An open letter to female celebrities about body image

Kelly from Grounded Fitness is guest posting today. Enjoy!

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Stephanie and I decided to do a joint open letter to female celebrities about how their attitudes towards weight and fitness send both positive and negative messages.  Its seems somehow "thin" and "healthy" got mixed up somewhere, and that exercise is only a means to get skinny.

Stephanie is taking the role of an optomistic body image blogger, and I as a frustrated fitness professional, posting here at Back in Skinny Jeans. To read Stephanie's letter head to my blog, Grounded Fitness.

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Dear female celebrities,

At risk of being called judgemental (me!? psh) I am specifically speaking to female celebrities who thank their genes for their physiques, claim to not work out because they are naturally thin, publically exclaim they are "fat" size 0s, or claim to love their curves, but then pose on the front of magazines after losing copious amounts of weight.

With that said, you, female celebrities, make my job very hard.

As a personal trainer, day in and day out I have to battle client mind sets of The Biggest Loser weight loss results, fad diets and unrealistic expectations of transforming their bodies with very little work.  As a personal trainer, I know what it takes to be slim, but also what it takes to be healthy.  I can tell the difference between someone that is naturally thin and someone that keeps an unnatural regimen to maintain that figure.

Regardless of whether it is natural or not, please don't insult us. We are not stupid.

I'm so sick of celebrities giving a shy smile and flicking their tiny wrist while saying, "Oh, I don't work out. I eat junk food. I'm just naturally thin."

Um, is that something to be proud of?

Working out and eating healthy isn't about being thin. If you ARE naturally thin, it doesn't mean you don't have to work out and you can eat whatever you want.  What about your heart? Your lungs? Your bones? What about preventing diseases like cancer, osteoporosis, and decreasing your risk of heart disease, diabetes and stroke?

Those things don't matter unless you're thin, thin, THIN!

It's ok impressionable 11 year old girl.  I'm a celebrity you admire. You aspire to be like me.  I secretly have a personal trainer, a nutritionist, and a private chef.  Every picture you see of me is air brushed and photoshopped beyond belief.  However, all you get to hear is that I am just naturally this way.  I'm not naturally thin, but I will claim to be so that you envy me.  I will tell you I am naturally thin, and that I do not work out, and since you are NOT naturally as thin as me, you should take drastic measures to be. Take the easy route of starvation and extreme dieting. Its easy for me, so why should you put in the hard work? 
 
Health? What's that?

In your defense, we put just as much pressure on you to be thin as you put on us.  Recently, Cheryl Burke of Dancing With the Stars fame became the butt of many jokes after gaining a few pounds while taking a much deserved vacation.  She's in amazing shape, is an amazing athlete and could probably kick any one of our asses, but we choose to make fun of her for gaining some weight. 

The difference between us and you, however, is you have a platform.  I can blog till I'm blue in the face, but the truth is, Perez Hilton is never going to draw white stuff on my face, and no one is going to hide in my trash can waiting for a glimpse of, and perhaps a sound bite from, me.

The public's judgment of your bodies is unfair. We do it, however, to even the playing field.  We feel we can never measure up to you, so the second we see you looking like a normal person, with a few extra pounds, or no makeup on your way to Starbucks we jump all over it.  It helps us feel better about ourselves. It reminds us that you really don't look like what we see in pictures.

I would kill to be able to get out a message. I would kill to be able to shout from the roof tops for all the world to hear that HEALTH is what's important, not size! But, alas, I get buried under piles of magazines with you all in bikinis showing computer generated abs and too-tiny thighs.

Just be honest. We are all women.  We all know what we look like naked. Why lie? Why not focus on how important your health is?  There's no shame in taking care of your body. I value muscle over thin. Some people are naturally thin, but no one is naturally muscular. It takes work.  I have more respect for someone that admits they bust their ass to look the way they do, than someone that just happens to be graced with it.

Sincerely,

Kelly

Grounded Fitness