5 Women on Overcoming Self-Hate and Learning to Love Their Bodies | Iris

Five women get real about body image issues.

Transcript
I am ugly.
I'm too fat.
I'm not good enough.
I'm not pretty enough.
Closed off, like wallowing in my self-pity.
I was in a mind frame of just kinda letting myself go.
I remember calling myself a lot of hurtful things.
I felt like I didn't matter.
Oh, I'm getting emotional, sorry. (laughs)
When my best friend was getting married,
she asked me to be her maid of honor.
Just a few weeks before her wedding,
I was pounds, and I hated the way I looked in a dress.
I wasn't confident enough to do it.
And that was probably one of the most selfish things
that I've ever done.
So I met this guy on a dating app,
and we made plans to go out.
And then when the day was getting closer, I canceled.
I said to him that my allergies were acting up,
but I meant I don't feel confident enough
to meet somebody new.
Living in California, I live like half a mile away
from the ocean, and friends would always invite me
to go to the beach.
And so I'd always would make an excuse,
because I didn't feel comfortable in my own skin
to wear a bathing suit at the beach.
I wore my brother's bathing suit,
which were long shorts, to hide my thighs.
At my heaviest, there were times were I couldn't fit
in the seats of a rollercoaster.
I would just say to my friends,
oh, I'm busy that weekend, I can't go,
knowing full well I would have loved to have gone
if I didn't think that the embarrassment
would destroy me in that moment.
Everybody feels insecure, and if we share those things
with each other, we realize that we're not alone,
and it's not about size,
it's about feeling good in your own skin.
I like that I have a unique shape,
'cause people are always like,
oh, but you're short and curvy.
And I used to fight it, but now I'm like,
okay, I like my curves, like, it's different.
So I started at pounds and ended at .
And I realized it's not about the number on a scale,
but it's me being committed to a healthy lifestyle.
So I was a size , but now I'm a size .
But I don't focus on those, but now, with my body,
I feel like I'm growing into being
a better version of myself.
I think what I love about my body
is its capability to transform,
because I've probably lost about pounds already.
I'm still very much in the middle of my weight loss journey,
and I feel like I'm currently setting the groundwork
to getting where I wanna go.
[Karen] When I think back to my younger self,
I would definitely tell her--
[Meg] Not to make excuses.
[Sharron] Wear whatever the heck you want.
[Gabby] To be proud of who you are.
[Esther] You are beautiful.
The next time I'm asked to be someone's maid of honor,
I will say yes.
The next time I'm asked to go to the beach,
I will say yes.
The next time that I'm asked to go on an adventure,
I'm gonna say hell yeah.
[Gabby] The next time I'm asked on a date, I will say yes.
The next time I'm asked to surf,
I'll show up in a beautiful bikini and not feel embarrassed.
[Sharron] Girl, you got this.

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5 Women on Overcoming Self-Hate and Learning to Love Their Bodies | Iris