Lose weight...

This lovely item has been on my list, I think, since birth. I've certainly "done" it more than once but it's never completely crossed off my list. Once, about 15 years ago at the 30 year mark, I went on a liquid diet (like Oprah) and drank nothing but milkshakes for 10 months and lost 140 pounds. I was a size 6 for literally about a minute and in time...I filled my shape back out to what it had always been. It was nice to be and see what I would look like as a size 6, but honestly, it was probably one of the worst things I ever could have done...for my body and my psyche. It totally screwed with the little bit of metabolism I might have ever had hope for and it probably did even worse things for my mind as I watched the pounds coming back on, feeling like a total failure.

I have to say though that in the years since that time, I find that although I still and probably always will battle with weight, I am happy with me now. I know this is me and that the shape of my body does not define who I am, what I can do or where I will go in life. I realize that being size 5 doesn't mean your world is perfect and that actually being size 22 sometimes is actually better. You have to work harder and actually prove yourself to triumph above all of the snobs out there that want to judge people on how they look, forgetting that there is WAY more in a person and what they have to offer. This makes you a stronger person in a lot of ways.

I am confident now and I like me. It's nice if other people do, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. I am the best I can be and I'll keep trying to do better...at everything in my life...it's just that I won't let me weight be what defines me.

If I can teach that to my 5 year old daughter and make sure that she knows how important she is, I'll have accomplished the most important thing I have to do. I fought feeling insecure, shy and introverted most of my life. My daughter is a social butterfly and has one of the best examples of self-confidence I have ever seen. I couldn't be more thrilled and I am so proud of her. I've no doubt she'll go far...she's 40 years ahead of me!

I'm way over being a size 6...for now, I'd thrill to wear a size 16...I'd even be glad to wear the tag so everyone would know. Like I just read in PEOPLE, "I look fabulous," Jennifer Hudson declares, "if I do say so myself." Ugly Betty's American Ferrera in her emotional speech after winning the Golden Globe said, "I hear from young girls on a daily basis how [my character] makes them feel worthy and lovable and that they have more to offer the world than they thought." As PEOPLE writes, "Will the success of Ferrera, 22, and Hudson, 25, [both Golden Globe winners] help redefine the face-and body- of Hollywood stardom?" One can only hope!!! And I'll end with this quote from Ferrera's costar, Vanessa Williams: "we're showing that a leading lady can be curvy, beautiful and funny. Curvy women are kicking ass!"
AMEN, sister!!