Here’s an idea — bigger women rock. From the Daily Mail:
All women should aspire to be a size 14 with buxom, hourglass figures, the new equalities minister claims.
They must not be made to feel inadequate by stick-thin models staring out of advertising billboards and magazines.
Instead, they should regard curvaceous women such as Christina Hendricks, star of the TV series Mad Men, as their ultimate role models, Lynne Featherstone said.
The Liberal Democrat minister described the actress, who plays Joan Holloway in the popular American drama set in the 1960s, as ‘absolutely fabulous’.
She said that too often, women were made to feel wretched about their size as they were constantly comparing themselves with ‘unattainable’ figures of celebrities and models…
‘Christina Hendricks is absolutely fabulous. We need more of these role models,’ she added.
I agree. I’m sick to death of skinny 16 year olds held up as my “role model” when I am neither their age nor aspire to their body size or proportions.
I weary of the Olsen twins, billionaires who look like homeless people wearing too much eyeshadow. Or actresses whose shoulder blades protruding from their designer ballgowns on the red carpet simply look scary.
I recently saw an older woman at a local restaurant whose legs resembled twigs. She looked terribly unhealthy but had clearly starved herself to this size.
Or…is this just one more excuse to be a little piggy and eat too much?
Broadside 
No cheese, no cake, no cheesecake.
Melba toast?
Exactly. Anorexic girls are the perfect treat for teething babies.
No, I completely agree. I think the standards, even medically, of the ideal height/weight ratio are terribly skewed. At my height, docotrs would tell me I need to lose at least 40 pounds to be of an ideal body composition. However, that’s the problem; they don’t take the composition part into consideration.
I have curves. It’s not just lumps of lard jiggling all over the place, and I take care of myself. I try to eat healthy foods and get exercise. I resent the fact that because I am not a size 5 that I will be told I’m unhealthy. Aside from the fibromyalgia, I am perfectly healthy, thankyouverymuch, and I have the blood pressure, cholesterol, and other hormone levels to prove it.
By the way, I am a perfectly comfortable size 14.
Yeah, baby! Me, too….on all these points, except sub. in a lousy hip for the fibromyalgia. My dr. wants 60 pounds off — I suggested he simply amputate all of my limbs. 60?! I’m trying hard to shed 30-40, and am probably halfway there so far, thanks to a smarter food/liquid intake and a lot more consistent exercise.
But I am not willing to starve myself down to stick-thin and miserable. I hit a size 10 after my marriage blew up — because I ate nothing at all for about five days. I looked terrific, even if my heart was in smithereens.
I’m strong, healthy, flexible — and curvy.
doug, my thoughts exactly. No, no exactly….
The sweetie, while appreciating my greater self-confidence as I slim down, mourns the loss of some of those curves. My favorite moment with him was when I hit my highest-ever bra size (to my total dismay) and watched him do the end-zone dance at Lord & Taylor in celebration….Gotta love a man who loves curves.
woo-hoo me too! (Actually currently a 16 trying to work back down to a 14 … that post-wedding weight gain is soooooo much fun but so hard to get rid of)
I was put on the diet-from-hell for 6 weeks. It helped. No carbs or fruit AT ALL for two weeks. No sweets for 4 weeks, in any form.
I also did not consume liquor (due to a medication I was on). That did it — plus 3x week pool aerobics. I see a very noticeable difference, as do family and friends. 🙂 Once you start losing, you’ll feel much more motivated.
First of all, a size fourteen in the 1960’s was a lot smaller than today’s size fourteen.
Secondly, I am tired of being made to feel like I’m not a “real woman” because I am thin. Every body type has it’s own beauty. Health, of course, is more important. I worry that, as type II diabetes and obesity become the norm, we will forget what healthy is. For a five foot two woman, size fourteen would likely be unhealthy. For a taller woman, probably not.
Rini, no one says being thin is wrong. But women with curves who are also fit, healthy, strong and do plenty of exercise — as Suzanna says are NOT lumps of lard — are fed UP being laughed at and demonized for something as basic as our bodies.
The thin revel in self- righteousness. It gets old. It is tiresome.
What we carry in our heads and hearts is a lot more important — wisdom, kindness, humor, compassion — than feeling SO much better because you are a size 0 or 2 or 4, not a 12 or 14 or 16. Skinny does not equal better. It just means you weigh less than other women, and men.
Of course, I agree everyone should be respected and appreciated, regardless of size. It is ridiculous that size is seen as some sort of moral issue and that people would be demonized. There are so many factors, including genetics, that determine appetite and weight. To me, the fact that this point has to me made, is sad. Fortunately, it is obvious to me that the tide is turning and people are more accepting of all sizes.
However, you cannot be fit if your BMI is over a certain amount (it is not always precise but 25 is usually the number used.) I think that there is some leeway. However, a BMI of 35 is always unhealthy. As a physician, I can tell you that if your BMI is this high, you have insulin resistance (borderline diabetes) and are going to be prone to osteoarthritis, sleep apnea and cardiovascular disease. This is regardless of activity/fitness. We should all strive to be healthy, thin people included (not all thin people are healthy.)
Skinny chics suck. I like fat brown girls.
Thank heavens for multiculturalism:
Rini, I agree that health is the goal to aim for. Maybe if women, especially, were taught from earliest childhood to be healthy — through food and exercise choices — and not to be *pretty*, the motivation might be very different. Many of us choose not to smoke; we don’t want COPD or emphysema or lung cancer.
I think the link(s) between obesity and these illnesses (diabetes is very clear) seems abstract or unlikely to people. Maybe they don’t care? I doubt that, but…
As you well, know there is a significant set of factors affecting how people behave, from poverty to ignorance to sheer laziness.
I agree completely. I think society as a whole constantly tries to pass “visually pleasing to men who are only attracted to teenagers” off as “healthy”. It seems to me that men don’t want women, they want teenage girls. Stick thin, no pubic hair and nary a wrinkle in sight. I know for me, I am absolutely at my healthiest when I am at a size 10 or 12 and I’m freakin hot to 😉 I have been smaller and the only way I got there was through a oh-so-healthy mix of smoking 2 packs a day, eating next to nothing for months and severe depression. I looked like I had walked straight out of a concentration camp when I was a size 6…size 8 was a little better but my curves weren’t there and I was tired and hungry ALL the time. Forget being a toothpick, I choose to look like a woman any day.