The Body Coach & Body Positivity

Good day my lovely readers – Georgia, here. (If you’re new here, Sulky Bitch has a team of writers)

I recently signed up to The Body Coach 90 Day SSS Plan along with my co-blogger, Anna. I’ve also been preaching self-acceptance and body confidence for the past year or so, as learning to accept myself for who I am completely changed my life for the better. I want to talk about how the plan is going (I don’t know if it’s going to work or if I’m going to hate it) on Twitter and on here so I just wanted to do a little intro to the plan, and to a couple of the reasons I’m doing it.

I am a size 16-18 at the moment, I weigh just over 13.5 stone (I’m probably the biggest I’ve been at the moment, bar when I broke my leg and turned into a blimp-woman) and at 5’7″ that puts me in the overweight category (though we all know BMI isn’t as trustworthy as once believed.)

However, I’m also the happiest I’ve ever been with my body. I used to hate it. I used to hate myself and my body. But then I realised about 18 months ago – this is the only one I have. It does everything for me, it keeps me alive, it takes me awesome places. It’s flawed sure, but when I look in the mirror, I don’t see a fat person who needs to change. I see a bad ass who is doing what she loves in life. I’m not deluded – I have rolls and bumps that aren’t classified as ‘perfect’ by any stretch of the imagination – but I have accepted them. I don’t let them define me as a person or affect how I perceive myself or the world, or how I act around others. I don’t obsess over it, rant about it, cry because of it. I’m also aware that it’s down to my own habit of enjoying food and wine far too much, and perhaps not moving as much as I should.

And lately, I’ve indulged a LOT. I’m busy with work, screenings, interviews, writing, band practice, gigs and keeping my house from looking like a shit hole, and so when I have a spare moment I’ll go out for drinks or dinner – or I’ll order a pizza and just relax for a few hours. I know that this is unhealthy.

I used to be the kind of person who would crash diet. I tried all the fads, including something called the ‘soup diet’, slimming world (which actually, was pretty great), paleo (utter bullshit) and all sorts. Diets that are healthy, and that yo-yo, and end up with me getting bored and getting unhealthy again.

So I feel really positive about this decision. Because it’s not being forced by negativity, like my previous ‘diets’ have been. It’s coming from a pretty relaxed and positive place. And I feel like forking out the gut-wrenching £147 to sign up and being given a personal tailored long-term plan is the kick up the ass I need to get going. I don’t want to feel sluggish, to avoid the stairs where possible. I don’t want to sweat or to get chubrub when I go to the beach.

And on a slight side note, I also have PCOS, a condition that is exacerbated by a person’s weight, so whilst my case of it is pretty mild, I’m hoping it makes me a little more ‘regular’.

I’m on my way, hopefully, to just becoming a healthier person. ( I’m also a runner, though I am in hibernation due to hating running when it’s hot. So hopefully this’ll get me back on the pavement, too.)

So on that note…I start on Monday. I may or may not be treating this week as one last hurrah, by eating EVERYTHING. Who knows for sure. Wish me luck! And I’ll be done in time for Christmas cake 😉

And yes, I will be having cheat days, or I’ll go insane 😛

Side note. If you are bigger, and you feel fucking great – YOU LOOK FUCKING GREAT, YOU DON’T GOTTA DO ANYTHING UNLESS YOU WANT TO, OKAY?

And for reference, here’s some pictures of me now:

The A4 Waist Challenge? The Body Shaming Has GOT to Stop.

By Hannah Bundock

Hey, who’s heard about this new crazy trend of measuring yourself?

You hold up a piece of A4 paper in front of your stomach, and the aim is for your waist to be so small that it disappears behind it…How stupid is that?! Apparently it’s mainly taking off in China at the moment, but it’s only a matter of time before people over here start ‘rising to the challenge’ themselves, and I, personally, am dreading it.

Now I’m not going to lecture you all on how unhealthy it is for people to diet and exercise in extreme manners in order to meet this criteria; I’m assuming you lot have enough brain cells to figure that out for yourselves. Instead I want us all to look at the bigger picture, at female body image in general and the way it seems to divide us.

Usually it starts with a new trend, like the one above, thigh gaps or something of a similar nature, and then it develops into shaming of some sort.

The people who don’t have this new ‘desirable feature’ start to feel bad about themselves, or angry at those who are trying to impose this ‘ideal body image’ on them. In turn, these ladies will post things on social media criticising these features. I’ve seen everything from ‘You wouldn’t want a steak that was nothing but bone, why would you want a woman that way?’  ‘Real men like curves, only dogs go for bones’ right up to ‘There is no excuse for being fat.’  Enough is enough.

Most of the pressure we  feel these days is generated by other women. I can’t say I’ve ever seen a man post anything with regards to the weight he prefers his lady to be. Like, EVER! It’s us that seem to want to permanently pass judgement on other women. Why?! Seriously, what are we achieving by doing this? Of course, scrutinising others isn’t new – it’s a way of giving yourself a dirty little ego boost.

Have the confidence to enjoy your own body, and please, let’s stop putting each other down.

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But in reality, as long as you are comfortable in your own body it honestly doesn’t matter what weight you are, or anyone else is. I genuinely believe that confidence is the sexiest aspect of any woman. To me, confidence doesn’t look like posting dozen of pictures of yourself to show off your ‘hot bod’, to me that looks like you’re fishing for compliments because you’re secretly insecure. Equally I don’t think confidence is posting insulting memes explaining why your body shape is so much more desirable than someone else’s. Skinny shaming and fat shaming, they are as bad as each other and they need to stop. The war needs to end.

Skinny Siren or Curvy Queen, we can all be beautiful in our own way. Let’s stop bickering among ourselves as to what a woman ‘should’ look like and enjoy the fact that we are all different.  Everyone has a different preference, so no matter what your body shape or style, you will be someone’s perfect 10. Screw it, be your own perfect 10. Who are you trying to impress? Have the confidence to enjoy your own body, and please, let’s stop putting each other down.

I Am Not A Gym Bunny: An Ode to Sitting

By Kelsey Champion

I think we’re in unanimous agreement that sitting down is just darn great. And don’t get me started on how much I enjoy eating. Sadly, sitting and eating don’t often lead to a healthy lifestyle – could you imagine such a world?

I’m comfortable enough to say that I’m a wobbly, curvy, average woman: my BMI is maybe higher than it should be, as is my weekly alcohol intake. I’m not one of those naturally slim people; I’m a naturally greedy one.

Kate Moss once said ‘nothing tastes as good as skinny feels’. Well, clearly Mossy has never had a medium-cooked beef burger with blue cheese, streaky bacon and chipotle mayo in a brioche bun with hand cut skin on fries dusted with sea salt and rosemary washed down with an ice cold beer…… excuse me a moment….

Recently I’ve realised that being a sloth not only has an impact on my waistline, but also on my mental health (that’s a whole other thing – maybe I’ll charm you with that tale another time). So I decided now was the time to get off the sofa and stop inhaling Kettle Chips like they’re going out of fashion – I mean seriously, who are they kidding then they say ‘share’ bag – and join the gym. After a month of going to the gym at least four times a week, do you know what I realised…? It sucks.

There are many words I would use to describe myself but ‘gym bunny’ is most certainly not one of them. I was always put off of the gym because I knew I would never be one of those people who needed to work out five times a week or got a buzz from having a little vein pop out after a heavy lifting session; I thought if I’m not going to like it, why bother? Well, I’ll tell you a secret… you haven’t GOT to like it, just fricking do it.

A regular workout not only has an effect on your body, but I’ve found it greatly beneficial to my mental state too. I have more energy (yeah, I know, weird right?) and a generally more positive outlook. I feel proud of myself and what I have achieved, even if it’s just sliding my butt off the sofa into some Lycra gym pants and a few pumps on a 5kg dumbbell.

I don’t want to say “ooh look at all the weight I lost” but… well… I did alright. I won’t lie and say it was easy because it sure as shit wasn’t; it was hard, stressful, emotional and down-right dull. But as soon as I accepted my fate and just got on with it, turns out it wasn’t actually that bad. I put too much of a mental block on it and made excuses after excuses “oh well I have a long walk tomorrow, that can be my exercise” or “ok I won’t eat these crisps then I can get away with missing the gym”. Sorry love, doesn’t work that way.

Anyway, to summarise: yes, it’s shit, yes sitting down is better, yes cake is heaven, yes I am going to eat the aforementioned burger for dinner, but the point is, if you’re feeling how I was, just give it a go. It’ll be worth it.

Image from https://www.etsy.com/market/bunny_funny