Operation B-e-a-utiful.

Today as I was getting ready to workout, I was reading Mary's blog. I loved it so much because it reminded me of one of the reason I knew I HAD to lose weight. Last year at my job I was with a group of girls. We were getting ready for swimming. I was standing waiting for the rest of the girls to get ready, while I talked to a smaller group of girls who was already done and ready to hit the pool. One of the girls literally looked at me and asked "Are you pregnant?"... I was so embarressed. I tried to make it into a joke by saying something else and it just made all of the girls laugh. That moment has stuck with me in the back of my head ever since.

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago, I was outside with two girls playing a game of mancala. One of the girls started talking about her weight and grabbed the excess skin on her stomach and said the she was fat. This girl is 12 years old and is no where near fat. I looked at her and told both of them that they are beautiful the way they are and I grabbed the excess skin around my stomach and said that I was working on getting rid of it. They both told me that I was skinny and beautiful and that I didn't need to lose weight. I was wearing sunglasses, thank God because I teared up a bit. That only happened about a month ago, but that has stuck in the back of my head also.

I believe today girls need good role models to tell them that they don't need to be a size 0 to be pretty. They need role models to tell them to play sports, to try new things, be adventurous, dress appropriately for their age and to just enjoy their childhood. Too many time they are calling each other Fat and talking behind each others backs. When I go to work, I try to be the best role model possible for these girls because some of them don't have one at home.  I try to encourage them to step out of their comfort zone and try new things, to play with the boys and to just try and make them enjoy this stage of their lives. You only get one childhood, make the most of if.

Now, back to Mary's blog. Operation beautiful. You take a post-it and write something positive about yourself and take a picture and post it on your blog. As I was on the elliptical this morning, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to write on it. Something that people would look at and be like, that's an awesome post-it. Here it is...

STRONG is the new Beautiful. Do you agree?