I agree!
As a plus sized woman in today's society, a now proud plus sized woman I might add, it sickens me to constantly see girls & women (and in rare cases, boys/men) killing themselves like this to be so thin & trying live up to other people's standards of what beauty is & what it takes to get somewhere in life. I for one, am sick of society looking down upon plus sized women (and men) & making it seem like being of substance is the worst thing in the world... because it is NOT. Even the beginning standards for plus size clothing lines & models bother me. Because, the standard starts at a size 14! And in my honest opinion, that is NOT plus sized. To ME, a size 14 looks way more AVERAGE than plus sized. I think the starting size for Plus sizes needs to be changed to around 18/20... that, I think, would look more fitting. Please do not confuse my thinking/reasoning for being discriminating (that would be hypocritical of me), but rather DIFFERENTIATING between what is & is not plus sized. Plus, the average woman here in the USA is a size 14, which I believe is the size that Marilyn Monroe was. I wish more young girls & women who are so "scared" to be "fat" would look at & listen to/read the advice on body image/acceptance & beauty given by beautiful women such as Queen Latifah & Mo'Nique. Both of those wonderful women are such great inspirations, to both plus sized AND thin people (women).
We need to realize that, as long as someone is healthy, their weight shouldn't matter. So many people make assumptions & buy into the misconceptions of plus sized people. For example, a lot of people believe that if you're "overweight", you're automatically unhealthy... which is NOT true! Does being "overweight" put you a bit more at a risk for health problems? Yes. But, that doesn't mean ALL "overweight" people are unhealthy, or are going to be unhealthy. That would be like saying ALL thin people (by this, I mean average thin) are healthy, which also isn't true. There are MANY average thin people who have heart, blood, sugar, etc problems. I am around 5'2"-5'3", about 260lbs (When I checked the beginning of this month) & have NONE of those health issues. A lot of people also like to forget that genetics play a part in someone's health as well. Which is the important thing I (and everyone else) need to keep checking up on, because several things run in my family... but as of right now, I am a healthy plus sized woman. There's the topic of "when is someone TOO big?" and in my honest opinion, a person is too big when he/she has major trouble doing ever day things on their own... getting out of bed, walking at a normal pace, working, etc. THAT, and IF someone has other health problems, is when people should become really concerned with the issue of being "overweight".
But please people (young girls & women specifically), do NOT be afraid of curves, or a roll here & there. In my opinion, women are supposed to be of some substance. Do NOT lose weight just to "fit in" & impress people. I've been there & all it did was set me back & take me longer to finally have some self-esteem/confidence. I am no longer at my heaviest weight (which was about 310), but I can honestly tell you that now, I am happy & proud to be the size I am. I no longer crave to be thin, I'm now more focused on just maintaining my weight, rather than losing more. IF I do lose more, great, but also great if I dont. I know I sort of got way off topic here, but my point is this... EVERYONE is beautiful in THEIR OWN ways & you do NOT have to be super skinny/thin (or skinny at all) to be whoever & whatever you want to be in life. NOTHING is worth killing yourselves like this for. I hope & pray that anyone who suffers from eating disorders gets help SOON, before its too late.
