I have been a licensed Zumba instructor for a little more than a year now, and I love it. A couple of years ago, I lost 60 pounds, gained back 15, have since lost another 16 or so, and am working on the final 14. If you read my profile, I show a distinct desire not to be too small. I have a fairly large frame and it is a preference of mine. I also, incidentally, have a 12 inch difference between my waist and hips---which I have read, is considered pretty good---my waist being the smaller of the two numbers. That said, I have been feeling pretty good about myself the last year or so. My husband has been exceedingly appreciative of all my efforts, and shows it in a number of ways. What was funny was that yesterday, prior to my teaching my class, I took about 45 minutes of step aerobics from another instructor. I was coming down from that when a student of mine came in, and I told her the reason for my already flushed look. She said, pinching my arm, "Look at you with your plump self: doing step and Zumba!" Well, I didn't know if that was a complement or a put-down and didn't over analyze it. She is about 110 pounds soaking wet and an older women who I enjoy having in my class---and I still do. I guess why I am blogging about this is because of a few reasons:

1) We need to be careful about what comes out of our mouths. She never knew me at my largest (278 pounds when I delivered Jr.) nor before I started my most recent weight loss journey. She doesn't know my story and how much guts it took for me to teach Zumba not being the "ideal" size. I really don't think she meant any harm in her statements, though.

2) We need to know what we want and why we want it. I like me at a size 10. I have no desire to be molded into the media image of beautiful. It takes strength and confidence to go against the grain.

3) Being healthy is what's most important. I have been taken off of blood pressure meds, my cholesterol is only slightly above 200 because I have more of the good stuff. I workout about five times a week. I ran into an old high school classmate and at the end of our conversation he said, "Why are you the only one who looks the same way they did when we graduated". (He didn't see me at my biggest either---just high school and 30 years later, for the most part.)

3) Beauty and sexiness are subjective but, first, have to come from within. There are so many things that make a person attractive and so many varieties of beauty. And although as humans we have natural preferences, we should still take the time to appreciate beauty that differs from our natural inclination.

Thanks for listening!