One day, one of my friends walked up to me, I was wearing what I thought was a flattering bodycon dress, she held one of my two newly formed love handles, squeezed (what she could grab) between her fingers and asked disgustingly, “What’s this?” Safe to say that has stuck in my head for years! I was so offended then because I really thought I was the shit. I mean, how dare she? Lol. I wouldn’t say that’s the best way to have put it across, that the size of my circumference was worrying. But the point was home.
I never really thought that it mattered. And I might contradict myself a bit in this post. And also annoy some people. Yes, I’m all for self-love and being comfortable in your skin. But I’d also never push a body positive agenda on an unhealthy body for the sake of#curvy #fierce #plus size and so on and so forth.I felt so misled a few years ago because I found solace in that blog, that Instagram page, that website, that galaxy, far far away…..where they tell you it’s ok. Even when it’s not. The truth of the matter is visceral fat among other things can kill you.
Guys, your love handle can kill you. 🙁 I still struggle with it myself. We all know the food that offends when it comes to this, so I’ll spare you.
I abandoned those sites for a more realistic perception. I watched a very interesting video on business insider that explains a bit about it. It talks about how and obese person and a body builder can have the same BMI.So thank God it’s obsolete. Forget your BMI. Just like it says in the video. I forgot about mine years ago. And I’m happier because for a long time, I was considered border line. It’s not a very good indicator of how healthy you are. They now use either waste to hip ratio1 or Body Volume Index. You’ve heard people say they’d rather be a pear than an apple?
Anyway, back to my point. I know there are lots of accounts all over the internet that encourage confidence in women. And I think that’s great. But what happens when they encourage it in someone who’s unhealthy. Plus size models hit the gym just as hard as any other type of model and most of the time are more involving. They just have a different regimen and their goal is not losing weight but staying in shape. A certain shape. But some sites mislead curvier women into thinking that these women do nothing, and should do nothing to be a plus size model. Granted, some people have medical problems, hereditary or otherwise. So this doesn’t apply to everyone. Please read the disclaimer at the end of this post.
Know the difference. It takes work. There’s a lot to read from credible sources about how to measure your risk of having heart disease, metabolic disorders and the like. But please, please. Just know, size 18 models also hit the gym and do everything that size 6 models do, if not more.
Lots of love.
W.
References:
Waist Circumference and Waist Hip Ratio – World Health Organization
1http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/44583/1/9789241501491_eng.pdf
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