plus-size models

Modeling is a competitive field. There are more pretty ladies than jobs. Sure, sure. However, it seems like any pretty curvy girl can pose for a plus size boutique. I LOVE that the shops that cater to bigger gals have real-life bodies to present their clothes. But Tyra has taught us that a good model is an artist and doesn't merely pose, but expresses herself.

I'm tired of seeing a lovely woman with a dead look in her eye trying to emulate Kate Dillon.

What Not to Wear

I don't have cable. Why? Because I would watch TV all the time. I already watch too much, but if I could get the Style, Bravo, BBC, HGTV and E! anytime I wanted, I would have no friends. Last weekend I did camp out in front of a cable TV and so took in many epsiodes of What Not to Wear. I'm more of a fan of the BBC original because they are so grabby and catty, but Americans Stacy and Clinton do a pretty good job.

One episode in particular featured a Chicagoan who kept saying he problem wasn't her clothing choice, but her weight. She just needed to lose weight for her tight pants to look awesome. Well, the WNTW duo firmly disagreed saying nothing was going to save the clothes, they were just bad. I agree, but I appreciate the point they were trying to make. Even if the clothes were stylish, if they don't fit, they are taking away from one's beauty.

Let's face it, it SUCKS to gain weight. But everyone has had that day. You take your favorite jeans out of the dryer before a night out, slide them on and...they just don't want to zip up nice and easy. You have to do lunges and squats to try to stretch them out a bit. Even with the stretching, you can still see that roll on the top of your jeans under your cute top that now accentuates how your bra strap digs in to your back.

That is NOT the way to feel sexy. You can't pull off a confident, attractive look if you are uncomfortable in your clothes. At the same time, who wants to accept that new label of going up a higher size? I get it. I really do. You have cute clothes already, you want to wear them, not go buy new ones in a bigger size. Just lose weight, right?

Here is a point that WNTW hinted at: when you feel attractive and confident, it will be easier for you to return to your normal size. It may be a little counterintuitive to by bigger clothes to lose weight, but I think it's logical. If you eat your feelings, then wearing unflattering clothes will make you feel worse and eat more. If you look great, you'll be more inclinded to actually live life and not think about food so much.

Take it easy

I get frustrated when complex issues are made to be simple. Bloody video games cause school violence and people are fat because they have no will power. I get it. It's nice to think about things as being black or white, good or bad, on or off. We want simple solutions. Take a pill. Have surgery. Go on a liquid diet. None of those things are necessarily EASY, but they don't address the myriad of reasons why men and women take in more calories than they can burn.

There are a number of ways to lose weight. It's simple math. Almost any diet invented will work provided one sticks to it. We've all lost weight, but we always seem to find it again. Why? Because we revert back to old behavior. We take in more calories than we burn. What does that tell us? Does that mean that 80% of the people who diet have no will power and are flawed?

No. It means that changing behavior is a complex, difficult process. Changing your diet isn't as easy as getting a food list. It's even harder than reaching your goal weight. Look at Oprah who is recognized as a talented, intelligent, determined and successful woman yet continually struggles with maintaining a healthy weight.

That's why I hate reading about the next diet fad, watching a Kirsty Alley sell frozen food on TV, and hearing about a new wellness center opening up that offers gastric bypass, as if those are viable solutions to the obesity epidemic. Sure there are some people who will be successful with those programs, but not the overwhelming majority of people who try them.

I wish I had the right book to read or counselor to recommend who could help us wash away our food and body issues, but it isn't that easy. It's a good place to start, of course, but even after years of reading these books and talking to good people it's still an intimate problem. It's the closest, quietest most private problem. So hushed that we don't want to talk about it and many times choose to ignore it. Maybe part of the solution is to talk about it more.

What do you think?