Warning: This post is not meant to offend or put down any fitness/health blogger or any of their many followers. In fact, I follow, look up to and respect quite a few myself. This is merely a different point of view and popular or unpopular as it may be, it's out there.
The motivation behind my tagline "Island Fit Femme" hinges from my identity, my roots and my journey as a female trying to stay physically healthy and active. Everywhere you turn online, you find another "fitspiration" post or blog. There goes another amazingly ripped, ten-pack-abbed woman with implausibly large pecs/breasts (okay, maybe the word isn't so much implausible as it is unattainable) and an even less plausible tan/glow/grease-down. If I've seen them, I'm sure that many others have as well.
Social media has been flooded with fitness bloggers with frighteningly chiseled frames, and I'm always confused as to whether it's supposed to serve as a motivation to the general public to get in shape or shaming those with weight issues or efforts of pushing body image issue onto the masses yet again. Not that it isn't effective; like many others, I struggle to keep fit, squeeze in the physical activity and hold onto shreds of discipline when it comes to my diet. I come from a family of heavy people and was born into a nation where the standard Sunday meal includes at least three sets of complex carbohydrates. Needless to say, the struggle is real.
Living abroad, I have worked pretty hard to maintain my size (note: I said size, not weight) as many of my family members have eagerly awaited the day when my "heavy genes" kicked in. There have been threats of my heavy genes manifesting themselves - the dress size increase, the moment when the pants no longer fit. This is despite the online fitness challenges I've tried; the "Eat Clean, Train Mean" mantras; the magazine articles about "How To Look [insert adjective conjuring self-shaming here] in 6 weeks!"; and the endless entries about this and that workout. Hell, I've even stopped looking at a weighing scale without a body fat analyser simply because the scale never truly reflects what my dress size should be.
I know that I'm heavier than I actually look. Never had a six-pack in my life, never intend to. And it's a good thing. To me, it's a good thing because Island Fit Femme to me is neither too hard nor too soft. I don't look to chisel myself into a statue or turn into a marshmallow. To me, Island Fit Femme is getting and staying just firm enough.