I remember probably from the 80s a Weight Watchers commercial starring Lynn Redgrave. She wore this frumpy muumuu and talked about her dieting success, then at the end of the commercial she declared “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels!” as she whipped off the muumuu and showed off her newly trim body. As far as marketing campaigns went, this was a good one considering I still remember it twenty years later. Lots of women responded to the slogan and spat out mouthfulls of chocolate, cookies, cake and donuts in the quest for what skinny feels like.

As someone who has never as an adult been anything close to resembling “skinny” I have never been able to identify with this slogan. Certainly, I have been thin and maybe when I was 10 I could have been considered skinny. However, my body type and genetics provided me with curves long before my straight framed peers had them, leading me to believe I was never thin enough. Anyway, looking back on my life, I have come to realize that I quite often was in a state of “not fat” meaning I was attractive, healthy and happy. Maybe I could have lost 5 pounds or so to drop a dress size, but at some of my happiest moments in life, I was healthy and looked good.

So, I plan to take this well worn slogan and adapt it to mean something for me: nothing tastes as good as healthy feels.

I know what healthy feels like. I know that when my body feels healthy it does not fit onto the BMI charts that were put together in the late 60s. I will never be considered skinny, and if you find me in a state of being skinny get me to a doctor quick because it’s not a healthy weight for me. I can be trim, healthy, comfortable, fit. Never skinny. I have also come to realize that trying to live up to someone else’s expectation of what skinny looks like will never work for me! Skinny to me means narrow frame, flat chest, no butt, no curves. Unless I plan to lop off a couple pieces, that will never happen to my body.

So, friends go forth and remember that nothing tastes as good as healthy feels. Be healthy, eat right, exercise. Do not deprive yourself for something unattainable.

Unless you are one of those skinny bitches who populate the pages of fashion magazines. Then can you just eat a couple cheeseburgers after midnight please? You are giving the rest of us a complex.