My Opinion on Body Image

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Okay so I liked a page on Facebook that had a picture of Victoria's Secret models and Dove(I think???)models. I wrote this comment about how I feel about body image:

"I'm plus sized and proud. However that does not give me an excuse to eat like there's no tomorrow. I weigh 215 pounds. I eat very healthy and I exercise. I am up to an hour on the treadmill a day. I used to weigh 235 pounds. I wasn't happy or healthy with how I looked OR felt on the inside. Even though I am a plus size, I still have to watch what I eat and have a plentiful amount of exercise a day. Being plus size does not give you an excuse to weigh more than what's healthy for your body and your mind. I like how I look in my clothes. I like being a size 18/20 or 2x-3x in shirts. I like being a size 18 in jeans. I only weigh myself once a week on the same day. Body image isn't about being anorexic/bulimic or stuffing your face and gaining pound after pound. It's about being healthy and happy with who you are. Anyone with me?"

Ever since I lost 20 pounds I have been more positive about how I look. I eat healthy. I only treat myself once a month. I'm up to an hour a day of exercise. I like how I look in my clothes. I like how I look period. I feel healthy physically and mentally. I am sick and tired of people telling me what proper body image is. It's really my choice what I put in my body. Body image can me many different things. For me, it's eating healthy with minimal treats, exercising and staying the same clothing size.

The average size for women is a size 14. I'm size 18/20 or 2x-3x in top. I'm a size 18 in jeans. I enjoy myself.

I weigh about 210 lbs, but I look like I weigh 140-150 because of my height. I am currently trying to lose a little weight and buff up a little bit for rugby, but I don't have issues with the way my body looks.

I weigh about 73kg atm, but that's down from about 81kg. I am quite short, though, and I should weigh about 60kg, but I'd be happier if I weighed a couple of kilos more than that to have more muscle.

I am very bad at diets, but I do well with exercise, so that's what I'm focusing more on (though I do watch calories as well, I just have a hard time making any big reductions). Plus, the exercise and muscle gain will boost my metabolism. I feel better and stronger than before I started exercising.

I'm a UK size 16 (down from an 18 ), US size 12/14. Want to be a UK size 14 again by the end of the summer, and a UK size 12 by Christmas.

@xxZeromancerlovexx: I think you are very fortunate and unique for being happy with who you are and the way you look. Society puts so much preassure on women's looks that it is very rare to find a woman satisfied with her looks. Most women usually are insatisfied and want to look different than they do, thats why plastic surgery is so popular these days.

I am 40, about 130 pound (not sure, the last time I was on a scale was about that, but that was a couple of months ago), I eat healthy and exercise 5 days a week. About 20 years ago I gave up wearing makeup, heels, and trying to make my hair look different. I have a lot of gray hairs and I am the only one of my sister who do not dye her hair to cover them. Actually I like my gray hair very much. Some poeple, from time to time, has asked me if I dye it make it to look like that. I find it funny, because I have never met any woman who will dye her hair gray.

I think we women are a very sad species. We are victims of vanity. And because of that vanity society takes advantage of us. We are constantly doing things that are bad to our body: wearing heels, makeup, too-tight cloths, using dangerous chemicals in our hair, just to look "beautiful". But we are supposed to be the beautiful sex, so arent we supposed to be beautiful just because we are women? I do think we are. I am beautiful. I like the way I look. I can appreciate a beautiful woman when I see one without feeling jealous, and I never feel threaten by another woman, because I know she can look the way she wants, but she cannot be "me". I am special be because I am "me", a human being different from any other, with my particular way of being, my own ideas, my own mind. I try hard to be a good person and be better. And that is more important than your shirt size.

xxZeromancerlovexx - I wish I had your attitude as it is a very healthy one. I have recently signed up with a health club so I can be happier in myself. I don't think I need to lose weight (I am a size 8-10 - in the USA this is a size 4-6) but I feel untoned and not very trim. I think once I am able to sort this out, I'll be happier.

Thank you everyone. I just hate it when people accuse plus size women as lazy slobs, who eat whatever they want and never exercise. I used to weigh 235 pounds. That wasn't healthy nor was I happy. Food does not equal body image. Food equals survival and nutrition. I eat extremely healthy to the point where I only treat myself once a month. It sucks because food-happy people with fast metabolisms say things that don't go along with what my dietician and I agreed on. I told somebody today that I only treat myself once a month and she asked "Is that what your dietician said or is that way you're saying?" That really made my angry! If I could afford a weekly or bi-weekly treat, I totally would, but because of my medication I can't. I don't really want to anyway because I believe you are what you eat. You can be healthy or unhealthy, or a mix of both. I have to be extremely healthy. A mix of both wouldn't work for me because I would obsess over what I'm eating. Honestly, people who eat junk food should seriously consider what they are putting into their body, high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavoring, waxes, refined sugar, and that dreadful what I think is the most disgusting of them all, artificial coloring like carmine. If you like junk food, read what carmine is at your own risk.

Now at a decent weight of 215(I like to maintain a range of 205-215), I feel much more comfortable and happy and healthy than I did at 220-235 pounds. Weight is not "just a number". Okay, it is but that outlook can also be used as an excuse to eat more than you should and risk putting on weight.