How Women Can Award Themselves An Oscar, Any Day

The Academy Awards are coming up, and one thing that means is The Red Carpet. Slews of celebrity actors and actresses parading the latest in high fashion, and…well…their kept-up bodies. Especially for the women. It’s rare that a famous actress is overweight, and many are often underweight. It’s part of the package of being seen by millions: You have to look like what society deems phenomenal, and in our society’s case that means thin.

Unfortunately, though, the story behind the screen might be one of obsessive body image maintenance gone haywire into an eating disorder. To be sure, we never really know what people are going through, and some people just naturally, unconsciously, control their weight. But these days that’s rare, especially when plastered images of the ideal people – exemplified in celebrities –  all show that thin is still very much in.

Of course, it’s healthy to maintain a good weight. But even up to 20 lbs. overweight is still within a healthy range. And as we age, our metabolisms slow, and we tend to be more sedentary than we were in high school.  So, we should expect to gain weight over the years. And yet, celebrities or not, one’s weight, especially for women, is a constant focus, only exacerbated when we compare ourselves to what’s presented as the ideal on internationally-televised events such as the Oscars.

So what’s a girl to do? How can women feel confident in themselves no matter what their weight? Thankfully, there are ways. Here are some ideas for feeling great, no matter your weight.

1. Quit the weight wait. We often wait to take on a project, attend an event, or go out on a date because we think we’re not thin enough. But why miss just because we think we’re not at our ideal weight?
2. Act as if. What if we acted like we looked as good as we’d like to look? Fake it ’til you make it, baby.
3. Focus on one aspect you like about your body, and exude that. Your hair, your eyes, your finger nails, your smile – they are never overweight.  Pick one thing you like and emanate the positivity outward.
4. Get regular massages. Your massage practitioner, a professional, cares not what you weigh. She is there to help you, and having someone work your body will only help you feel better inside it.
5. If it will help you feel better about yourself, consider body sculpting. There’s no shame in getting a bit of an adjustment to our bodies, especially in cases where weight loss can only go so far.
6. Model Maya Angelou’s attitude. If you were ever fortunate enough to hear Maya Angelou speak (she passed away in May, 2014), she may have shown you her own red-carpet-type walk, reciting the following poem:

   Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
   I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size
   But when I start to tell them,
   They think I’m telling lies.
   I say,
   It’s in the reach of my arms
   The span of my hips,
   The stride of my step,
   The curl of my lips.
   I’m a woman
   Phenomenally.
   Phenomenal woman,
   That’s me.

When we see the Academy Awards attendees, thin or not, on the red carpet or up on stage, let us not compare. Let’s be happy for them and their achievements, and celebrate our own, as well. If we want to get thin, we can, and in the meantime, we have only positivity to show off. You can choose to nominate yourself for you own type of Oscar at any time!