inspirational friday

Kay so I know Inspirational Fridays have been all about celebrities and models so far, but today I'm going to dedicate it to Taralynn McNitt, a girl I have never met and yet feel like I've known my entire life. I came across her blog on Pinterest, Undressed Skeleton, and after reading her bio I think we're like kindred spirits or something. Reading through her life story was like reading mine, and I could instantly relate to her pain. You can check out her bio here: My Story. 

The part that really got to me:

"I was over being the girl with the “pretty face” or  the” best friend” of the skinny girl."

This is me during senior year at high school

Dang. That's EXACTLY how I feel. From the moment I started high school, up until now, you have no idea how many times people have said 'Oh yeah she's gorgeous, too bad she's fat.' Friends, crushes, strangers, my family, they've all either stated it outright or whispered it behind my back. For years I've struggled with self-esteem issues related to my weight, and those sort of comments only made it worse. Like they were trying to justify it by saying 'sure you're fat, but at least you've got a pretty face right?' Or trying to explain why I wasn't attractive 'Sure, she has a nice face, but she's fat so...' 

It's hard being fat, but it's even harder when people make those comments, that make you feel like that by being fat you're being a poorer version of yourself, that your face has so much potential but your body screws it up. It especially hurt when those comments came from guys I had a crush on or guys my friends wanted to set me up with. 

So thank you Taralynn, for sharing your experience and making all us fatties out there feel that there is hope, and that you can achieve a healthy lifestyle on sheer willpower. Plus, she shares TONS of healthy recipes that are easy to make and look rather yummy. So you should go check her out too, you won't regret it!

PS. After reading this over once more, I know it may sound like a paid advert, but I SWEAR she's just as awesome as she sounds, and Inspirational Fridays are all about finding inspiration, no matter where it comes from. So screw anyone who thinks I got paid. 

inspirational friday

Jordin Sparks in 2009

Jordin Sparks today

 Friday at last folks! After such a crazy week I am SO looking forward to sleeping in and watching reruns in my pajamas. Today's inspiration to avoid binges is none other than the very talented Jordin Sparks. According to the Huffington Post, she lost 50 pounds (YIKES!) in about two years, and can now rock a tiny blue bikini on the cover of a health magazine. What better inspiration than that? She confessed that her trigger to changing her nasty habits was realizing she was always feeling sick and tired. That is SO relatable! I got to a point where I was falling asleep all the time and getting these nasty headaches every single day, and I'd be all cranky and annoying; it sucked. And to think that so often you don't associate all those symptoms with your lifestyle, you even start thinking its normal. 

BUT IT'S NOT.

Changing your diet and exercising is not just about fitting into a smaller pant size or being able to flaunt a bikini body, it's also about treating your body the right way to live a better life. Feeling exhausted can be directly related to how how much exercise you do, and the probability of you ending up with a serious disease can be greatly reduced by eating balanced meals. Committing yourself to exercise and a healthy diet will make you beautiful on the outside AND on the inside. 

So how about it girls? Hop on the healthy lifestyle boat and begin your journey to a sexier, healthier you. I hope you all have an amazing weekend, and remember to keep yourself constantly motivated! We'll meet again for Weight In Sunday, you should all keep your fingers crossed so that scale delivers good news, I'll need all the help I can get to bring that bastard down at least 1 kg...

inspirational friday

Robyn Lawley posing for UK lingerie brand Boux Avenue.

Weekends are probably the toughest when it comes to sticking to the diet, mostly because I live with two guys that couldn't gain a pound even if they tried and follow a very strict diet consisting of Nutella, white flour tortillas and fatty cheese. So my house is always filled with temptations that get harder to resist the more time I spend around them. My roommates think a nice Saturday lunch consists of ordering pizza and breadsticks, and often I find myself starving, without anything healthy in the fridge (I usually go to the supermarket Sunday evenings), and trying to resist the delicious scents coming from inside that greasy box. 

This is why I need extra motivation on Fridays, and the reason behind 'Inspirational Friday'. I will post pictures of women I admire in the hopes of garnering enough strength to make it through another weekend without stuffing my face full of chocolate chip cookies. Inaugurating this soon-to-become a la parisienne tradition is Robyn Lawley. Who better to kick off a weekend full of healthy food (and perhaps even excercise!?) than a full-figured, gorgeous model that has already graced the cover of VOGUE Italia and ELLE? 

According to Skinny Vs Curvy's website, this beautiful gal, age 23, is 1.83 meters tall and a size 12 (in Mexico that is equivalent to a size 34 according to Google) and her measurements are 91-81-106 (in cm). This translates into one drop-dead gorgeous woman with a full figure that obviously doesn't starve herself to fit someone else's conception of "pretty" but also stays fit and healthy. If you don't believe me, just look at that picture up there: her legs are toned but not stick-thin and her waist-to-hip ratio leaves enough room for sexy curves without the extra muffin top. 

In my fight with stereotypical beauty images, I've always thought that while beauty can come in all shapes and sizes, the number one thing to always keep in mind is health. You can be thinner than a breadstick or have more curves than an F1 track, and you can still be healthy. Not all catwalk models are anorexic, just like not all plus sized gals stuff their faces with crappy food. Most of the times genes determine your body shape, and it doesn't matter which one you got, you are still beautiful, but it is important to stay healthy. I was blessed with a super curvy body, so no matter how hard I try I will never be supermodel thin (I learned that the hard way many years ago). Yet that is no excuse to ingest carbs like a crazy person, because like Robyn Lawley up there I want to be curvy yet fit, so even though I cannot be described as super skinny, I do fit this other description: 'damn she's hot!'

Happy Friday everyone, and here's to a healthy weekend!