Week 9 Photos

I have FINALLY taken some new photos, I am sharing them here! After having both a serious sinus infection AND the stomach virus, I am a few weeks behind, but I have made a comeback!

I have had a wonderful two weeks back in the gym and feel like I am making huge gains, and I fell GREAT!!! I am seeing nice changes popping in and can't wait until the end of this program in 4 weeks to see what else I've been able to do! I am excited at how much stronger I am and how I can feel myself getting better at sports and activities that I am doing. Woo-hoo!

Anyway, enjoy the photos! Week 9 and SO proud of the biceps I'm starting to get and how I'm getting some ab definition starting to come in.

Beautiful Skeletons?

I grow increasingly upset with fashion magazines and advertisements that seem to be telling young girls and women that being emaciated and skeletal is better than actually being healthy. Dropping DEAD from starvation or anorexia or bulemia is BETTER than eating nutritious meals and exercising???? What are we being told here?!

I came across a PERFECT example of this today as I shopped one of my favorite stores online (see and enlarge photo at left). I was literally shocked and disgusted when I saw an advertisement featuring the word "Skinny" and three VERY sickly-looking, emaciated women who appear not to have eaten since the age of 10. Where are the beautiful curves? Where is the healthy glow? Where are the beautiful, toned legs and arms? NOT in this ad. There is nothing attractive or beautiful or desirable about these women's bone-like figures. It looks like someone stretched denim tight across three skeletons. It turns my stomach! When will this madness stop??

Ladies, we do NOT want to look like THIS, do we?!! This doesn't represent what we really look like or even remotely represent a healthy lifestyle or appearance. Actually, this is what less than 98% of us look like. That says it all. These women do NOT represent us.

Kudos to Dove (right), GNC (see their Farenheit ads), and others who are bringing healthier, fit, and fuller-figured models into the mainstream. I see and hope that this is where modelling is heading--people who ARE actually healthy and are not only models, but ROLE models as well.