A Curvy Cupcake: body confidence

Showing posts with label body confidence. Show all posts

Saturday, 30 May 2015

A Plus Size Promise

Back in April I uploaded a video making a pledge of self confidence for summer and invited all you fellow plus size beauties to join me in making promises to ourselves.

I'm delighted and flattered that the gorgeous Debz from Wannabe Princess took inspiration from this and did what she does so amazingly well; She encouraged the plus size blogging community to come together and make 5 promises to live by this summer.

I jumped on the chance to expand on my video, so here are my five Summer Promises:

1) I will dress for the weather and for my mood and will make no apologies. I will don my ice cream dress without fear of being the fatty covered in ice cream. I will free my arms from their long sleeved prison and let my bingo wings flap in the breeze with nary a care for what people think.

2) I will eat in public. Everybody eats. It's natural. I'm human. I will not be shamed. If I want to picnic with my kiddies then I shall. I live by the sea! Frozen treats will be consumed on the beach and they will be enjoyed and not guilt-ridden.

3) I will attempt to get a tan on my legs. And even if I don't I will enjoy not spending my entire summer in leggings. My calves have been hidden for too many years. They need to see daylight!

4) This is the biggie. I will allow myself bad days. I'm not a robot. We all feel crappy sometimes. But most importantly I will pick myself up from those bad days, dust myself off and carry on. I will not let negative days turn to weeks. I will not allow hateful comments to consume me or reverse all the work I've done to achieve body acceptance.

5) I will be me. 100% unashamed.

What will your summer promises be?

Please take a look at all these beautiful and inspirational ladies making their own summer promises:

Debz - www.wannabeprincess.co.uk
Hayley - Curvesncurlsuk.blogspot.co.uk
Toni - Www.theleftofperfect.blogspot.co.uk
Vicky - http://therandomnessoftwee.blogspot.co.uk/
Kitty - http://kittyramblesalot.blogspot.co.uk
Kitty Kaos - www.Adventuresofariotgrrrl.com
Vicky - http://www.thecurvedopinion.com
Kathryn - www.misskathrynsmisstakes.co.uk
Sarah - www.plussizeproud.co.uk
Becky - Bixxboxxbitsbox.wordpress.com
Kerry-Ann - http://voluptuouschatterbox.blogspot.co.uk/
Daisy - https://iwillnotwrapmyselfinsmocksandapologies.wordpress.com/
Leah - www.justmeleah.co.uk
Charli - http://curvygirlthin.blogspot.co.uk
Tanya - http://secretplussizegoddess.blogspot.com
Filipa - http://uniquelyfilipa.blogspot.pt
Kathryn - www.murderofgoths.co.uk

Tuesday, 29 July 2014

The Real Rules of Plus Size Fashion

I've seen so many pictures and articles about how to survive summer as a fatty.

Don't wear these colours/shapes/patterns, dress in a tent, cover up this way or that way.

Who makes these rules?

It's so backward to me to give guidelines to anyone on how to dress.

So those pictures and articles are going to be shunned from my memory banks and replaced with my very own shoddily-put-together-in-paint-2-minutes-ago "rules"

I'm going to wear stripes.

I'm going to wear bright colours.

And bold patterns.

AT THE SAME TIME.

I'm going to get my arms out.

Get my legs out.

Cover up my cleavage if I want to.

(No I won't look frumpy, I'll look like me with my boobs covered.)

I'm going to be ME and I'm going to enjoy it.

And to those who judge, vocally or otherwise, to you I say HA!

I like being me. I'm the best person for the job and I'm awesome at it.

Thursday, 10 July 2014

I AM #UNASHAMED

This afternoon my attention was brought to an article on the Daily Fail website. It was written by Linda Kelsey who doesn't like happy fat people.

Why SHOULD we be?

Seemingly with the intention of filling a gap left by Katie Hopkins since everyone got bored of talking about her, Kelsey, a self-confessed fattist, writes about 3 young ladies who appear to be in their early twenties and are happy and excited to be going on their holidays. They were going to a hot country so they wore shorts. They were also (according to Kelsey) "a size 18 at least" and not concerned or ashamed for being fat or wearing appropriate holiday clothing - Something Kelsey finds outrageous.

Why is this kind of body-shaming still acceptable?

And what sort of message is this sending out to young girls (and boys)? That if you don't fit Linda Kelsey's ideal for the perfect body then you should hide away in a box of self-loathing and shame until such a time that she deems you "acceptable" by her standards?

Sod that.

Fat, thin, gay, straight, black, white, male, female, Christian, Muslim, tattooed, pierced... These are the things that define you. Never let anyone tell you that you should be ashamed to be yourself.

I am Katt.

I am fat.

I am happy.

And I am unashamed.

Be who you are. Be whoever you want to be.

Don't let the bitches get you down.

Tuesday, 17 June 2014

Yours Clothing, Bluewater

Have you ever had one of those experiences that leaves you beaming with confidence and feeling better than ever?

When visiting the new Yours Clothing store at Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent last month, that's exactly what happened to me.

Yours has such a wide range that this shop is bursting at the seams with a variety of basic and on-trend styles, colours and patterns. The sheer amount of clothing can be a little hard to navigate when you first walk in. I didn't quite know where to start, but once I found my rhythm there was no stopping me as I scurried from rack to rack picking up all manner of things to try on.

The gorgeous Abi (staff member and fantastic blogger over at aisforabi) treated me to the Worlds Biggest Changing Room. Plenty of room for groups, wheelchair users, mums with buggies or a cat swinging convention. Or, as was the case for me, enough space to go crazy trying on too many clothes.

But the size of the changing room isn't what impressed me the most. The greatest thing about my trip to Yours Clothing that day was the people. I've already mentioned the fabulous Abi (expect a blogger meet up in the future, I need to hang out with that girl!) but the experience doesn't even stop with staff. No, it was everyone. The staff made customers happy and in turn the happiness bounced off every single shopper in the changing room.

I felt so good I even put on a maxi dress!
Sadly it didnt fit my 5ft 3in, big boobied frame.

I've never experienced such community in a fitting room before. Everybody was chatting, comparing sizes, giving opinions and tips and swapping clothes. I tried on things I wouldn't normally dare to because I felt secure in knowing that there would be no fat-shaming or body snarking. Everybody was just themselves. (Or a happier version thereof.) I was stripped to my bra and leggings and comfortable enough to let the other women in the adjacent rooms wander in and see how I was getting on. With the exception of my husband and children, it's the most naked I've been in front of anyone for years!

I don't know what happened to this picture- it's so fuzzy-
but I neeeed this blazer.

Thanks to the amazing people at Yours Clothing, Bluewater, I tried some new things, met some great people and had the best shopping experience possibly ever. Excellent! Bring on the new Ashford and Maidstone stores!

Thursday, 12 June 2014

Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred/World Cup Challenge

I've put my body through a lot in the past 3+ years: two pregnancies, three kids, surgery, sleep deprivation, stress, 3 house moves... It's all taken its toll and I am aware of my body's struggle to remain intact recently. I think I need to change my lifestyle a little bit in an attempt to slow down this gradual falling apart. My joints are stiff, I get out of breath just walking for 20 minutes and I am always tired.

I'm not desperate to lose weight. I've come a long way in learning to accept and love my body just the way it is. And think of all the pretty dresses in my wardrobe that would no longer fit! No, losing weight is not my aim here, however I am keen to try and stave off the pitfalls of being unhealthy. (Unhealthy and fat DO NOT go hand in hand; I just happen to be both.) Any weight loss or gain will be a bi-product of what I am hoping to achieve.

So anyway I'm setting a challenge for myself and for anyone else who wants to join me.

The World Cup Challenge

The World Cup starts today and concludes in 31 days, on July 13th.

For the next 30 days, I would like to do the following:

1: Take daily cod liver oil for my joints.

2: Say no to takeouts and ice cream (this is currently out of hand and I indulge around once a week at the moment).

3: Do a modified 30 Day Shred with the hope that I'll improve my upper body strength (vital with 3 young boys) and my cardio fitness.

4: DRINK MORE WATER.

I am not going to do before and after bodyshots. To me that would be pointless and irrelevant. What is important to me is how I feel on the inside. Whether I feel my health is improving and how much energy I have. Body positivity isn't just about loving every shape and size, but about loving how you FEEL in your body, and that's what I will be focusing on in the next 30 days. (Of course on day 31 I'll probably be naughty and treat myself to a cheeky ice cream while I sit and listen to my husband tell me exactly why we're not watching the World Cup Final again.)

The first step is always the hardest. But today is the day. I'm going to do this. Wish me luck!

Wednesday, 19 March 2014

Plus Size Bloggers You Are Good Enough - #PSBYouAreGoodEnough

Hello beauties!

The wonderful Debz has invited the plus size blogging community to take part in a collaboration to remind us all that each and every one of us is good enough.
It's all too easy to focus on negatives, parts of ourselves we don't like and hide away from the world. What we want to achieve is a little bit of happiness. A bit of positivity shining through. A reminder that you ARE good enough.

Even in bed with no makeup and a spot on my face... I am good enough!

I am learning to love myself more every day. I have, in recent months, grown rather fond of my silhouette. I love that I have big boobs and a smaller waist to give me an almost hourglass figure. I have embraced my hip size as that contributes to the aforementioned figure and also serves a few other purposes. For example I like that my husband has something to hold when he puts his arm around me. I love that my children have a place to sit if they are tired and need a carry. And of course a swift hip bump makes it easy to shut a drawer quickly when rushing around the kitchen with 3 meals on the go.

So... I dedicate this post to my boobs, waist and handy hips. And to all of you. Because you ARE good enough.

What do you love about yourself today?

How about other positive plus size bloggers taking part?
Follow the hashtag #PSBYouAreGoodEnough or take a look at their blogs here: