Thigh Gaps and Whatnot

These thoughts have been swirling around in my mind lately 

so I thought I would put some words down and see how I feel about it.

I was pushed to write about my feelings this morning when i read THIS article.

Robyn Lawley an extremely successful "plus size" model describes her feelings

about the ever vicious online cyber world of pinterest, instagram, and twitter,

when it comes to body aspirations amongst women.

The fact that this woman is even considered plus size is so beyond me.

Now I'm not bashing any of those things because I really like social media, hello, I'm always posting on

instagram and my blog. 

However, I feel lately people are obsessing over being "skinny". (a lot of my personal friends included)

It is disappointing to see girls, beautiful girls, posting photos on to their "fitness inspiration boards" on pinterest of people and celebrities who are not fit at all, instead they mearly portray the thigh gaps, twiggy arms, and size 0 waists that have come to define "beauty" in today's world.

I find it even more disappointing when I see someone idolizing celebrities who have 

known struggles with eating disorders and they still want to look just like them. 

Sadly, I know that many body issues come from how a person was raised to view

themselves and their bodies, from parents, siblings, friends, or the online world

we are conditioned to a point to feel a certain way about ourselves.

I feel lucky from that sense because my mother never once said things to me like:

"you shouldn't eat that", "that's not good for you", "you should exercise more", "that's not flattering on you", etc, etc. She also never spoke negatively about her own body, it left

a lasting effect on me to be confident in my body and never ashamed.

I was raised with three football playing brothers where food was never taboo, you eat well,

and you exercise hard, that was the unspoken motto in my house and I'm thankful for it.

So why? Why do we idolize these unrealistic goals?

Why, when someone looks good in a picture we say "You look so skinny!!" and it's

suppose to be the best compliment in the world.

What about adjectives like in-shape, healthy, toned, beautiful, radiant,

 I get it those words all sound kind of silly when we are so use to the S-word.

I remember when I returned home to the United States after living in Russia for a year and half

friends I hadn't seen would tell me "you are so skinny, lucky", "you look so good, you lost weight".

I would thank them with embarrassment but in my head i was screaming.

You know why I'm skinnier? I'm skinnier because I'm at a really unhealthy point in my life,

I ate only 2 meals a day for a year and a half (we were only permitted breakfast and lunch on my mission, don't get me started on that one). 

I'm skinner because the Russian water made me sick, I'm skinnier because my vitamin D levels are so low that it will take me a year to recover.  I'm skinner because my body is

starving, I eat even less after returning to America because my stomach is so upset all the time!

I get it, my friends were trying to be nice, because the S-word is the highest compliment

when it comes to our views on beauty in our society.

But I didn't feel beautiful, I felt sick, and weak.

Luckily after a few months of being home I started to be able to eat

normally again, but guess what I put on weight.

I put on weight because my body recognized that it wasn't at it's natural,

healthy standard.  So instead of being a size 4 I was a size 6 (the size I was pre-Russia).

I was feeling strong and healthy, but the "compliments" stopped.

So whats the point of all my ranting?

Stop it! Just stop it.  Myself included.

I'm sick of seeing the thigh gaps, fad diets, juice cleanses, and overall unhealthiness online.
Please don't get me wrong, I know there are some girls who are naturally
size 0s, and are perfectly healthy and beautiful that way.
My whole point is to be healthy and stop worshiping unrealistic ideals. 

I remember one day I was having an insecure day, because of course

those are inevitable regardless of how positively you think

of yourself, when I came across my friend Jessica's board on pinterest

entitled "Beauty is not bone thin or thigh gaps".

It featured pictures of people like Jennifer Lawrence, J. Lo, Beyonce,

Kate Winslet, my personal favorite Christina Hendricks, and lots of 40s-50s pin-up girls.

It was like a slap of reality right to my noggin'.  Real women, with real, healthy bodies.

I'm not perfect, I have my fair share of insecure days but here is to trying to always love MY body,

because no one else in the world has the exact same one as me.