[CountingDown]

Originally Posted by SoulBliss

I think that women need to stop being so harsh to one another. How can we expect to be respected and valued for being more than a sexual object/trophy if we can't be kind to one another and see beyond that ourselves?

She is a beautiful woman, a smart woman, a talented woman, just as she is.

AMEN!

[kaplods]

I think it's the little snide comments and judgements that feed the crash diet industry (and thus indirectly the obesity epidemic).

Most women do not go on their first diet (and sometimes their 50th) to become healthier, but rather for social acceptance/admiration. When you're not dieting for health, you often aren't concerned with dieting in a healthy way, or even whether your diet is healthy or even safe. And when health isn't the first priority, speed tends to be (after all, who wants to be the disgusting, hideous cow for a minute more than they have to be). And rapid weight loss is too often the very antithesis of healthy or permanent. Yet still, the advertisments on tv and radio are starting up for the annual "getting ready for bathing suit season."

[nybor7]

She looks beautiful, very pulled together.
They look great togther!

[FluffyK]

It's a little astounding that someone on a weight-loss board would be talking about her "letting herself go". She's pretty tall, and I bet she's not as heavy as most people assume. What happened to our husbands loving us for who we are instead of what size we are? Maybe she had a sick relative she's been caring for, perhaps a difficult child? Should she just shuck them to the side to get seriously thin because her husband is a celebrity? Not all women "let themselves go". Some women have to make choices between fulfilling their obligations and getting thin. No matter how hard the professionals try to tell you that taking care of yourself must come first, that just isn't always the way in the real world. Taking care of yourself sometimes means neglecting someone that really depends on you, and the sacrifice must be made.

I personally had to do just that with my 4 kids. I knew there would be time for me when they got a little older, and that's exactly what happened. Now is MY time, but the last 8 years were a time for them. As unhappy as I was with my weight, I wouldn't have done it any other way.