I’m what the world calls Full Figured. I’m not extremely obese, and I don’t have any health issues. I’m about a size 16/18. Basically I’m comparable to the girls you would see in the “plus size” catalogs, but some people (my grandmother especially) wish I would lose some weight.

Here’s the thing though, I like my body. Sure, I’d like to lose some weight and maybe get in a little better shape, but I’ve got no desire to be “skinny”. I’m not anti-skinny people or anything that extreme; I just don’t want to be that.

I’ve always been able to feel pretty. I put on a dress and some cute shoes, and I feel just about hot. I love my large breasts, something I would inevitably lose if I got too small. I love that when I’m fooling around with my boyfriend there is an ass there for him to grab on to.

When I look at pictures of plus size lingerie models, and I see one with long wavy dark hair, I find myself going, “she kinda looks like me”. What?! I know I’m not a model, but there are plenty of times when I feel just as pretty as one!

It took a while for me to get here. When you have family members telling you that you’d be a knockout if you lost some weight, or guy friends saying that if you ever got to a size 6 they’d want to date you, it messes with your head. When I was in high school, I went through a phase where I thought I’d never be desirable unless I got skinny.

Then I started dating my first boyfriend. He was hot. Now, I’m not saying you should date people based on appearance, but when I was in high school and this guy picked me out of the tons (literally) of girls that were chasing him? This did amazing things for my confidence in my appearance.

Then I dated good looking guys from there on out. I know that “good-looking” is subjective to the person doing the looking, but I never felt the need to settle. I’m so glad that I’ve had enough confidence in myself to go after what I wanted.

I have a pretty good relationship with my body. I’m on my own heavy side right now, a comfortable relationship can do that to you. Even now, though, what I consider to be my “ideal size” (because numbers on the scale are so subjective) is only about 2 sizes smaller (12/14). Every now and then I will decide it’s time to tighten back up and get things back where they should be (right now for example), but I don’t hate myself or my body. I don’t have illusions about my weight or appearance, but I’m still satisfied with me.

At the end of the day, though? I think that this kind of self-acceptance comes from simply being happy with who you are. I know girls smaller than me who simply cannot be happy at a bigger size because they just aren’t happy with themselves, period. I think once anyone does a little self-evaluation and comes to terms with who they are and what they want out of life, being happy with your personal best will naturally follow.