Role Models for Big Girls (inspired by another thread)
Who are yours?
I love Jen Lancaster. I don't agree with her on everything, but her books make me laugh and she has a healthy attitude about herself - sure, she'd like to lose some weight but she maintains that she's absodamnloutly good enough right NOW. As she often says, she's got it going on. Even her book about her weight loss efforts wasn't all sad and mopey and I LOVE that.
She's not all about being big, big is just one part of who she is. She's also hilarious. If you haven't read her books, do try and read them in order. If you just want one, start with Such a Pretty Fat.
Seeing the heights and weights posted of the skiers during the Olympics this year.
Growing up, the only time I remember hearing height/weight mentioned on television was during beauty pageants and those were numbers that I made myself crazy trying to see on the scale.
This year, I remember there was a skier who was listed as 5'6"/145, and obviously extremely fit. That was the size I was in school when I was hating my body, sure wish I'd known Olympic athletes were my size!
Caryesings: you just reminded me of watching the World Cup in 1999, when the U.S. women's soccer team won in California. At some point, I saw the stats for Mia Hamm and it said 5'6" and 145 pounds. I was ecstatic that my hero and I were the same size (we'll ignore the fact that she was 100% muscle and I was...not). It's wonderful to have healthy female athletes to serve as role models and inspire us all!
While she isn't a big woman herself, Christina Hendricks is definitely a role model to me. She's not the Hollywood standard waif; she, like the rest of us, has to pay attention to a garment's fit and proportion rather than wearing her clothes like a wire hanger. I like that she just doesn't make much of an issue of being a non-standard size and shape in the entertainment industry; she just is.
Closer to home, I find inspiration in every person I see walking or jogging in my neighborhood, especially if they're carrying extra pounds. People in the entertainment business are quite literally paid to look good. They have personal trainers and sometimes even personal chefs. They spend major time in home gyms that the vast majority of us couldn't afford either in dollars or in hours. Maybe I'd be a size 4 too if I had that kind of extraordinary help.
But the ordinary Joes and Janes who get out there and make themselves healthier even though they aren't getting paid? Those folks are awesome. I keep them in mind when I walk or exercise and am buoyed up by the thought that someone might in turn look at me and say, "If she can do it, I can too."
Sara Rue is adorable! I don't actually know anything at all about her personal life but she's just the cutest thing - before and after. I don't mind when people who used to be big lose weight. I think you can love yourself large AND small, you can decide to lose weight or change your life from a positive place and it doesn't have to be all about social pressure or whatever.
There's some model (Crystal Something or another) that was a regular model, then a plus model, and now apparently she's lost weight. I don't know, she wasn't on my radar but people are so ANGRY at her for losing weight. She has said she started exercising and eating differently and the result was that she lost weight, not that she starved to become thin. It's so sad how many people are calling her a sell out. You can love yourself fat and still become thin. It doesn't make you a bad person.
That's something I really like about Jen Lancaster. She clearly does love herself and if for some reason she woke up one day and decided to lose weight (again, I love that she says she's the only person to ever write a diet book, get paid for it, and have it on the best seller list while still overweight), I would totally believe it was something based in love and health and not about trying to be something someone else wants her to be. I strive for that, personally.
I also like Kathy Najimy. I remember when she first lost weight. She said she started swimming to relax and the next thing she knew, she was shaping up so she started eating differently to support her swimming and then suddenly she'd totally changed her body shape. That's lovely, I think.
Role Models for Big Girls (inspired by another thread)
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