Just about every time that I go out I hear one of my beautiful, talented, all-together fabulous friends make a comment about needing to lose weight, or wishing they could rid of their gut... and again I repeat these women are BEAUTIFUL!

And you would think that I, as an African American woman would be exempt from fat talk, since for the most part, our culture eschews the current views of "beauty" and embraces a woman's curves...

But I'm guilty of it too

Think about it, even if it's just one time a day, that's one time a day that I could be focusing on a positive attribute instead. Like how smart I am, or how outgoing, or how much more cardio I can do, or how much healthier I am since starting this journey, or any of a million and one good things about myself. And if I keep letting it happen, then all of those moments will add up to 365 moments in the course of a year, and countless moments over the course of my lifetime. If you ask me that's just too many potential wasted moments of my life that I"ll never get back. So I choose to end the fat talk now, I chose to take the following pledge:

"Today I promise to eliminate Fat Talk from conversations with my friends, my family and myself. Starting now, I will strive for a healthy ideal, which I know looks different for every woman, and focuses on health, not weight or size. I will celebrate the things about myself and the women in my life that have nothing to do with how we look. I decide to end Fat Talk NOW!"

This week is Fat Talk Free® Week! Fat Talk Free Week. So go ahead and take the pledge to focus on your health, instead of how well you fit (or don't fit) society's standards of beauty. You can show your support by e-signing the pledge at www.endfattalk.org/theca
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