The term “plus” when applied to clothing sizes is a pejorative. I love that word, pejorative, because it sounds exactly what it means: defamatory, discriminatory, judgmental and altogether nasty-negative!
When manufacturers determine their product sizes, there is no standard measurement. (Please see articles on the origins of sizes in women’s clothing on this website.)
As of today, some designers consider women sizes 12 and above as “plus” sizes, others assign “plus” to above 16. Today the average size sold to American women is a 16; and it hardly qualifies those women as outside the norm, as they are the norm!
Aside from celebrated individuals, (Ashley Graham, Melissa McCartney, Amy Schumer, among others) who have confidently pushed for body acceptance, the media is getting on board by acknowledging “one size fails to fit all!” Project Runway became inclusive this season with the inclusion of larger models and designers to clothe them.
Last week, KMART announced the re-naming of plus to fabulously sized clothing, and eliminating the separation (some would say isolation) of that category from the rest of the department.
Along with Lane Bryant’s new branding celebrating “curvy” for their clothing lines, it looks like we are WINNING! Finally, through individual efforts at acceptance of the current reality of women’s healthy bodies, the social institutions have received the message and are joining the rest of us in respecting our individuality.
Advertising, social media, and commercial markets are broadening their message to accept all of us as equals.
Keep this positive momentum going: Join the Body Confidence Movement!
Call Coach Stephanie to find out how!
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Although she lost her lawsuit against a Silicon Valley venture capital firm in 2015, Ellen K. Pao came back strong to rid all workplaces of discrimination and sexual harassment. Hailed by Time Magazine as the “Face of Change” her message overcame negative assaults and retaliation for her courage and confidence in challenging the status quo in Silicon Valley and beyond.
As CEO of Reddit, Ms. Pao took on the negative trolling present in Social Media. Her company is on alert for personal attacks on individuals based on gender, sexual orientation, religion, or body image. The result of all of her activism is the recent publication of her personal and professional story, “Reset” My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change.”
What does that mean for the rest of us?
Most of us lack her education, expertise, and yes, intelligence to create her accomplishments, but ALL of us have her capacity for courage and the confidence it takes to express it personally and professionally.
All it takes is one of us to inspire all of us!
Thank you, Ellen K Pao!
Now it’s our turn.
What can you do to take your first step to Body Confidence today?
Call Coach Stephanie.
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A recent study by Michigan State University of 271,000 people of various ages found that investing in your friendships pays large dividends in your health, wellbeing, and long-term future.
Those of us who practice the Body Knowledge System® understand the benefit of one very special buddy, our body.
She knows us better than anyone else on the planet, including our spouse, mother, father, twin sister, brother or son or daughter. She’s been with us since our first breath and will be with us until our last breath. She supports us, not only physically, but emotionally and psychologically. And best of all, she’s available to us 24/7/365.
Now that’s a BFF!
So, when was the last time you acknowledged her as your BFF? If the answer is “never”, it’s not too late to create that relationship.
Actually, it’s never too late.
But why wait? When the sooner you become reacquainted, the sooner you’ll enjoy the benefits of the relationship!
Contact Coach Stephanie to take your first step to becoming the BFF to your body!
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Experts agree that confidence is the key to success. If you believe you can, you can. And the reverse is also true! So, the first step to getting what you want is believing you can have it.
I can already hear your comment, “Yes, but…”
The “but” is the barrier.
The phrase following the “but” is your indication of what prevents you from getting what you want. What are your words following the “but”?
For every word you utter denying you your dreams, your body has a creative answer allowing you to achieve your dreams.
If you think that your creativity resides only in your brain, you are limiting your possibilities….
Your body has wisdom she wants you to explore.
Call Coach Stephanie
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We discussed diet fads last time, now let’s look at exercise trends, er fads.
The 60 second promise sure looks good in the Tweet, but if it were THAT easy, I’d do it, too. What the article on HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) goes on to say is 60 seconds refers to a single interval in a total of twenty 60 second segments.
In other words, twenty minutes total of alternating between short high intensity exercises for 60 seconds, followed by a three minutes of lesser intensity exercises. And when they say “intense” they mean vigorous efforts driving your heart rate up to 80 to 95 percent of capacity.
As in alternating fasting diet programs, the AMA does not recommend daily HIIT workouts, rather do your HIITs three days a week, allowing 42 to 78 hours between them. Whether this will work for you, may depend on your Style profile that you discovered in Coach Stephanie’s popular teleclass “Resist Exercise, Want to Know Why?”
If you missed it, contact Coach Stephanie for more information
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As with most radical dieting programs, the recent solution to weight loss is to simply not eat anything, ok, almost anything every other day. Now that the experts have had time to study the effectiveness of starving, or cutting out over 75% of your daily caloric intake on alternating days the results are not promising for this latest trend in self-denial.
As reported in the August, 2017 issue of Consumer Reports “Health” magazine, a University of Illinois at Chicago study looked at the eating habits of 100 overweight men and women. The alternate day fasters restricted their daily calorie intake to 25% on fasting days, however it rose to 125% on non-fast days, another third ate 75% of their usual calories every day, and the final third ate as usual. At the end of a year, the alternate group lost 6% of their body weight, the conventional dieters lost 5.3%, about the same results. However, the alternative day dieters had a hard time following that procedure, and the bad news is the rise in their LDL or bad cholesterol numbers!
If you befriend your body, you’ll know what works for you. Try the latest promotion if you feel like it, just remember to include your body in the decision, not just the results!
To find out how, contact Coach Stephanie!
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Project Runway’s new policies toward real women (see Previous Blog Post) inspired me to change my thinking about the runway as the platform for fashion icons aka human hangers for clothing tailored to impossibly thin bodies.
Those models don’t just walk on the runway, they strut down the narrow path in front of critical eyes judging the clothing they wear. Of course, if the designers’ creations do not fit perfectly, then the observations include the women wearing the presentation. Hence the human hangers rather than real life, off the rack bodies who purchase their knock offs, or mass produced and altered to fit clothing available in the retail outlets.
There is no reason each of us can’t walk the runways in our lives as if they were funways, i.e. happy paths toward our future. When we adapt an attitude of fun and optimism toward our daily activities, we convert the slump and stumble into a stride and strut.
This pays additional dividends in what comes our way, as well.
You put good vibes out, you get acceptance and approval back. It’s nature’s way of encouragement!
So give it a try!
Practice the Body Knowledge System® to release your inner body confidence and join us on the FUNWAY of life!
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We who practice the Body Knowledge System® celebrate our most recent media win!
Body Confidence has made its way to Prime Time! After 18 years catering to the media pressure to shame any of us who are not runway models, this popular show has accepted the reality of women’s bodies; beauty comes in all shapes and sizes, and there are talented, creative designers willing to enhance their acceptance in today’s society.
This season of the popular Lifetime cable show acknowledges there is more to being attractive than a small clothing size on an undernourished body! The familiar faces return to host the fashion competition, but this years’ design challenge requires creating attractive clothing for a wide range of women’s sizes, from size 0 to size 22.
No longer restricted to the undersized, genetically gifted women and young adults who are ideal clothes hangers for manufacturers’ sales numbers, the competitors will design for real women’s bodies. When taken from the runway to the funway of everyday life, the consumer realized she didn’t look the same as the woman who modeled the dress, suit, or pants.
Those size 12, 14,16,18, 20 and 22 models will have the body confidence necessary to successfully model those custom designs in front of a nationally televised audience. When walking the runway, they practice the body knowledge system with the body confidence their way, the FUNWAY!
Project Runway is now Project Funway:
Body Confidence for All!
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Actually, “What You Ate” is the title of a new book by historian, Laura Shapiro. She quotes philosopher-gourmand Brillat-Savarin in her introduction, “Tell me what you eat, and I shall tell you what you are” as the impetus of her examining the foods, preparations, and environment of 6 women of history. Writers, and activists, and one famous mistress are the subject matter of her examination of these women and how their behavior around food reflected their lives.
She continues with her intense desire to ask them about their relationship to the food they chose when shopping, consumed, prepared, and the reasons behind their choices. What purpose did it serve them to make the selections they did and what were the results of those choices? Did the outcome justify the efforts they put into the process, if not, then why not?
The three (of the six) most famous women were Hitler’s mistress, Eva Braun, FDR’s spouse, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Helen Gurley Brown, revolutionary editor of Cosmopolitan.
So what does this have to do with modern women and our relationship to food and what that says about us?
Absolutely NOTHING!
Since this is an examination of diseased women from a bygone era, the subject matter begs a more modern treatment as our obsession with food and how we relate to it has increased over the years. Until that study is done officially, we have a wonderful resource available to us today: our own body.
One theme remains current: except for professional chefs, food remains the province of women. What we choose for ourselves, our families, and why.
The amount of time we spend daily on and around food: selection, preparation, service, clean up, planning for the next meal far exceeds any other preoccupation.
With that in mind, we can save time, effort, and any future recriminations when we consult our body prior to making any choice surrounding food.
Using the tools of the Body Knowledge System® we accomplish everything we need to know in a fast, efficient conversation with our body.
How?
Contact Coach Stephanie now!
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If we all loved our bodies, there would be no need for this book or any other on weight management and avoided the drama around food all women experience at some time in their lives.
“Body Love” a new book by author, nutritionist, and health specialist to the stars tells us all we need to know in the subtitle: “Live in Balance, Weigh What You Want, and Free Yourself from Food Drama Forever.” Before writing this book, Kelly Leveque researched the science behind familiar diets in order to increase her understanding why and how they affect the body’s loss of pounds. In doing so, she discovered why they aren’t sustainable.
Frankly, it doesn’t take a genius to figure that out:
- Low calorie diets work, of course they work if you can ignore the hunger always associated with them.
- Low carbohydrate diets work as long as you can stand eating all of the things you were told in high school not to eat exclusively if you want to live past 50. ( I personally love butter, bacon, cheese, eggs—but exclusively? Forever? Not so much.)
- Nothing with eyes: Does that include black-eyed peas, potatoes?
- Nothing white, hmmm. I supposed they mean bread, pasta, potatoes, sugar. Ok, so black bread, veggie pasta, sweet potatoes, and brown sugar must be ok, right?
Ok, we get the picture. Diets do not work. Tell us something we don’t know: The Body Knowledge System® does work.
BKS works because it’s a system, not a dictation of what you can not do or eat. The system teaches you to do what Kelly Leveque recommends in her new book.
From the Amazon review: “Instead, she offers a better choice: her four-step Food Freedom program that helps you find your wellness balance between eating enough and deciding how you feel. Once you find your balance, you will lose weight, lose fat, increase lean muscle mass, and drop at least one size. You’ll also enjoy thicker, shinier hair; clear, glowing skin; a remarkable improvement in your overall well-being.”
It’s that italicized phrase that is the essence of the Body Knowledge System®
“deciding how you feel” And how does that happen?
Ask your BFF, your body!
Contact Stephanie for more information.
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