by Eileen Rivera
I give up. Yes, I said it, I give up trying to lose weight and tone up. Of course, last time I said that I went on to lose 36 pounds. Hmm, maybe I should say it
louder. Last time I said it, I was 42 years old and losing weight was a little easier. It’s been ten years since then and my metabolism has turned to mush, so I’m just going to embrace the fact that my chichos are here to stay.
This doesn’t mean I’m giving up on exercising, after all, I have to stay in my clothing. It’s too expensive to buy a new wardrobe. It just means that I’m giving up on my dreams of being a size ten again. Sigh. I have such pretty clothing put away in vacuum-sealed bags; just waiting for the day when all this extra weight would fall off my body. It hasn’t and life goes on.
We all know the risks associated with added weight. Watching our weight and BMI has become a way of life in the ever fattening USA but when you get to the point where you admit you will never be model slim (notice I didn’t say skinny) what do you do? The answer is that you learn to love the skin you’re in, all sixteen square feet of it. Try to forget what stinky ex-boyfriends and insensitive ex-husbands have said about your size. There’s a reason they’re in your past. You could even ignore the little, puny girls, who have no butt to shake, as you sashay down the sidewalk. Having a double digit size is not the end of your life.
It takes a healthy dose of confidence and self-esteem to be thick in today’s society. Despite the fact that the average woman is a size fourteen, the ideal remains much smaller, with celebutards vying to be a size zero. Now don’t get me wrong, you will not catch me wearing a belly shirt or a skirt with a slit up to my you-know-what. Just because it comes in my size doesn’t mean I should wear it. That’s my age speaking as opposed to my size. The plain and simple truth is that confidence is just about the sexiest thing a woman could wear.
If you’re raising a daughter, teach them healthy eating habits and that exercise is a must, but never, ever tell them they’re fat. Don’t compare them to their slimmer cousins. Don’t tell them they’ll never get a boyfriend. If they’ve got curves, teach them how to compliment those curves. Teach by example. Thick is sexy too.
Copy Editor, Eileen Rivera.
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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of
the author and should not be understood to be shared by Being Latino, Inc.
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About Eileen Rivera
Great post! I love to teach my girls how to eat healthy with mommy cooking at home rather than feeding big corp. pockets eating unhealthy foods outside. Genes play an important roll on sizes. With a big size background, the best you can do is encourage your kids to be active doing something they love and enjoy a supper in family.
excellent piece!! ¡camine con orgullo!
Darling…Wish this could be read by ALL of America….It’s exhausting being a woman, FUCKING exhausting (we’re all adults here right?) Being allowed to age, to grow (in more ways that weight), men in our society gaggle & STARE at the thinner, the younger, & wonder why our self esteem suffers…right? Well, I’m with you lady, I’m not quite thick & sexy now, but I’ve visited that room a few times in my life, but I’m fairly sized & feeling sexier by the day, by the pound & welcome THICK with open arms & in tact self esteem…even if the MEN just -for the life of me- can’t get our real beauty… I love exercising, all in good health of course, but I QUIT this gravy train of American Standard of Beauty… to hell with it!
Eileen, I’ve been dealing with so many body/weight issues since my teen years until now (my early 20′s). It’s relieving and shocking (for a lack of a better word) to see that women from completely different generations with different body shapes all suffer from the same body issue. That being said- I’m so happy that you’ve found confidence! Life is much more fun once you stop judging what’s in the mirror.
I’ve been dealing with weight issues for a while until I went to my dr and they told me my bmi is too high and bp was higher than normal I had to lose 50 lbs. It really made me take a hard look at my eating habits which weren’t good. A lot of our food is high in calories, carbs, etc. I gave up regular soda drink water limited juices, cut my portions in half and joined a gym. I’ve lose 16 lbs so far and I hope to surpass my goal. We don’t have to be a size 0 but as long as you’re healthy are active and eat right it’s good for your health and spirit. I do zumba classes talk about a good work out.
“Just because it comes in my size doesn’t mean I should wear it” = brilliant!
haha