Loving Your Body Doesn't Mean Hating on Skinny Women

I see a lot of plus size women that make remarks about skinny women. Now I do love the fact that you have the confidence and self esteem to embrace the body you have but in no way will putting others down help you in any positive way.

The same way you feel about people making comments about big women is how some skinny women feel. You do not know them or their situation. There are many women who are not happy being small and try very hard to gain weight and it just doesn't happen. We cant assume all skinny women have eating disorders or other problems. Just like we cant assume that all fat people are lazy and have every dangerous health condition.

Loving yourself also means not putting others down. Putting others down only shows your insecurities that you have with yourself. I understand you want to stand proud of who you are and the body you have but being negative towards others will only have people look at you in a negative way.

Embrace the body you have without putting others down. Once you are able to do that you will be able to truly love yourself. Always stay positive ladies and remember to treat people how you want to be treated. Don't make negative comments about anyone if you don't want people to make negative comments about you.

A Clothing Store in Sweden is Using Curvy Mannequins

A clothing store in Sweden is being hailed by women around the world after a photo of two surprisingly curvy mannequins were photographed and posted online.

Dressed in skimpy lingerie, the mannequins displayed softer stomachs, fuller thighs and generally more realistic proportions than the traditional department store models. For comparison, most mannequins in the U.S. are between a svelte size 4 or 6—a departure from the average American woman who is a size 14.

On Tuesday, a blogger at Women's Rights News posted a photo of the department store mannequins to Facebook and the response was overwhelming. "It's about time reality hit..." wrote one out of almost 2,500 commentators. "Anybody saying these mannequins encourage obesity or look unhealthy, you have a seriously warped perception of what is healthy. I guarantee the "bigger" mannequin in the front there represents a perfect BMI" wrote another. As of Thursday, the photo had garnered almost 50,000 likes and shared almost 15,000 times. That's a lot of attention for a hunk of fiber glass and plastic.

There were rumors that the mannequins were on display at H&M in Sweden but a spokesperson told Shine: "The image is not from an H&M store. At this time, we are not using this type of mannequin, but we do not rule of the possibility of doing so in the future."

Mannequins have been around for thousands of years but their function in fashion is fairly recent, first appearing in store windows in the 1800s during the Industrial Revolution when window panes were installed in stores to display the latest fashion trends. Throughout WW1 and the Depression, mannequins changed their outfits and body proportions to reflect society at that time. Cut to the 1960s, when British mannequin firm Rootstein began modeling their dolls after pop culture and fashion icons to reflect runway trends at the time.

Modern-day mannequins have long been critiqued for having tiny proportions. In 2007, British health officials demanded that stores on London's fashionable High Street stop using stick-thin models in an effort to reflect the wide range of sizes and shapes of British women. In 2010, Club Monaco came under fire for featuring mannequins with protruding spines and clavicles. And in 2011, GAP was chastised by bloggers for mannequins with bone-thin legs modeling the "Always skinny" jeans display. “I'm wondering what the internal project name for this was at Gap HQ,” wrote one blogger. "Death-camp chic’? ‘Ana Pride’? ‘Famine fashion forward?"

And male mannequins haven't escaped scrutiny either. In 2010, Rootstein debuted male dolls under their "Young and Restless" collection modeled after teenage boys with 35-inch chests and 27-inch waists. The company had to defend its decision to use smaller models to eating disorders groups.

As much as the public contests these down-sized mannequins, when designers have attempted to create dolls that reflect real-life proportions they're met with criticism, even disgust. In late 2012, when a Reddit user posted a photo of an "obese mannequin" in satire, commentary ranged from "Ew, fat people", "It's embarrassing how obese America is" and the amusing, "He's not fat, just big foamed."

A recent published in the Journal of Consumer Research shows that women's self esteem takes a nosedive when exposed to models of any size, so maybe there is no easy answer. But as long as mannequins are influencing people to buy fashion, reflecting real-life bodies is a step in the right direction.
Article courtesy of www.yahoo.com

I Know What You Hate but What Do You Love

We always hear what people hate about their body but hearing what people love is not very often. We can become so consumed with how things should be or look that we forget to embrace what we have. Why is that???? Do you ever think that if maybe you start to talk about all the great things you will have a more positive body image.

I want to challenge you to write one positive thing about yourself everyday for 2 weeks. After two weeks you then go back and read every positive thing you wrote. It should put you in a better place to loving yourself and your body. That's something you can always look back on to give you boost when your feeling down about your body.

End the negative body talk. Speaking negatively about yourself is not going to create change. It will just keep you in that negative space. Once you start speaking positively you will be in a happier place. This is something only you can change. No one can make you truly happy from the inside out. It is work that you have to put in and trust me the result will totally be worth it.

Take a stand today to end negative body talk and start your two week challenge. This should kick start your journey to a happier and more positive you.

Dress for a Better Mood

How do you feel when you look in the mirror??? Are you happy with what you see??? If not, what can you do the change it???

I was at work thinking about how I dress depending on how I feel. When I'm overly exhausted or upset I tend to throw on whatever and then I feel a certain way for the rest of the day. My point is that no matter how you feel, dress how you would If you where in a happier mood. When we are not in a happy mood are clothing choices can either keep us in a funk or help us out the funk.

Not caring about your appearance usually leads to you being upset that people are seeing you not at your best. Being a plus size woman the things to avoid is over sized and baggy clothes, too tight or ill fitting clothes and wrinkle or dirty clothes.

When I know I am dressed in something I like, it helps my mood. You should try it, it really works majority of the time.

Plus Size Woman = Limits in The Bedroom????

So I was talking to a guy I know about limitations of plus size women in the bedroom. Now this guy dates women of all sizes so these are not his opinions or feelings. He was talking to me about how his friends feel and react to dating and having sex with larger women.

On the initial meeting of some men and plus size women I was told his friends think the woman is pretty but they feel they will be wasting there time because there is a lot of limitations with a big girl. I was confused as far as to what these limitations would be. His friends stated that skinner women are more flexible and doing certain positions are easier.

My friend said he has to constantly defend why he prefers to date larger woman and explain how sex with a plus size woman is not what they think. He has never been limited in the bedroom and feels plus size women actually has a few perks that smaller women don't have. He thinks that men are scared to date plus size women.

It is such a negative stigma surrounding large people in general that some are reluctant to date bigger people because they don't know what to expect. If they tried it they would see that there is no difference. A relationship and sex with a plus size person is exactly like relationships and sex with a smaller person.

My first question is how would you know if you don't or will not ever date a plus size woman. Just like the saying goes, "Don't knock it until you try it". Some people need to open there eyes to life. People come in all shapes and sizes and everything in life we go through is the same. Its crazy that one would have to constantly defend the type of person they want to date.