The Ideal Body

I've never liked my body. There I said it. I never liked my body and I still don't. I've always felt I was too fat. I had back rolls and my father would always make a squeaking noise when referring to them. I've also been reminded by my family on numerous occassions how flat my butt is. I have that shape that no one is my family has: no butt, big boobs, and a nice sized stomach. It's very hard to love my body as it is. To add insult to injury, all the clothes I want to wear aren't made for my body Needless to say, my body and I don't see eye to eye.

I write this post because I know I am not the only woman who has looked at her body and thought it looked like a before picture and yearned for the after picture. With 1/3 of Americans weighing as much as the other 2/3, we are bombarded with reminders that we are not good enough. Weekly tabloids feature celebs who have lost weight, late night infomercials feature weight loss products, Dr. Oz talks about weight loss, Oprah talks about her struggle with weight constantly. We're being fed an image of we're not good enough as we are.

As a black woman, my body is held to the standards of Beyonce or Serena Williams, toned with a big butt. White women are expected to fit the mold of a supermodel, tall and thin. The truth is that everyone's body is different and there is no ideal body. Skinny doesn't always mean healthy and fat doesn't mean unhealthy. The only solution is to pick an ideal weight for your body and exercise 4 times a week.