Empowerment

I spent a sizable part of my life obsessed with the notion that something was horribly wrong with my body. Specifically, that it was too big, and I needed to be smaller. Leaner. Skinny. It felt like that message was...

I’m a personal trainer who used to be “morbidly obese.” In 2014, I got hundreds of emails and comments in response to a piece I wrote called 5 Things I Miss About Weighing Over 300 Pounds. Pictured: the author, before...

To those who need it, In the wake of the Stanford rape case, a lot of difficult feelings have arisen for me. Whenever this topic surfaces in a powerful way, it unearths my own trauma in a fresh way. I...

“Genuine self-esteem—please understand this—genuine self-esteem is not competitive or comparative. Genuine self-esteem isn’t expressed by self-glorification at the expense of others, or by trying to make yourself superior to everyone else, or diminishing others in order to elevate yourself. Arrogance,...

When I was obese, I encountered my share of body shaming. I was oinked at. My food choices were scoffed at. I was presumed to be lazy... among many other things. Some people even defended their hurtful words by saying...

It’s been about seven years since I was super lean. Shredded. Twelve percent body fat and completely obsessed with counting calories and tracking macros. During my “lean phase” I ate 1,500 calories every single day, trained for two or more...

By society’s standards, it seems there’s very little a woman can ever get “right.” As women, we’re supposed to be a perfect combination of features… many of which require possessing a certain set of genetic attributes. Though this arbitrary list...

  Some women wish they had bruises, if, for nothing else than to let others know they are hurting. Others have mastered the art of disguising their bruises. Either way, everyone wishes the abuse would stop. Domestic violence, also known...

I’ve spent most of my life obsessed with my size. For a long time, I wanted to get rid of all of it. It felt disgusting and wrong to be big. It felt like I was failing at being beautiful....