My mama taught me to suck in my gut. She taught me a lot of things. Mostly about math, engineering, and working hard. Of course she also had those “motherly” tips- the things I remember most vividly as a child. You know which ones I’m talking about. The things only a mother can tell you do….and get away with.

She would tell me that her mother used to contract her abs throughout the day. How it helps strengthen your stomach and back muscles for better posture. “Pull your belly in” advice. Well, she was correct.

According to Daily Mail’s recent article “Why leggings make you fat: Wearing them ’causes lazy muscles and leaves legs and stomach flabby”  - your firming gear may have you looking smooth, but only for now.

Physiotherapist Sammy Margo explains: “Leggings feel good and look great and I am as addicted to them as anyone, but there is a downside.

They hold in and support the quadriceps (thigh muscles), buttocks and core muscles in your tummy,  and do the job the muscles are supposed to do.

As a result, the muscles are allowed to relax and switch off, so when we reveal our bodies for the first time as summer approaches, they are not as svelte or firm as they otherwise would be.”

Ever found yourself packed into a pair of Spanx under your favorite jeans, only to catch yourself belly’d out? Yea…me too. Going into Summer, my new resolution is to stop hiding my body under shapers and start loving my body for what it is right now.

The buy some better fitting shorts! I’m in love with Torrid’s Plus Size Sophia Bermuda Shorts…

 Enjoy your Mother’s Day, and be good to those mamas. 

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Tags: belly, body, fat, shorts, summer, torrid

I always imagine some individual sitting behind an Excel Spreadsheet, eating donut holes and coffee as the statistics roll in, grouping women into columns that define their shape with words like “plus” and “straight.” Then I wonder, what about the missing middle column? Somewhere “healthy” has dodged a defining moment. In fact, what is “healthy” nowadays? In a society that is more “overweight” than not, we have failed to put the average sized woman into a turntable of labels. When in actuality the average woman is about a US size 14, and while out shopping, that is definitely considered “plus size.”

I am currently a size 14 “plus size” model. The past few years my weight and my size have fluctuated. I remember being a size 10, at 5 foot 9 inches, and having this conversation with others. People would make comments like, “There is no way you are plus size! I think of a really big woman when I think of plus size. You’re healthy.” Really though, even then I considered myself fat. I say this in a matter of fact way, not in a negative manner! To me, “healthy” is not a size, but a mentality that comes from living an all around healthy lifestyle. At nearly all times, and sizes in my life I have been more fatty than muscular. More importantly it’s always been about allowing my mind to love my body, at any size. Something we all struggle with at any given point in our lives.

So I began to wonder. Is “plus size” just a phrase that we, as a society, understand to be a euphemism for “fat?” If this is the case, I am somewhat elated! That sounds crazy…I know! Think of it this way though. If we as a whole believe that “plus size” is much above the average size 14 woman, we have the power to redefine the “plus size” that represents us in magazines and billboards, and even the phrase itself. There are millions of women that range in the area above the size 2 models that we often see. Many of you angered by a size 10/12 cap that models so called “plus size” clothing. Others that fall between that size 2 and the average size 14 woman, that are not so keen on being considered a “plus size.” Either way, we are the people! We are the ones that have to keep throwing rocks through the window of the fashion world. Instead of letting a small number of advertisement professionals define our bodies with these tag lines, we have the strength as a whole to define the fashion world!

I know many of you were disappointed to see Crystal Renn go from plus size super model to her now size 8, but honestly her statement at last week’s Metropolitan Opera says a lot…

“I think that by placing a title on my head, which is “plus-size,” and then the picture that these people have created in their mind about what plus-size actually is, I’ve basically failed you just with that. Because I couldn’t possibly live up to that, and at this point in my life I would have to actually have another eating disorder to live up to that expectation. I had anorexia ultimately because someone else set the standard for me and I wanted to follow it. And if I followed what the public wanted from me or what the media wants from me [to be plus-size], I’d be doing the same thing.”

Crystal Renn has her own definition of what is healthy for her physical and mental well being. I think this idea is obviously much more important than focusing on what terms define your body. Seeing as October is “Love Your Body” Month, I encourage you to hold true to yourself in loving what is yours, and what you define as living healthily.

As far as what words define our clothing options as “plus size” women, what are your thoughts? Are you looking for a change? Or are you happy with the industry’s standard?

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Tags: Crystal Renn, fashion, fat, fat fashion, plus size, plus size clothes, plus size clothing, plus size fashion, plus size model, plus sizes

“Fat.” A word, an idea, an example that we fear. Well, most of society that is. Somewhere out there, is a community of women that could care less what you think! Call it “disgusting,” “unhealthy,” “promoting obesity,” call it what you want. These ladies are ready to tell the world that, “Not all fat girls want to be skinny! Can you handle it? Does that just blow your mind!?”

They are the ladies of the TLC show “Big Sexy.” A television show that follows four larger than life, and larger than industry women through their daily endeavors. Exposing real accounts of “fat” girls in New York City’s life of fashion. The camera rolls through even their most vulnerable moments. Capturing real hardships from real women in an industry built on image.

What is it about being fat that frightens us so much? I’ve posted before with images and stories of plus-size women that really work it! Beth Ditto, Tess Munster, etc. This fueled quite the debate over how fat is too fat…? I got thinking about it, and realized how many other “problems” there are within our society. How so much of our living is based on the ideas of more, more, more…and bigger is better. Well, that is, as long as it isn’t your body.

How hypocritical! Our children are demolishing brain cells with excessive gaming, we are tapping the Earth dry, and our country is basically one big Wal-Mart. (ew!) Yet, a fat girl can’t be herself, because “it promotes an unhealthy message”…?

As a lady friend recently put it, “it’s not like we’re slappin’ up images of fat people scarfin’ down Mcdonald’s french fries. It’s about acceptance.” It is. It’s about realizing that we have personal freedom in this land. We actually have the choice to be who we wanna be, and look how we see fit. Now we just have to teach each other that is okay. Be skinny, be fat, be everything in between, whatever. Most importantly… be happy! With yourself, and with other’s choices. Especially when they don’t affect you.

These plus-size beauties say it, I think they are just trying to get one point across. “I’m me! Accept it!”

Some aren’t swallowing this idea as easily as others.

The article I recently read in Jezebel doesn’t quite agree with the message that the plus-size cast of Big Sexy is sending. Especially criticizing Plus Size Steals’ favorite Tiffany Bank’s tagline, “once you go big, you never go twig!”.  Now.. TLC has teased us, just 3 episodes, with this awesome new show “Big Sexy”, will we get more?  Or will the message be muted.. (Contact @TLC on twitter and let them know how you feel).

So tell me, in a world rolling in so many atrocities, what is it about “fatties” that really creeps under people’s skin? 

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Tags: Beth Ditto, big sexy, fashion, fat, fat girls, plus size, plus size fashion, tess munster, TLC

She may not be the next Lauren Conrad or Whitney Port, and that is quite alright!

Fact is, Chelsea Settles is young, ambitious, full of life, and facing her own set of insecurities…just like every woman. She’s real.

 That’s exactly what makes her different from any other MTV reality star we’ve ever seen before. Well, and she’s plus size!

Chelsea does what almost every 20 something dreams of: she runs away! She leaves her small town outside of Pittsburgh, and dives right for her hopes of making it in the LA fashion industry. And how many of us have ever had a dream we actually started a new life for?

As always, MTV hooks viewers with a trailer that engages you in Chelsea’s struggle with her obesity, and how that affects her lack of confidence on a daily basis. Let’s put aside the fact that she is definitely a plus size woman, facing medical concerns due to her weight…because that’s what MTVwants us to focus on.

To me, I just see her as inspiration! She pops out of middle America to make her dreams come true, and along the way, we will get a chance to see her combat her fears and limitations in order to achieve her aspirations. All the while, not being hand fed with a silver spoon.( like, ahem…someother MTV reality fashionistas.) Chelsea is a story that we can all relate to at some point in our own lovely lives.

This isn’t about weight, or image, or even fashion. This is about discovering what you want from this life. Then doing everything in your power to be the person you’re capable of being!

 I’ll be tuning in to make sure MTV didn’t trick me with another trailer….will you be?

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Tags: chelsea settles, fashion, fat, LA, Los angeles, mtv, plus size, reality, style, television

…”FAT!” I say. Just as my Aunt shooshes me with an, “at ta tah da.” As her hand slides up to separate these words from her two young daughters sitting next to me, she whispers, “we don’t say that word.” As if I had just made a slur, or deemed someone “mentally challenged,” in less favorable words.

So in a very matter of fact way, I make note that I was indeed, fat. I am fat.

Well…I prefer squishy. Regardless, I find it more offensive to tie an anvil to the 60% of the population that is overweight, and just throw them to the sea. Pretending that this group doesn’t exist, by removing the word from our mouths, and them from our thoughts.

 That is, until one of these plus-size beauties pops up in the media to represent the whole of us. Reminding humanity that this is what we look like. Not who we are.

The fashion industry is opening their door, more and more lately. Big time magazines are featuring “larger” models, and even shocking the world with spots on the cover. Yet, they are of course, flawless, thanks to over re-touching. They are more voluptuous than your typical straight size model, but still fit, and still photographed at their most flattering angle, to appear slender.

In many ways, this saddens me. Gives me hope at the same time, but breaks my heart for young girls and women, like myself. Women who still do not fit the mold that we see plastered over billboards, televisions, and magazines. Even if it is now including some plus-size ladies.

I have a difficult time as a plus-size model for this reason. I aspire to be out there, working. To be such a good model, that I’m constantly shooting, and showing other women that this body…this body is beautiful. This body is not fit, is not proportioned, does not include typical long hair, and seductive lips. This body is just as imperfect, and perfect as any other woman’s body, because that is what other females need to see in the media. To know that their bodies are ever changing, but in this moment, they are gorgeous! Maybe not as physically healthy as they are told to be, but sane, at the very least. That even after years of being saturated with weight-loss commercials, criticism, and a constant desire to be something that we are not…we can finally get a message of acceptance. So that we may accept ourselves, as we are, in this moment. Beautiful in our flaws, and loving in our every thought.

To Beth Ditto & Tess Munster….for living outside the box, and being damn good at it!

~ You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with the best you have to give. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Enjoy every moment that comes, dear ladies. :]

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Tags: Beth Ditto, fashion, fat, plus size, plus size modeling, tess munster, Vogue, vogue italy