I know Victoria Secret! Don't eat... EVER!

I know… I may the ONLY WOMAN in the entire world who thinks these “women” up in the picture are too skinny…BUT OH WELL! First of all… if ANY of them are over 18, I would be hugely surprised… Second of all… airbrushing does WONDERS to “lift the girls up and give cleavage” But really… HOW MANY women REALLY look like that, almost naked? Even at my thinnest ever… I never looked like that!!! Ever! and I’m 5.7″! They look slightly anorexic. They look entirely undernourished… and they look like they are what little girls and some not so little girls are going to try to emulate, every single day… and push a healthy meal away from them… in the quest to look just like them. It breaks my heart.


Ladies and men… THAT ISN’T REAL! I know you’ve heard it over and over… but real women, the majority of real women… DO NOT LOOK LIKE THAT IN THEIR UNDERWEAR! We have stretch marks, and tan lines, and age spots, and cottage cheese thighs. Women also do not look like those Gawd awful OC housewives either. How big do boobs REALLY have to be? We never had “twin” envy in my family of women cousins and aunties… always being well endowed… and not enjoying it due to back pain and strain… but women are REALLY, REALLY, REALLY sure that getting newer, bigger “girls” are going to give them the self esteem and man attention needed to live a wonderful, stress free, love filled life… GAG ME!!!

Ahem… I’m off subject here…

How is putting pictures like that on billboards going to promote health and vitality? Don’t get me wrong… I don’t believe people should just be heavy and lumpy like me and everyone else should just get over it… No… not my intention at all… I’m just saying that in this world of obesity on the rise for kids, and women going under the knife in record numbers, how is THAT going to HELP? IT’S NOT!!!

Don’t women feel badly enough about themselves as it is? If any man, and they do, walked into VS to buy his love a piece of lingerie… and his love wasn’t a size 0 to 4… how do you think she will feel opening up that bag? I know they don’t only sell tiny sizes… but unless you look like those models… it just won’t look the same… ya know?

It’s unrealistic. It’s feeding the frenzy of unhealthy living. The overweight women may look in the mirror and say “Well… if that’s what beauty is… then I might as well continue eating… I’ll never be 14 again, and my body won’t morph back to not having stretch marks… I give up”… and the healthy weight women (or young girl) might look in the mirror and say… “Ugh…I need to lose 20 lbs to look like that, so I’ll just eat mustard and saltines everyday for a month, and then I’ll be perfect.” COMMMMME ON!

Can’t we all just celebrate being women? Light ones, dark ones, heavy ones, thin ones, tall ones, short ones, freckled ones, blonde ones, brunette ones???
Dove and their models are more of what needs to be shown. Have you seen those lovely women? Real women?


I showed my boys that picure of the VS models. Initially, they were like… “Woo hoo!” My oldest said, upon looking closer… “They are really skinny… look at that… she has no leg meat. She looks fragile! I’d rather have a girl with a more sportlike physique”…

I don’t know… it could come from having a heavy Mama… but I believe he sees women for who they are… all the girls he’s had crushes on have come in all shapes, sizes, and colors… THANK GOD! He says he wants a girl that is strong, and can do a lot of different things, and isn’t always looking the mirror or worrying about her makeup. All three of my boys say that…

Maybe having a not perfect Mama has helped my men to see women for WHO they are… instead of only what they look like. It seems to me that real women, raise “real women” seeking men. I’m not saying that my boys should look for women that look like me… not at all… I’m not of the norm either, I’m at the opposite end of the spectrum from “healthy sized”… for now… far from “normal sized”.. but not for long…

I think women should get out of their own heads, stop fussing in front of the mirror, and start working on themselves from the inside out. A gorgeous woman is nice to look at… but if she can’t hold a conversation, or has no other interests besided catching a man, or worrying about her looks, her beauty dims… tremendously. Men don’t like women that need to constantly ask… “Do I look nice? Is my makeup okay? Do I look fat in this?” Not real men anyway.

Even at my heaviest… my self esteem had never dimmed. I’m lucky… I know. I have some REALLY, REALLY, REALLY gorgeous, model perfect friends that don’t have even 1/100th of the confidence I have and feel… and it breaks my heart…. and it is also baffling to me.

I owe a lot of it to my Mama. She wasn’t ever critical, or overly complimentary. My looks, when I was young, were an asset… I was just shy of pretty, cute almost, but attractive enough. My Mama would always say “you are a beautiful girl… INSIDE and out” “INSIDE” ALWAYS CAME FIRST! We never lamented over our bodies, she never put herself down in front of the mirror while I was looking, even though, she too, had a weight problem after having kids. She never put herself down. She walks into rooms, owning the place… and I do too. To know us is to love us… or hate us for having confidence that obviously we shouldn’t be allowed to have.

I can honestly say that having a weight problem has been a true blessing… I’m ready for it to be over, however… but it was a necessary evil that needed to be a part of my life. I shudder to think who I might me or what I may have allowed myself to feel about myself if I had always had a normal body. I can’t change the past and the fact that I let myself become so overweight… but I can learn from it and embrace it and take the positive from it. It’s all a choice…after all.. isn’t it?

The next time you see a billboard or ad in a magazine featuring underweight, undernourished, heavily airbrushed girls… breathe a sigh of relief that you don’t have the pressures they have, find something positive to say about them, and go eat a healthy sandwich and drink a big glass of green tea. Love yourself enough to do that… and treat yourself by looking in the mirror and telling that lovely reflection 5 things you really like about her.

Enjoy your lives… but eat…and choose wisely.