Thou shalt not covet thy friend’s figure!

Every woman (pretty well) has an issue with their body. Every woman finds something about their outside appearance that they do not like and wish to change.

And society does not help this growing epidemic.

“Your worth is not measured by the size of your waist.”

Women – and more importantly YOUNG GIRLS – are looking to Hollywood, the catwalk, and social media for what others are portraying as the acceptable way they should look or the “ideal” figure.

Myself included. I am just as guilty of comparing my body to another woman’s on Instagram or Pinterest – wondering how they look like that and I don’t!

You see a beautiful tanned woman in her workout gear with her six-pack abs and 5% body fat and ask yourself; “What’s wrong with you that you don’t look like this?”

First off – she’s a fitness model! She gets paid to look that good! Her job is to workout and lift and squat and eat clean in order to get modelling jobs – like this woman for a sportswear company!

But I’m sure, deep down, this woman has her own insecurities about how she looks and compares herself to another model who perhaps gets more work because she’s got bigger boobs or less jiggly thighs.

Now you or I would say; “Girl, you’re crazy, you look amazing!” But who are we to downplay another’s insecurities? How do we know what this woman has been through to get where she is? We shouldn’t judge someone else’s issues when we ourselves have our own demons to deal with.

I know that I will never have a washboard stomach and I’m fine with that. I do wish to lose some weight and tone up because I don’t feel great. My body isn’t well at this point in my life and I need to make a change FOR ME. I’m not making these changes to meet a standard that I read in a magazine or noticed in a social media post.

I’m making a change for me. To be a better version of myself. To be healthy for my family. To set an example for my seven year-old daughter that healthy is much more important than thin.

To be strong and bad-ass.