Remember when Freddos were 10p and you had dial-up internet? Remember rushing home from school to hop on msn and chat to people you were surrounded by all day, tell them BRB when your mum needed to call her pal and impatiently hanging around until she was done?

Remember when 14 year olds looked like 14 year olds and didn’t put my extremely limited knowledge of contouring, shading, baking and setting to shame? It all sounds vaguely like a Mary Berry cookbook but each of these are the necessary steps for a flawless makeup finish (although personally, it’s all a bit too Kim K for me) #frecklesarefriends.

Do you remember that insatiable hunger you felt after you got home from school and devoured an entire pack of Maryland chocolate chip cookies and washed them down with a pint of milk? No? That might have only been my brother and I.

My point is – quite a lot has changed since those days and one thing in particular is: the ability to eat whatever the heck I like without gaining any weight. At 27 (and not that far off 28) I have acquired something many might refer to as ‘a muffin top’. Although I fear it’s moving towards the larger end of the dessert scale: a victoria sponge if you will. This is a result of erratic routines, no gym membership and the fact that I make dynamite roast potatoes.

In a bid to save money and my buried abs, I have started trying to walk everywhere rather than getting the bus. Edinburgh is the perfect walking city after all. I also decided that swimming would be a great way of shedding that extra layer, although my bathing suit is one I purchased in China and as quite a conservative nation, the suit in question has shorts at the bottom. My boyfriend told me I look fine but we both know I look like a short arsed competitive weight lifter who’s never making it to the Olympics.

I’ve said before that my late twenties are a time where I feel most confident in my body and despite a bit of weight gain, I feel the same. My focus on having that elusive perfect bod,  has shifted to other things like investing time in my friends and family, working on my career and looking at how I can expand my mind. I won’t say that I haven’t had days where I feel a bit down but when I do, I’ll take steps to reverse that: go for a walk, skip the chips and have broccoli instead that night, or get a cuddle from the other half and then I’m all set. I’ve got a wee muffin top, cellulite, parts that wobble more than they used to and acne scars on my face.

And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.

We said goodbye to the old technology of dial up internet a long time ago (thank god) and I think that as the beauty, fashion and media industries changes – more women are saying goodbye to the idea that their body is the enemy.

 

 

 

Photo credit: Steven Herd, Royal Botanic Garden – Edinburgh