The great healthy weight debate.....

What a woman's body should look like

Yesterday I received the September Glamour Magazine MAN the thing is huge and overwhelming but hey as you know I love me some magazines....Anyways - there was this great article written by Jess Weiner "Loving My Body Almost Killed Me." She is a woman who was on a crusade to make women love their bodies no matter what size/weight they were. She wrote a book, is successful, happy & has an active dating lifestyle. But when she got confronted from a member of her audience at a book signing about her weight {she is a size 18} on being unhealthy and "technically" obese {based on the weight chart} she was stumped but this was not the first time she had heard this. To make a long story short she decided it was time to go to the doctors to get a yearly check up - she had not been in for a physical for about 16 years because in a way I guess she was scared of what she was going to hear and what the doctor was going to say.

As I was reading the article this is the part that sounded so familiar and I could relate to..in some ways. I have always been tall {5'9}and of a curvy build -  never jiggly-  if that makes any sense and I never classified myself as {God I hate.... hate.... to use the word big}....but I was always made to feel that way because I did not fit in the  " I am the size of a peanut with legs mold".  It was a constant struggle to fit in this "mold". My mom was a petite woman 5'3 and stacked so having a daughter who was the "jolly green giant" and not small framed I grew up around allot of criticism. Don't eat this, don't drink that....have you gained some weight? Don't drink too much wine it will make you fat..you get the picture. I have been up and down with my weight...At my thinnest{ a few years ago}-  I went on a diet {hate that friggin word} of cabbage soup and carrots and dropped allot of weight in a short period of time - I was a size 6 which for my frame was not good.  I looked emaciated and I got really sick and it was not worth it. My heaviest after I had my little bundle of joy  WHOA baby did I ever hear it from the peanut gallery. But I have lost all that weight and then some. Doing it the right way...by clean eating and daily exercise. I look good and feel even better.
Side note it is never OK to go up and tell people -especially a woman they look like they have gained weight big NO NO unless you want to get decked in the jaw.....

I guess what bugs me in a way is that a healthy body type is based on some outdated chart and if your body weight does not fit in this chart your classified - automatically in the public eye as "unhealthy", which in some cases is just not true. I avoided the doctor for quite a few years because of this stupid chart. I felt self conscience and intimidated by this chart. I thought the doctor was judging my body and in turn judging me and my health based on this chart. After a long and gruelling search I finally found a GP doctor that made me feel comfy with me and  has made going in for yearly check ups almost pain free....I still hate...hate stepping on that scale...but hey who doesn't.

I have a daughter...... and I guess....... I just want to make sure that she grows up to love and respect her body not hate her body like I did for so many years. And I believe that starts at home. For the first time in about 15 plus years {with the help of an amazing man I call my hubby} I have begun to love, appreciate and respect my fabuliciouse body!

I love your work Rachel Zoe but this does
not look healthy