TALKING TABOO: this week's topic - Fat

FAT. there's no getting around it, i'm fat.

word/phrase association game: our word for the day is FAT

battle of bulge
big-boned
"I'm not fat, I'm fluffy"
beer gut
love handles
muffin top
coach potato

and the dreaded
COW

let's just be honest with ourselves and our current society - THIN IS IN
but its not just a body type, its a lifestyle, for many its false hope, its peer pressure for everyone to look the SAME even in light of the knowledge [well everyone SHOULD know this] that we are all DIFFERENT. The concept that the fraction of a percent of woman my age and height that are a size 0 are suppose to be my role model, well its just NUTS.

and no matter how i diet, i'm never going to look like the models in the magazines and i'm okay with that.

recently a not-yet-released children's book "Maggie goes on a diet" made a big stink over the internet. the problem, well its tricky, YES children today are suffering from obesity and the related health issues but telling young girls that they need to LOSE WEIGHT to meet a certain NUMBER ON A SCALE or certain CLOTHES SIZE is wrong! encouraging healthy foods and an active lifestyle is GOOD. Letting our young girls and boys know that everyone has a different body type and that's is MORE IMPORTANT TO BE FIT THAN TO BE THIN is a far better road to travel down. Oh, and losing 50 pounds, becoming a star soccer player and turning into the most popular girl story line SUX. really? a person's size dictates who they are and how people treat them? its just wrong......

SO, if size 0 is not for me, what is my 'ideal size'? how about a size 12, 14, 16? or a 10? i was perfectly happy as a "10"......

BUT for the most part, i'm happy with myself now - and i passed the size 10 up several sizes [and months] back. the truth is, i actually feel more desirable now than i can remember in my 40 something years. i feel attractive and sexy and while MOST of americans, especially the guys, might look at me and think "O M G! should she really be wearing THAT with those hips and butt?" i don't care.

what's my secret? well instead of changing my DIET, i changed men. LOL. yes, i'm with someone that makes me FEEL great about myself and my added 'loveliness'. THAT has made all the difference in the world to me, not the number on my clothes, not the number on the scale.

photo credit: Maggie Goes on a Diet by Paul Kramer