Friday, January 8, 2010

The Whole Size Issue

I just read the following article on msn.com about "plus" size models: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/34766041/ns/today-today_fashion_and_beauty?GT1=43001. Articles like that really infuriate me: A. because "plus" size in the fashion industry starts with size 10 and B. because people assume that if you don't weigh 115lbs you must be unhealthy. Those of you who have read my blog before know about my weight-loss journey. As someone who used to be a size 16, I think it's complete and total bullshit that the fashion industry considers a size 10 to be a "plus" size. The average clothing size for a woman in the United States is a size 14. Of course there will be women who are smaller than that, as well as women who are larger than that. I'm not advocating being big for the sake of being big, but there are some women who will never be smaller than a size 12 or 14. Because of their genetic makeup and their body type, being any smaller could actually harm their health. Their BMI might say that they're overweight, but a better indicator of good health is the ratio between your waist size and your height.

We're so used to seeing super-skinny models in fashion magazines that when we do see a woman that looks "normal", there are those who have a negative reaction. They think "We don't need to see her fat hanging out everywhere." By saying that, they're actually announcing their insecurity about how they look. Because fashion magazines have made the standard of beauty that of a skinny (possibly borderline anorexic) woman with no curves, the average woman doesn't think she's good enough.

When I chose to lose weight, I didn't do so in order to attain some ridiculous standard of beauty. I did it because I am genetically predisposed to certain health problems and I also wasn't satisfied, personally, with how I looked. According to the current BMI standards, my goal weight is the maximum healthy weight for my height, but according to my standards, it's the perfect weight for me based on my body type. If I were to go smaller than that, I don't think that I'd recognize myself. Right now I'm the smallest that I've been since I was 14 years old. That was 20 years ago, and the weight has shifted to new and interesting places since then. I don't want to look exactly like I did when I was 14 because my boobs were about 3 cup sizes smaller, LOL!

3 comments:

  1. Ugh, how is a size 10 a plus size? If I went down to say a 6, I would look unhealthy. I don't think the average man is interested in boney girls. I know they are all over magazines, but in an office of 7 women, there is one sick skinny, 3 normal and 1 hefty and one that is going to have health issues. In the end it boils down to eat less, burn more calories i.e. exercise. And with that rant I am off to eat fiber rich chili and make my recliner go up and down. Starting Monday, you need to tell me that I can't sit in that recliner. I do afterall have to be fit for our trip to England!

    Hugs, Georgia

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  2. I have been enormous in my time and it was all down to poor diet and lots of it.
    I couldn't turn over in bed cos it so much effort to heft my HUGE baps over my even HUGER body. I felt as bad as I looked so turned to a healthy lifestyle slimming club and now I am over 5 stone lighter.
    I still see the old me in the mirror and stuggle to stay on the straight and narrow (don't I Michelle?)but it is worth it, even just to be able to turn over in bed without getting breathless.

    Having been on both sides of the coin I have to say get eat well & get healthy, not skinny.

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  3. Bunny's mom speaking because this is an issue that makes me crazy! I saw that V magazine was doing their size issue with two competing covers - one with 100 lb Dakota Fanning and the other with 250 lb Gabourey Sidibe. Let's get real people - the majority of women do not reside at either end of the weight spectrum, but somewhere in the middle. Why does the media insist on focusing on the extremes rather than showing normal, healthy women? Is it any wonder that girls and young women have body image issues?

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