The body acceptance aspect is what really appeals to me as I’m struggling with it lately in a way I haven’t before, even after childbirth. Definitely looking up classes in my area.

Ok, ya’ll just about have me convinced. Not sure I can make the commitment to a fitness class right now, but when the time comes I’ll consider pole, which is not something that had interested me before!

Here’s my success story.

I was reading an article on how to make resolutions in the New Year and one (here on a GM site, I believe) recommended choosing a word to focus on. I was noodling around with ‘transformation’ (and I didn’t know about Transformation Tuesdays) because this year I am going to transform myself into a Californian! after…

Cut them OUT. I’m 33, and I remember clear as day the moment at 25 I decided to cut out women like this. I decided and did it immediately. I have never looked back. I spent that whole first quarter of my life being made to apologise for who I was, but it was never about me, just what I reflected back to them about…

From grade school to high school, the bullies in my school were almost exclusively the girls. I went to school with a bunch of heathers. The boys might want to beat you up. The girls wanted to eviscerate you.

I’ve been on my own thing with health and fitness over the last few years. I’ve dropped a lot of weight but, more than that, I’ve discovered that I can do so much more than I ever thought I could. I can run a few kilometres (not marathons, though - anyone who can run a marathon is a superhuman in my book). I can go to…

This is great, I have been trying to improve myself in this way, too. It gets easier, and it would be great if women had each other’s backs against people like the asshole in the top comment.

I hear about these types of women all the time and I’m so glad none of my friends are like this.

Nola is trash and does not deserve Opal or her apartment.

Then there’s the weirdos who will “concern troll” the hell out of fat women, but also try to exclude/terrorize those same kind of women from gyms/fitness circles.

“Smaller” if you were a bigger kid will still screw with your body image. I’ve read somewhere that the brain does some sort of odd self-adjusting, so you can look right in the mirror and have no idea what size you are.

I think … there’s a mindset where some folks “in the community” think “the world is going to abuse you, so it is somehow ‘their job’ to ‘toughen you up’”.

I’ve noticed the same thing within certain circles. And it’s like, damned if you, damned if you don’t.

I’ve realized that a lot of my issues stemmed from negative feedback from other women within my circle.

I remember going to Barnes and Noble excited to buy that Women’s Running magazine, and being delighted they had sold out. I don’t usually but magazines, but featuring plus-size athletes will get me to spend, to show there’s a market for it.