Big hips and curvy bits...

As a lot of people did...I ate far too much food over the festive season and come the New Year I got caught up in the "should I lose some weight" mentality.  I think it has perhaps become a tradition for the New Year for all of us to jump into a diet...I lasted one week exactly, although I did lose 3lbs.  If you did make that decision and have stuck to it - well done!

Over the past couple of years I have slowly put on some weight, whether it was down to eating too much cake, sitting in front of a computer for too long or the good ole peri menopause or perhaps a combination of all three who knows but I am now sporting a UK size 16 figure.  This is the largest size I have ever been but how do I feel about it?

I think I have been on the roller coaster of emotions.  I don't think I will ever be a size 10 again, I just couldn't and wouldn't want to commit to the eating (or lack of) or exercise routine that would be required. In fact I personally wouldn't want to be a size 10.  I would perhaps like to be back to a size 14 but do I want to do the work to get there?  My immediate reaction is .. um no.

I don't live on a takeaway diet, I don't eat ready meals, I do cook nearly everything from scratch and use lots of organic vegetables and fruit and don't eat meat every day.  I don't eat loads of fatty foods, in fact I don't even like chips, I don't cook with lard, lots of butter or fry everything. I do bake cakes but not every day.

A couple of months ago we were in a restaurant and the waitress was wearing a very figure hugging dress and she was probably a size 18 to 20 and boy did she totally rock those curves (the boys couldn't take their eyes off her) she looked absolutely gorgeous, but...would I have the confidence to wear such an outfit?  I am not so sure, I tend to veer towards a hippy/gypsy/boho kind of fashion anyway which is more about layers and floaty rather than figure hugging anyway.

I asked myself some questions:

Do I want to be skinny - NO
Do I want to be healthy - YES
Do I care what size the label on my dress says - NO
Do I want to feel good - YES
Do I want to look good - YES
Do I want to live on salad and count the calories - NO
Do I want to eat scrummy healthy food AND have treats - YES

All of these questions have led me to the conclusion that I don't want to diet, I just need to continue to eat the healthy balanced meals that I do but maybe cut out some of the treats.

I think it is all down to feeling comfortable and confident about your body size and shape, as long as you eat plenty of healthy food and feel good then who cares what size you are?

I also thought that being slightly bigger than I was used to, I had to hide it all and have been wearing tent like dresses and tops which in fact probably aren't as flattering as something fitted, I perhaps need a new mind set for outfits as well.

Will you see me in a bodycon dress anytime soon?  Who knows...but what I do know is that I need to stop worrying about it all, to embrace my figure as it is and to enjoy the cooking and food as I have done.

Life is for living and I certainly don't want to be calorie counting every bite that I put into my mouth that's for sure, I do need to make sure I am eating healthy and I just have to accept the new me...