#CurvyAndHealthy

Hey everybody!!! First off, I want to thank you for tuning in this past August as I did my #31WriteNow Challenge.  I did not write for everyday in August but it is the most writing I have done in a long time.  It really pushed me to be creative with posts and just WRITE, even when I was not in the mood.  I know that I gained new readers and I welcome you.

While having a conversation with a friend about being proud to be a curvy woman, an issue came up.  He questioned rather being proud of being curvy also meant being proud of an unhealthy lifestyle.  I could not get offended right off the bat because this is commonly misunderstood.  So I have decided to try to break down what it means to be a proud full-figured woman.

Let's get something straight, not every woman that is curvy is lazy.  Not all curvy women sit around and eat Twinkies all day.  Most thicker women I know are quite active.  There is this thing called genetics.  If the majority of the women in your family have wide hips and thick thighs, it is more than likely that you will have it too.  If you see the women on my dad's side of the family you will see that I never had a chance of being a size 2 (not throwing shade because I believe that I come from a beautiful family, regardless of size).  Other physical problems can play a factor like having a not-so-great thyroid gland.  The thyroid gland controls a lot of your body.  If this gland is not working properly it could cause you to gain weight.  There are many factors why a woman might be carry a few pounds so it is best not to judge in the first place.

 

Hating my body? Ain't nobody got time for that!



When curvy women embrace their bodies this does not equate to embracing an unhealthy lifestyle.  Embracing your body means that you have love for your self at that current stage.  Even if you are in transition you should still have love for yourself.  Why should a bigger girl hate her body? Heck, there are skinny girls who hate their body.  Also, us thicker girls have overcame some serious hurdles in the last decade that has caused for celebration.  When you walked in a department store it was difficult to find fashionable clothes for the thicker girls.  We do not want to only wear big moo-moos or baby-doll blouses.  We also do not like to only wear floral prints.  Thicker have started to break the "big girl" attire rules.  At one point in time, voluptuous women were encourage to wear black, baggy clothes and stay away from horizontal stripes.  Thick girls are now wearing all patterns and colors and even embracing crop tops and bikinis.  Our style options have become limitless. 

Curvy women are making breakthroughs on the runway, too.  Modeling use to be a skinny girl's game.  Now we are seeing size 14s, 16s, and 22s on the catwalk.  I made a post back a few months ago about my first experience being a model.  It was so empowering to be around women who had mad confidence.  The public was receptive too.  Every time a model stepped on the runway the audience went wild.  They LOVED our confidence.  Even on BET's Rip the Runway the curvy girl segment is the most anticipated part of the show.  People love the fierceness the full-figured models exuberate. 

So, do not get it confused.  Loving your body does not mean not exercising.  Loving your body does not mean eating Doritos by the pound.  Loving your body does not mean advocating hypertension.  Loving your body means embracing yourself throughout your transformation.  The journey to a healthy body (physical, emotional, and mental) is not easy but there is no room for self-hate on that journey.