I sure do love updating my ticker

Mostly only if the number is going down, though. :)

Check it, yo! Janessa's and my trainer is expanding into Highland! Now he'll have sessions there and in Provo! He also offers a 2 week FREE trial to come check out his services. We're all trying to get him more business so he can keep growing! John takes the time to help you figure out what is going to work best for you. He's motivating and funny and kind. He's like Bob Harper without the dark side!

Anyway, there is incentive for us to get new recruits, too! If you are in the Utah Valley/Salt Lake area, then head on over to www.doperformanceandfitness.com RIGHT NOW and register for your free 2 week trial! He has programs to fit almost any budget, I PROMISE! Let him know that Steph and Janessa sent you!

You, Too, May look like a MODEL!!!

Sweet 16: Plus-size model Chloe Marshall reaches Miss England final

By Katie Franklin and agencies

Last Updated: 1:55am GMT 22/03/2008

A 16-year-old girl has defied the super-thin modelling status quo by becoming the first size 16 model to be selected as a finalist for the Miss England competition.

	Chloe Marshall: "It's possible to be beautiful and not a standard sized zero"

Chloe Marshall, from Guildford, beat seven other slimmer girls to the title of Miss Surrey and will now compete in the national finals.

Chloe, a beauty therapy student, said she decided to become a model to give a confidence boost to other "curvy" girls.

"It's really exciting, I'm really, really happy. I'm lost for words, I started to cry and everything. I'm over the moon," she said.

"I wanted to go through to the Miss England finals to break through the stereotype that you have to be tall and skinny.

"I wanted to make a bit of a statement. When I studied the other entrants for the Miss Surrey competition I concluded that pretty as the contestants were, they were equally all uniformly blonde and Barbie doll like.

"I want to show girls out there that it is possible to be beautiful and not a standard sized zero.

"My mum is really happy and proud of me that I am doing something not just for myself but other people as well and my friends are really supportive, they can't stop going on about it."

Miss Marshall, who is 5ft 10in tall and has a 38DD bustline, has been signed by Models Plus model agency.

Stevie Walters, of Models Plus, said Chloe had a "luscious" figure and a bright future ahead of her.

"Chloe is gorgeous-looking and we are sure she will be snapped up by fashion companies who want to project a realistic and achievable image to their customers," she said.

Chloe's success comes as the debate about the use of size zero models in the fashion industry continues.

The debate was sparked last year when a Uruguayan model, Luisel Ramos, 22, died of heart failure after starving herself.

In November, a 21-year-old Brazilian model, Ana Carolina Reston, died from anorexia.

The deaths prompted organisers of Madrid Fashion Week to ban underweight models, while Milan followed suit with a code of conduct to stop anorexic-looking models being used in shows.

The British Fashion Council, however, refused to ban size zero women from taking part in London Fashion Week.

Doctors and women's groups have expressed concern that the use of underweight models encourages anorexia in the industry and sends a dangerous signal to girls.

SOURCE HERE

Granted, I actually would like to get down to size 16 but this is STILL a good example of being bigger (but not huge) but still beautiful and healthy. Healthy matters much more than size. Just, you know, keeping it in Perspective.

Because today I broke down at the pool and bawled in the dressing room. I just happened to catch a glimpse of myself, sideways in a mirror, in a gray shirt and jeans, and I saw, quite LITERALLY, an ELEPHANT.

Like, I looked over and thought, "I'm an ugly ugly ELEPHANT." and started to cry and sob loudly. Even though I had JUST worked out for an hour and was feeling pretty good before. It just HIT me... or, you know, charged at me with mean tusks. I don't know what happened, but it was so clear, I wished I was dead. I hate depression so much.

When Dove Cries

Okay, a few things that I wanted to share. First of all, for awhile, since I have been very sedentary lately, I have been feeling like I am gaining an enormous amount of weight. As I told my psych, I feel like I can actually FEEL my body swelling and puffing like a marshmallow in a microwave. It makes me feel sick and hate myself so much. But since there is no scale down stairs in my parent's house where I am currently sort of quarantined, I just keep GUESSING. "I've probably gained, like, 10 pounds this month." "I definitely am over 300 now" etc.

I have been scared to LOOK at a scale at my doctor's appointments and the one time I DID and it wasn't showing me ballooning, I still felt no better because as it's not MY scale, it's not really a fair comparison, you know?

ANYWAY, the happy news. Yesterday, I was able to go home for a little bit and even downstairs and saw my scale. Taking a deep breath I stepped on it and I have LOST weight! My ticker is actually CORRECT! I gained weight awhile ago and didn't change it to reflect it and I am back to that! Yay!

I AM doing water aerobics again, it has been hard and it HURTS, but I am doing it... BUT it's been awhile, you know? So even though I don't eat much normally anyway, I am surprised to see my weight pointed on the DOWN-side, eh?

ALSO, I think, even though this is just from, well, Dove, it is important. I saw it on HeatherBella and Dirt's Blog and REALLY liked it.


I want to, like, make some Young Women's group watch it. Along with Dove's older one that you've probably already seen. Seriously. Good things to remember with all this weight loss stuff. Healthy is good. Crazy is not.

[edit: Today I clicked to see "This Video is no longer available." SO I went and got another copy. Because dang it all, it's good!]

Thanks Mika! (And Bobbie, too!)

Okay, my friend, Bobbie, was blogging about Beauty and Weight. They are not mutually exclusive after all. There ARE beautiful big people. WE, of all people, should know this! *flips hair seductively* Okay, kidding aside, we know that we can be pretty and still big. And that even at our ideal weights we will not be shaped like models. Because that wouldn't be healthy for us even!

But we also know where that weight is that IS healthy. "Find Your Slim." What company has that as their slogan right now? Is it Weight Watchers? No, they are "be an after" or something. I think it's Slim Fast. Anyway, it's a good one. And we know we aren't there or we wouldn't be HERE. Sometimes when discouragement takes over we get skewed on that level. But most of the time, we know what our REALISTIC goals should be, regardless of what fashion magazines (or even, sometimes, the BMI) tell us.

Anyway, yeah. So this song is a good'n. I totally bought the CD it's on, too... Life in Cartoon Motion.

Anyway, other than listening to Mika (which makes you dance which is good exercise, so Hey! Bonus!), there are a lot of things right now that have me thinking about my health. Mostly, unfortunately, my diabetes. It's bad. I am eating smart, but it's still bad. The thing, besides upping all kinds of meds, that I need to do a LOT more is exercise. Not just for weight loss, either. Even if I don't LOSE weight exercise helps your body accept insulin. Obviously, much easier said than done. But for right right now, for instance, I am off to walk the pups.