Recently I’ve been receiving hundreds of hits from posts about body pride and plus sized fashion. I think I have been referred to as ‘curvy’ at least ten times in the past week. I’m not a tiny girl and I’m not in denial so I don’t find this offensive in any way. I’m happy for curvy ladies to find inspiration in me. To be honest though I have never really seen myself as much of an ambassador for plus sized women. I’m constantly on a diet, I haven’t eaten bread since 1999 and I work out religiously. You see, dear readers, my positive body image comes from physical actions not mental negotiation. I haven’t ‘decided’ to accept my body the way it is. I’m naturally a fatty boomsticks. I used to be quite…erm… festively plump. Like the Marshmallow Man or John Goodman. I was in my late teens when I accepted my sad digestive fate – I strongly suspect I was born with out a metabolism which means I have to work damn hard to look like a girl who enjoys a good feed. It’s just something that I have to live with. I have the proverbial size zero friends who live off cheese and wine and never gain a kilo but I’m just not built that way.
I do want to thank all the ladies that have been linking to me in their body pride posts and threads. You can’t fake good self esteem and I feel like I’m heading in a good direction personally if people are noticing it through my blog. I just really want to stress to my readers that I wasn’t born thinking I was hot shit. The reason why I have a positive self image is because I work at it. I eat well ninety five percent of the time, drink litres of water and I make sure I’m physically active every day. Believe me, I would love to eat pies for lunch and head home to a glass of red wine instead of going to the gym every afternoon but these are the sacrifices that I make so I can feel better about myself. I feel that people may have falsely labeled me as a girl who likes her wine and chocolate and proudly shakes her size twelve booty. I do proudly shake my size twelve booty – because I’ve worked damn hard to get it to that size. No amount of self encouragement will make you feel good about yourself if you continuously trash your body. Regardless of whether you are a size zero or a size twenty. I don’t stand in front of the mirror every day chanting positive affirmations and trying to love my cellulite. I get up and go for a run and eat a massive salad. Then I praise myself later because my cellulite is looking better.
Stay tuned for part two…
Love Lady Smaggle
xxx