I love this thread.
Up until recently I've had pretty crippling body issues. Starting at three when my older brother used to make fun of my baby chub. From that point on I considered myself fat, even though I was a pretty average kid, than a very chubby early teen, than a skinny older teen, then an average adult, than an adult with a lot of baby fat of a different kind to lose after two pregnancies (and two very stressful moves that put on more weight than the babies did). Throughout every body stage I always considered myself fat and ugly. Now I look back at those times and wish I had appreciated myself more. Not only because sometimes I was not fat, but because we all deserve self appreciation.
I found myself at a dieting/weight loss block recently. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Part of it was probably just being tired of spending the last 15 years dieting, but a lot of it was that I wanted to accept myself, no...love myself, the way I am right now. There is a lot about my body that I want to change, but there are also some things that are pretty great. The big revelation was that I can love myself while still wanting to change my physical appearance.
I'm eating super healthy lately and exercising more, but it feels now like an act of self care rather than self violence. It's funny, but now even though I want to lose forty pounds I feel hot more often. And I get hit on more, too. And I think I am hotter than when I was a skinny nineteen year old. I'm smarter, more cultured, funnier, more confident, and the sex is a whole hell of a lot better too. Hotness is an internal thing. I don't care how you look, you can still come across as hot.
Here's to all the hot lot babes.
