Thursday, August 23, 2018

Thick, Curvy, or Thin: A Healthy Woman Comes in All Shapes and Sizes


I wanted to write on this topic for long, but couldn’t make it possible for some reasons.  And now I thought this is the time when I should come up with this post.

Some of my clicks

It’s about two days back when I have changed my WhatsApp display/profile picture and a text message popped up in my inbox from one of my friends saying “you should gain weight” and I was like..really??  I am happy like this, happy being me!  I clicked my picture, I liked it and I put that as a DP.  Where the thing “gaining weight” has come in between?

Well, I know I am thin and I always have been.  My wrist bone show through my skin and so do my collar bones too.  But I am healthy!  Just because someone looks a certain way doesn’t mean they are healthy or unhealthy.  Size and health are not always correlated.  A person can be thick or thin and still can be healthy.  A healthy woman comes in all shapes and sizes.  But still, there are many people out there who have a lot to say about thin people.  And yes! Thin people are victims of body shaming too just like the fat people and I was one of them.  I tried all the things that I could, I struggled for about 7-8 years to put on some weight, to get that so-called “perfect body,” but nothing worked.  One day I asked myself, why I am doing all these things? Just to make others accept me, but why?  And there came a point when I realized people should like me the way I am and not for what body type I have and eventually I learned to love myself the way I am.

“Do you ever eat?”  “You are whole dried up and not already complete”  “You just look like a bag of bones.”  “You’re so thin that you’ll blow away in the wind.”  “Yeah, that’s what I heard often, every now and then in my life so far.  It’s like people always have something to say and to make comments about my body or I should say about anyone’s body whether the person is thin or thick.  But can’t these things just stop ever? Shouldn’t these types of things be behind us? We are all grown!  But, sadly it isn’t.

People be like, "just eat a lot and you will gain weight!" and I will be like, it’s just not so.  Yes, I probably can eat more than you think I can, but just eating doesn’t work at all.  It's not that simple, at least for me.  I am aware of the fact that I have a fast metabolism rate.  Just in case if I miss a meal, I feel sick and my head starts to pound.  I always need something to eat every few hours and I am still not even 100 pounds yet and I see a lot of people who eat a lot less than I do and weigh a lot more and two of them are my own sisters.  Yes, they eat a less than me but they weigh a more than me.

    Related Post:  Inner Conflict: What Caused me to Live in Fear     

I recognize that many of the comments are nothing but lighthearted teasing and that’s still okay, but there are some comments from other people that are intentionally made and I wouldn't feel comfortable personally calling out their rudeness quite so bluntly, so I choose to be lighthearted and say “I am happy like this” and yeah I really am!  I don’t have a problem with my weight but people bring it up to me; random people walk up to me and say “you are soooo thin; eat dairy products, eat potato, eat meat and blah blah blah”… Does anybody go up to fat people and calls them fat? Many times the quick answer you will get is "No, they don't because it’s nasty, it’s inhuman."  And I think they need to apply this to thin people as well because comments on being slender really are as awful as being called fat.  Yeah, sometimes it pisses me off to no extent that people come and tell me to gain weight in unflattering ways and I would be like “Can I protect my heart, please?” but then at the end, I would be happy.

People just want other-person to look like the body image that they have in their mind or that they see in the media.  They still confined “the good looks” in a narrow box.  But they forget that it’s not about what they think and what they want.  They should think outside of the box; it’s about the individual.  If an individual is healthy and happy with their body image then who are you to tell them?  Of course, the curvy woman looks beautiful (and a man with abs looks handsome) and I neither feel envy nor repulsive about them.  But I personally feel that everyone is beautiful and/or handsome in their own way, they just need to be themselves and should be comfortable in their own skin/body.  And to me, accepting own image and having confidence in oneself is the key.


Of course, I am not endorsing poor eating habits or unhealthy lifestyles neither I am saying that people should not exercise.  You should follow the proper diet as per your body needs, eat healthily, do exercise, but do not downgrade yourself for being thin or for being thick.  It is okay to be yourself and if people have a problem with your weight, it’s their problem, not yours.  I would suggest the best thing is to STOP trying to please others because we are not here to do so instead just try to please yourself and do what you think is good for you.  Whatever your body type is, it’s important to embrace it; it's your responsibility to make sure that you are happy with it because it's the only one you got.
"Don’t change your body to get respect from society. Instead, let’s change society to respect our bodies." ~ Golda Poretsky
I really don't understand what the "Real Women Have Curves" has justified, because there is no ideal or perfect shape or certain look and I do feel “Real women come in any shapes and sizes.”  You are already whole and complete, and perfect the way you are!

Don’t forget -- "You are unique and always be your own shining star!"

Stay Blessed, Be Happy..!! :-)
Preeti

43 comments:

  1. Yes! This needs to be said so much more! Love how open you are! Thank you

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  2. Man ki bat Modi ke sath
    Dil ki bat preeti me sath..
    ...now I ll follow to Golda poretsky

    It's always happens with me
    random people walk up to me and say “you are soooo thin; eat dairy products, eat potato, eat meat and blah blah blah”

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  3. Very well expressed Preeti..yes healthy bodies cone in different shapes..one should not try to change tt please others...just be natural...accept yourself the way you are ..and love yourself..
    Regards

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  4. What a beautiful and relatable post! At different points of my life, I've been "underweight", "overweight", and "normal" and I can definitely confirm that you can eat healthy and be either "too large" or "too small" by cultural standards. When I was underweight with a fast metabolism I ate *a lot* of healthy food just to stop from melting away, but still got comments about needing to eat more! Having a slower metabolism, as I also know first-hand, can mean being careful about limiting portion size and keeping food choices very healthy while struggling not to pile on additional weight.
    Women and men can be vibrantly healthy without necessarily lining up with [arbitrary] cultural standards of ideal weight and body composition. Sadly, the people who make negative comments are a reflection of the cultural acceptability of bullying.

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  5. I try to instill this in my 12-year old daughter who is surrounded by girlfriends who are stick thin. She definitely is more shapely. I don't want her ashamed of her body.

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  6. People should really mind their own business when it comes to body image. I have been skinny all my life and I have been told many times that I should eat more. I never liked the comments...

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  7. Totally agree with your point of view. People should respect womens and mens equally, no matter the caste, race, or shape

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  8. I loved the way you had expressed yourself that too exactly to the point. I am a bit curvy but I know I am healthy because the way I work hard very lass people will be able to do that.

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  9. I so agree with this! No one looks the same! I hate when people think people have to be skinny. It's not true.

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  10. Such a great post. As long as you are healthy it does matter and should not matter what size you are!

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  11. I so love this. I have thin boys who get thin shamed and people do come in all sizes.

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  12. Agreed. Women come in all shapes and sizes and beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

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  13. YES! Self care and self love is so important. Healthy comes in all sizes!

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  14. You are right about that no matter what shape we are all beautiful

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  15. Body positivity is all we need. This type of blog posts are beneficial to all women. Lets just appreciate all women of size, shape and color.

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  16. It's so easy for people to judge other. And its sad. I'm glad that you know how to stand up for yourself. Hopefully more people would read your post so they'll feel empowered, too.

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  17. You are so right! I wish more people would think like this! We are all unique in our own ways!

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  18. You absolutely hit the nail on the head. Being of only one shape does not necessarily make one healthy or unhealthy. There is a wide range in either norms!

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  19. I agree that people shouldn't change just because they feel intimidated. But due to social standards, we experience that we should change ourselves to fit in.

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  20. your blog is truly inspiring and i really loved how u expressed yourself . thank you so much for sharing.

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  21. Yes, I totally agree with you, everyone is unique and shouldn't change just to please someone else. Also, whoever was commenting about your weight, was probably jealous of how slender you look. Great post and values!

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  22. Indeed.It's the beauty inside the most shine.Body shape is just a part of people's personal preference/judging.

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  23. i couldn't agree more. When I was young My mom was always told that me and mister needed to gain weight a million times. It put so much pressure on my mom and expected us to eat more than we could even. I wish she had read this so she knows people are having an image in their head all the time they do comparisons

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  24. I absolutely agree woth you. A healthy body has nothing to do with the body shape. If we are comfortable with our own body we need not worry about , what the society thinks of us.

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  25. Beautiful article, and a great message for young girls - be happy in your own body!

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  26. Great point of view. You look quite pretty by the way. :)

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  27. indeed, we all come in all shapes and sizes, we should not impose on others what is deemed inappropriate for their health.

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  28. Very well written. It's time we put an end to body shaming. And that starts by talking openly about it and supporting each other.

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  29. thank you so much for bringing this up, a beautiful healthy body does come in every single size. everyone is different!

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  30. We have learnt to turn a deaf ear to all these idiots

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  31. Your post is very empowering. We are all unique and that makes us all beautiful.

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  32. Yes, this needs to be addressed more. I truly wish one day we could all stop making judgements and be happy with ourselves.

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  33. Yes I completely agree. I detest the fact how women are policed in everything.

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  34. I love this post ! I am the opposite I am a thin but unhealthy haha but I have health problems and can’t just put on weight either. People can expect other people to be happy if they are always being judged

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  35. Great post. I share your idea about how insignificant aesthetic beauty is. Beauty should also come from the heart and it should come naturally.

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  36. So true! Hate the fact that women are made to face impossible beauty standards all the time!

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  37. I agree. I think that it's important to love yourself and respect others. There is so much body shaming going on that it's nice to see a post like this.

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  38. Great post, I totally agree women are beautiful in all color, sizes and shapes. We need to learn how to love ourselves a bit more.

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  39. I definitely agree with you. Actually I can relate to your story, people are always saying I’m thin that I should eat a lot but even I’m eating a lot it’s still the same. So love yourself, embrace your individuality and ignore the negativity. Great post!

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  40. I have dyslipidemia, a metabolic disorder. So food intake is not really the main culprit as to why I don't lose weight fast. Sure, I do eat healthy, organic dishes and very well balanced. However, it's the incapability of my body to break them down fast if I don't stay very active. But sad to say I do have a sedentary job which keeps me off the gym or park, so I just make do of my limited time and space and have learned to love my size & shape. Thank you so much for writing such a great post!

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  41. Healthy people do come in all shapes and sizes. Too many people want to talk about other people when they really just need top minded their own business.

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  42. In diameter people are obsessed with colour or body weight.. honestly they will always have an opinion.how difficult can it be to mind their own business!

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  43. I relate so much with this. As a thin person I used to get the "why do you work out, you are so thin" ... to the point that I prefer to work out alone where no one can see me.. I guess it made me feel ashamed to work out because I wasn't "trying to loose weight" like everyone else

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Thick, Curvy, or Thin: A Healthy Woman Comes in All Shapes and Sizes

I wanted to write on this topic for long, but couldn’t make it possible for some reasons.  And now I thought this is the time when I sho...