really good clothing is only made for size 12 and under. When I shop at most department stores I sift through clothes that even my Grandmother would not have worn. The few clothes I find in my size are made for high-school girls going through the supposed *fat* stage. Not for a grown-up to wear to the office, or a single but respectable mother to wear on a date. I pretty much live in separates. I have over 20 different styles of black slacks/jeans/skirts.
This picture of me is about a year old....maybe a year and a half. I am 5' 4 1/2" tall and I wear a size 14. I am 47 years old. I now represent the REAL American woman.
I'm not going to lie. I'd love to be a size 8 again . But I am not willing to be. I would have to work out 4 hours a day and starve myself. I would wake up from hunger pangs in the middle of the night. I would feel guilt every time I ate a donut. That magical size 8 supposedly reflects the best BMI for me, but its not going to happen. I enjoy those donuts too much now, its a quality of life issue.
All I'm working on now is toning it up. Accepting what is left. Trying to feel good about myself. I am average, a word I hate. I am not an average kind of person, I'm just thick around the middle. I have a belly, boobies and a butt.
Can't we just call this normal instead?
Drop Dead Diva is awesome. The main character carries herself with grace and dresses herself with style while maintaining an amazing intellect and beautiful outlook on life. She makes me feel that its ok to eat a donut now and again.I especially love the recent spread in Glamour Magazine. If only I could find some decent clothes to put over the underwear I would be happy. I had to do the happy-feet dance when I spotted a real belly.
Its ok to be average. Well I guess technically average is plus size. But really....its ok now. All the media is telling us so but.....
All the really good clothing is only made for size 12 and under. When I shop at most department stores I sift through clothes that even my Grandmother would not have worn. The few clothes I find in my size are made for high-school girls going through the supposed *fat* stage. Not for a grown-up to wear to the office, or a single but respectable mother to wear on a date. I pretty much live in separates. I have over 20 different styles of black slacks/jeans/skirts.
This picture of me is about a year old....maybe a year and a half. I am 5' 4 1/2" tall and I wear a size 14. I am 47 years old. I now represent the REAL American woman.I'm not going to lie. I'd love to be a size 8 again . But I am not willing to be. I would have to work out 4 hours a day and starve myself. I would wake up from hunger pangs in the middle of the night. I would feel guilt every time I ate a donut. That magical size 8 supposedly reflects the best BMI for me, but its not going to happen. I enjoy those donuts too much now, its a quality of life issue.
All I'm working on now is toning it up. Accepting what is left. Trying to feel good about myself. I am average, a word I hate. I am not an average kind of person, I'm just thick around the middle. I have a belly, boobies and a butt.
Can't we just call this normal instead?
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14 comments:
Normal is someone or something you don't know very well yet!!! Great post...I totally concur!
wow~ what a great blog. so uplifting, the little i have read for my first (but not last) time to visit. LOVE this post. i too, always thought this was far superior of DOVE to make a commercial of *real* women.
now, let me get back to reading your inspiring blog. thanks for the visit to the nest! come back anytime.
have a lovely weekend.
Fantastic post! I'm a size 16 and it seems that I've been that way for the last two years. No matter what I do the weight won't come off.
Regards....
YES WE CAN! You look amazing just as you are! =)
Great post!
Great post! I am so happy to see that Glamour posted a lady with real tummy. After having a child, mine looks like that...and I know that this is normal...it's about time ;0) I think that dress size shouldn't be the issue...what should be an issue are healthy decisions.
I think you look perfect! I can't imagine you three sizes smaller; that would probably make you look sickly. I have been going to an aerobics class faithfully (for years) and when I first started going, I was amazed at the varying sizes of the women who go (also faithfully). We are all over the map, from some zeros to some plusses. And we are all fit! So I think that's the goal, to be healthy, to be fit enough to be able to do things in your life you want to do, to dress in clothes that make you feel cute no matter your body type or the numbers on a scale or on a clothing label -- and enjoy those doughnuts sometimes!! Thanks for this post. I loved it.
We are all so beautiful and unique in our own ways, no matter what size or shape.. and I think it's awesome to see magazines and beauty ads finally showing such diversity.
But.. I also feel I must add that I am a size 0-3. In fact, I have tried everything on Earth to gain weight. I WISH that I were more curvy. I have struggled my entire life with insecurities of naturally being too thin, and it has taken me a long time to feel good about the body God has given me.
Also, I wanted to thank you for taking the time to read my blog. :)
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/entertainment/871326/nothing-wrong-with-curves-glamour-magazine
WOOOOOOO!
As someone who has struggled with being too skinny and too heavy due to health problems, I can attest that both extremes are neurosis-inducing. Sometimes we forget that the standard of beauty is what is thought to be healthy. People thought fatness is beautiful back in the day (if you need body-images that represent real american women, look at Ruben's work), but that was because it was a show of how wealthy a person was. Now overweight is a mark of the lower classes. I get nervous about shows like this. Yes, it is important to be yourself, but I don't see any really skinny women worrying about how they can't gain weight and just saying, "Oh, well, it's who I am." No, we would tell her to eat until she popped. We would tell her it was for her health. We would tell her that it had nothing to do with her physical appearance. Just a thought.
Well I didn't mention I was also a size 4 until well after my second child. I was borderline anorexic. The thing is we come in all shapes and sizes and its time we quit looking to the fashion world for our definition of beauty and its time they start looking to us for their definition. We are beautiful. It starts from the inside and comes out from our words and our actions and lands all over us.
What I'd really like to see is some other sized mannequins and more other sized models so I can know what those fashions are really going to look like on me. I hope they come out with normal varying sized fashion dolls too (maybe one that isn't overly tanned or wearing so much makeup). I couldn't give one to my daughter but one of these days I know I'm going to have a grandaughter or great niece that I would love to show TRUE beauty too.
Great post! I love the Dove commercials. I just wish society would hurry it up and drop their snobby ways!
No snobby ways on this blog! =)
What a great read! Keep up the great posts.
Society is slowly shifting to change their views on what's attractive and acceptable as well as what is average. It's a slow porcess, but its on the way. What's most important is feeling/being healthy and confident. You look great!
~Nina of AF
www.theafgirls.com
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