BlogHer - I Think I Love My Body! - Comments

Bravo!

Simply_B — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:48:33 -0500

The best part of what you said is that you are happy with how you look. Right there you have accomplished something major. If for some reason you never take off those last few pounds remember that you love the way you look. After all not all women are made to look like twigs, but we all should love the way we look.

Life According to B

Congratulations!

kazari — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:17:28 -0500

I hope you do something big to celebrate the 30lb mark!

I think I have a recipe for that...

Thanks Juana

Southerngirl — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:28:17 -0500

It makes it so much easier when you do it for the right reasons. I have hit the all important 30lb mark and am happy to get there. Thanks for the support.

Michelle

You go Girl!!!!

JuanaLaCubana1960 — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 06:06:23 -0500

Wow!!! I did the same thing... Only I did it for me and not for anyone else. I had to make choices and even if I hated not eating as much I never deprived myself of anything I love! And being a latina we love our food...LOL Good luck to you! And just remember... "You are beautiful not matter how big or how small you are it is all what is in the heart that makes you even more Glorious!" <<I wrote that. And I printed it and put it on my wall you should have seen my house...LOL :-)

IN Love and Light... ~~~Jenn~~~

go michelle!

kazari — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:28:31 -0500

What an awesome thing to realise you love your body. I found peace with mine by learning how much it could do - climbing and dancing.

I think I have a recipe for that...

Good For You

Megan Smith — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:45:46 -0500

I'm so happy for you. It's a struggle for so many women to just accept what they look like and make themselves as gorgeous as they can be. Not that we shouldn't lose a couple of pounds and exercise if it will make us more fit, but too many of us burden ourselves with a quest for a media induced idea of perfection.

Megan Smith
BlogHer Contributing Editor, TV/YouTube
Megan's Minute: Quirky Commentary Around The Clock

Thanks

Southerngirl — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:23:12 -0500

I didn't include it in my post but that show was what made me really take a good look at myself. I saw one woman with 44 in hips and thought why is she on there. It hit me that we had the same sized hips. SHows like that one and what not to wear have helped me a great deal. I have my clothes tailored now as the truth is pants will never fit me correctly. I now wear mostly fitted clothes so I don't look shapeless because if it fits my breasts it will not fit in my waist. So now even the thrift store finds go to the tailor. being short I have come to terms with heels mostly wedges and we are OK. Yes I have dimples that would be much cuter on my other cheeks but I am almost 40. THe other thing that got me there were my neices I have three that are shaped like me. They have no body image issues because to them I have always been the coolest auntee. I just think they are the cutest things ever. Just as with the woman from the show I realized they look like me so what was my problem?

Michelle

Good Luck To You

Megan Smith — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:28:48 -0500

As someone who's always had my own weight and body image issues, I really related to your post.

In fact last year I gave myself a challenge that I'll be updating soon on my own blog next month.

I don't know if you're familiar with the TV show "How To Look Good Naked" but I recently did a podcast interview with Kelly Park who was featured on the first episode this season.

It was very inspiring to hear how she viewed her body before the show and after.

I'd love to know what you think.

Good luck,

Megan Smith
BlogHer Contributing Editor, TV/YouTube
Megan's Minute: Quirky Commentary Around The Clock

I Think I Love My Body!

Southerngirl — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:44:30 -0500

I have been dieting and exercising for the past few months. My goal is to lose about 60lbs. The plan is to lose the first 50 by regimented dieting and then keep exercising and toning and let my body take care of the last 10 or so lbs. I figured once I got into good eating and exercising habits I would just listen to my body and all would be fine. Well I have hit a snag. I lost the first 20 and took the “rest” period to let my body get used to the loss. I was Ok and have even dropped a few more pounds since. But I cannot get back on my regimen no matter what. There seems to always be some reason to skip a workout and I need no good reasons to eat. Admittedly, I do not eat as much as would have in the past at any given meal. I have adopted some very good eating habits that are sticking through this whole thing. Being the girl who was never ever anywhere near athletic, my kickboxing and spin classes give me the same good feeling as a good meal with an even better glass of wine. So these are all things to be proud of. I had the most profound revelation of them all the other day. I LOVE MY BODY! Wow. I have never in my life said or thought that.

As a young kid when I looked at my mom I did not see me. I have always thought my mom was the most beautiful woman ever. I am very light skinned and my mother was dark. I probably would not have noticed but there were plenty of people to point it out to me. When I was in high school I was Betty Boop to many guys as I had a 22 in waist 36 in hips and 34D breasts and the but J-Lo thinks she has. I would kill, well pay for that body right now. But in high school I hated that body too. My stomach was flat as a pancake but I wondered where in the hell did these breasts come from and why won’t they stop growing (they finally stopped at DDDs). I walked around most days with my arms crossed over my chest. And at 5’2” pants were just a nightmare they were either too long or too short never mind if they fit in the hips there was enough room in the waist for a 5lb bag of sugar. I grew up in the time of colored Lee jeans and without a belt I could do nothing with them. A mini skirt never quite got to mini on me. The hair was another thing entirely. Being shaped like that as a shy awkward teenager was hell. I was a minister’s child so what we wore was scrutinized. My dad once told me that I needed to keep in mind that with my body an outfit only had so far to go from cute to slutty. I am thankful for that advice as it kept many an interview from going bad. Even today a V-neck shirt can be mom wear and one more button or inch and it can go south very fast.

Now when I got to college I got a little mileage out of the body as I was not as shy anymore. I won more than my share of wet t-shirt contests. I had to buy drinks and oh yeah books :) Not to mention for a girl like me it was quite liberating. I am almost certain that I am in some guy’s shoebox of pictures from freaknick, aggiefest, greekfest or whatever fest there was standing in the middle of some street or on a beach striking a J-lo pose in a bikini or whatever. I have girlfriends and even my sister have told me they would love to have my body. My one girlfriend said God did not give her my ass as he knew she would be a stripper. I once had a friend tell me that she would only own V-neck shirts and would always be bending over if she had my breasts.

Now I am nearing 40. My little sister (33) would be quick to point out that I am much closer to 40 than 39. She will know my age even in the late stages of Alzheimer’s. My body is different now, or more to the point I am different now. After losing patches of my hair because of the combination of chemicals and psoriasis I got locks early this year. Can I just say I LOVE them? I’ll save that for another time. So that takes care of the hair. I realized that besides it being a little dry I have great skin. I heal quickly with minimal scaring and have a very even skin tone. And now I see my mom in my face. I see her smile with my dad’s eyes. Then there is that little weight thing. See at 120 my hips and breast just looked huge to me. But when you get close to 200 I am sooo glad to have hips and breasts as they take attention away from the mommy tummy and oh those thighs. Being an hourglass at 200 is a very good thing. So as I caught glimpse of myself in the store window the other day I saw a body I love. I mean those hips and that seemingly small waist topped of with the 38DDDs make me a perfect figure 8. Now I look at my cleavage and I am thankful not to see one blemish or age spot. Still when it fits in the hips it doesn’t fit in the waist but, God I love myself in a pair of jeans these days. I will be the first to tell you that I look much better with clothes than without. 39 year-old DDDs end up way south of where they should be. In my sister’s words you need a search party to find those nipples:) Think Eddie Murphy as grandma Clump or Tyler Perry as Medea. I am very happy to report that when I look in the mirror now I do not see too short or too big, I see proportionate. A full length mirror is no longer my enemy. As my girlfriend Stacie says I have embraced my womanly body and now love those curves. My butt and I are now on speaking terms. I still want Michelle Obama’s arms and my niece Tiffany’s belly and I would really like for my thighs to get a divorce but I am happy to have this body as it is today big butt and all. I rock in jeans and a spandex T-shirt with heels and my goodness I love a wrap dress. I am still going to lose those lbs but I am enjoying the journey and the body way more than I thought I would.