I Covet Thee, A New Way Of Thinking

By now, every Tom, Dick and Harry should be familiar with the name Samantha Brick and the uproar that her controversial article caused the other week. The target of many a bitchy comment about her apparently average looks and delusional self perception, it is a wonder that she didn't merely crumble away and regret the whole thing. But today, she hit back with yet another article explaining and justifying herself and her words. I don't want to focus on the controversy of Samantha Brick so much in this post, but the fact that here is a woman so confident in her own skin that she has no qualms professing her self worth.

On a daily basis women are inundated with the front covers of newspapers and magazines sporting the latest fad diets that we just HAVE to try because we all HAVE to lose that extra bit of weight that stops us from fitting into a socially acceptable size 8 and pushes us into the deep, dark realms of double figured sizes, dare I say it, A SIZE 10! Shock bloomin' horror. 

Ever tried fitting into your boyfriend's skinny jeans? Ever found that you can barely slip them over your thighs? Ever wondered why? Women are built differently to men; we have hips, child bearing hips and we are bloody well supposed to be that way. 

Magazines and the media seem to think that they are doing us all a much needed favour with their relentless quest to get us to buy their latest issues, try their latest quick fixes and then cry as we have to pull the size 10s back out of the wardrobe once we stop living off just carrot sticks. 

What needs to be promoted to women more is not weight loss but healthy life styles. Women should be conscious about the health of their bodies, not merely if they can pinch an inch too many. Exercise is solely promoted as a means of weight loss, not as a necessary activity of everyday life, not as something that can be enjoyable. Last year I ran Race For Life, a 5km fun run that I am sure you have all heard of. This gave me the kick up the bum I needed to go for a run/jog regularly. (I use the term loosely, no more than 2/3 times a week, but that's more regular than my previous status of zero runs a week). I don't think I lost any weight from training, but I got a hell of a lot fitter and eventually managed to finish 5km without having to stop and pick up my lungs; the furthest I've ever run, ever! I've never been good at running, but I've kind of grown to like it. It hurts like hell and my legs haven't learnt to carry me all that far, but I'm working on it (partly as I had a mental breakdown and signed up to a half marathon in October, jokes!)

Not everybody likes running or wants to do it. But, my point is find something that you do and take it up and stick to it without weight watching. Think about your body in terms of healthiness, not jeans size. I made Rob do that 30 Day Shred workout with me, which is quite popular at the moment and I have never laughed so hard! Do it with someone, trust me, it's hilarious. People look ridiculous doing star jumps, watch them, it's brilliant.

Not everybody was built to be super slim, and if you weren't, don't try and force your body to fit that mould. Embrace having a little junk in your trunk and make maintaining a healthy life style your priority, not the unhealthy images of a size zero craze. If only it were that easy as to turn the other cheek to the diet covered magazines and re-wire our brains to see exercise as more of a healthy life style, then perhaps we could all write like Samantha Brick about how beautiful we are and be confident in doing so, perfectly happy in the skin that we have. For that, I envy her.