Beauty In Strength

I'm very lucky to have so many ladies that I get to see grow with their health and fitness everyday. And I have had the opportunity to see these ladies put many men to shame with their incredible strength! So with that being said, I felt like I needed to write about this issue this morning because I love my girls and want them to remember that regardless of what the number is on the tags of their clothing, there is much more to them than that number.

There's been a lot of "buzz" on Facebook lately about the controversy surrounding what constitutes a proper size versus plus size for women. Apparently SICFIT put together a video regarding the staggering news that the fashion industry considers a size 6 to be Plus Sized! I won't even go into the silliness (trying to be polite here) that is SICFIT, but honestly, is this ground breaking news folks? Society, especially the media, has consistently pounded into the female brain that unless our hip bones are protruding and our collar bones are visible, then we aren't fit, healthy or beautiful enough to walk down a run way or grace the cover of a magazine.


But I would really like to believe that many people are beginning to realize that curves, especially those that contain lean muscle, are beautiful and more importantly reflect the hard work and dedication that was required to create those beautiful curves. I will admit that I still fall victim to the mirror sometimes and find myself "squeezing" areas that I find undesirable or that I feel may not be up to standard. But when I think about the fact that I can take 135 pounds from the ground to my shoulders or take 210 pounds on my back and squat with it, I'm pretty damn proud. So while I may have to shimmy my thighs into my jeans, I know that those thighs can move a lot of weight and are pretty darn capable.

What I hope to extend today is that society will always be fixated on the female body and what it thinks should be the standard or be considered beautiful. They may fluctuate those standards from time to time, but primarily the standards will be unrealistic and who wants to try to live DOWN to those types of standards anyway? I'm proud to say that I'm a size 4/6 - plus size or not - and will continue to look up to who I think is beautiful, like Annie Sakamoto and Miranda Oldroyd who have worked their arses off to forge their strong, healthy bodies. Society can have their stick figures. I'll take my capable and strong size 4/6.