Overweight with a Pretty Face Ain't Healthy

It has come to my attention that a woman by the name of Tess Holliday is being featured in numerous articles and kind of being praised for her self-image. She describes herself as an activist, aiming to change the way the fashion industry makes women feel about themselves. I find this disturbing as she is most definitely one of the largest women I have seen. She is not now, nor ever an 'activist' for anything good.

Unfortunately she is just as much not promoting a healthy body image as those stick thin starving models with a BMI of >18. I am so disgusted that overweight and unhealthy is now being represented as healthier than the 'skinny' girls. That's not right either. Healthy is healthy.....

My friend Naomi Campbell (Perth) said, "People mistake malnourishment and eating disorders for being exclusive to the skinny population." This is a very powerful statement coming from her as she has dealt with her own demons and won the fight against anorexia.

The image below is just as unhealthy as Tess Holliday just the polar opposite.

Image from: http://girltalkhq.com/ Article posted January 2015

Overweight acceptance and beautification objectively reduces the drive for those targeted to try to lose weight and become healthier. Obesity correlates indisputably with a reduced life span and quality of life, and increased financial cost onto society. Tess Holliday, in an attempt to make girls her size 'feel good about themselves' and forcing the political correctness of "you can't tell someone they're fat" mindset, you are inadvertently killing people.

If you compare statistics of suicide and malnutrition deaths from anorexia (roughly 100-400 deaths per year in the U.S.) compared to 300,000+ obesity related deaths per year, this image is not doing anyone ANY favours.

And Tess' images are far from the truth. She gets photoshopped too.

This is not acceptable, and is glorifying something that is not healthy. It is not acceptable to be skinny to the point of bones sticking out and its most certainly not acceptable to be obesely overweight. I am disgusted that this is what we as human being are promoting as a way to 'love who we are'. You can say "What do you know, you're skinny and I bet you've never been overweight and had that struggle". No I haven't but I have had other struggles like battling acne and not having any confidence to go out of the house on a hot day in anything less than a t-shirt because it was that humiliating.

I also know that I will never accept this obese weight as being acceptable and I have damn good reason. My dad was overweight, much like Tess and he died at the age of 61 of a massive heart attack caused by his weight, amongst other factors. His obesity over the years slowly killed him. He left behind myself, my mother and my 19 year old brother and that breaks my heart. I cannot accept that this, this image, is the right way to promote loving yourself. This promotes over indulgence and a lack of self control and its saying that its okay to be unhealthy and binge eat crap and not exercise and love your body.

Teenagers who do struggle with weight need to be motivated to actually get up and get moving! We need to stop tiptoeing around these people who cannot accept the fact that they need to change.

#BeHealthy