I went to a private all girl school growing up and I feel like it has made me incredibly aware of how we as women come in many different shapes and sizes.

In saying that, often throughout my life I have felt the pressure to look like the ideal woman portrayed to us by the media and more recently social media.

I remember when I was younger comparing myself to my friends. Thinking to myself “She is skinnier than me” or “Why don’t I fit into her dress?” or “Why do we look so different when we weigh exactly the same?” 

Over time I have made peace with the fact that it is unfair to label or compare yourself with someone else.

The truth is there are so many aspects of our life that affect our body shape and how much nutrition we need on a daily basis. These can be everyday activity, our job, genetics, muscle mass, sickness, pregnancy, age, sex, stress levels…the list goes on!

It is for this reason that whilst we can estimate, it is impossible to exactly know how many calories or kilojoules we should be consuming on a daily basis.

And it is impossible to mimic someone else’s diet and exercise regime, and get exactly the same results.

Now this brings me to comparing dress sizes. This is not a way to measure your worth.

How many of us gone into two completely different department stores in the one day and ended up walking out super confused? It seems these days every piece of clothing is sized differently. You can be a Medium in one skirt and an XL in another within the same store!  The issue here is so many of us experience an array of negative emotions in response to what the tag says. Instead of how you feel within yourself.

All of our shapes are so different. Some of us might be athletic build whilst others are hourglass, pear, apple or straight up and down.

Instead of getting down on yourself about what the tag says get your Google on! Find out what types of clothing work best on your individual shape and don’t worry about what size they are.

My advice is stop comparing yourself to everyone else. Learn to dress in a way that complements your shape, exercise in a way that your body responds positively and eat food in accordance to your bodies internal signals and cues.

You can keep trying to be someone else forever. Or you can learn to work with what you have. If you are confident and love the skin you are in it shows.

Love what you have and work it!