This has definitely been the Year of the Plus Size Athlete.
From the growing plus size yoga community on Instagram sharing images of their poses to plus size runners proudly entering marathons, hearing these stories and seeing the images are both inspiring and empowering. A plus size model graced the cover of Women’s Running Magazine this year and Olympian Amanda Bingson graced the cover of ESPN, nude.
There’s now DVDs and books specifically for plus size women who want to get active as well as support groups and resources. We’re seeing more plus size women riding bikes, dancing professionally, swimming… there’s even plus size ballet dancers out there!
What’s even more amazing is the size diversity of the athletes, especially the women who are not a size 12/14. Seeing women who are above a size 18 being active defies the myth that fat women are not active. These women are certainly not sitting on the couch with a half gallon of ice cream in hand. They’re out there living life, conquering fear and showing that anything is possible, if you try.
Here’s some empowering words of wisdom from 7 plus size athletes you should know – Get ready to be inspired!
[tps_title]#1: Amanda Bingson, Olympic hammer thrower[/tps_title]
“When you think of an athlete, you think of someone who is strong, independent and confident. I think people need confidence to be an athlete, so find something that suits you and if there isn’t something that fits you per se, MAKE SOMETHING. You had people who could do lots of power cleans and then climb a rope, now you’ve got Cross Fit. If you like something and you’re good at it, there’s probably a whole group of people interested in the same thing, you’re not the only one. Being an athlete is seeing what you want and doing it. Be confident.” [source]
You can follow Amanda on Instagram here.
[tps_title]#2: Ragen Chastain, Blogger of Dances With Fat, Activist, Speaker and Plus Size Athlete[/tps_title]
“In this culture, no matter what your size, not hating your body is absolutely an act of revolution. There are lots of ways to do this depending on where you are on your personal journey. Choosing not to engage in negative body talk or body snarking of any kind is a really good place to start. Choosing to say positive things about other people’s bodies and your own body. When you overhear others engaging in negative body talk, you can interject positive talk, or say something like ‘I wish we lived in a world where we can see beauty in every body’.” [source]
You can check out Ragen’s blog Dances with Fat here.
[tps_title]#3: Louise Green, Founder and CEO of Body Exchange Lifestyles INC and the Producer of Platform for Plus Size[/tps_title]
“Focus on leveraging the power within and appreciate your body for all it can do. Try to move away from the vigorous drive to change your external appearance in effort to match a cultural ideal that simply may not work for your body type. The shift in mindset is life changing and you’ll never feel more happy, healthy and free.” [source]
You can check out Louise’s Body Exchange website here.
“You must do everything that is important to you WITH THY MIGHT, especially those things that are particularly difficult. Running is hard. Sometimes getting up at the crack of dawn (although mostly this is when my body prefers to be up) is hard. Teaching and constantly engaging with curious and sometimes snarky teenagers is hard. Being a mom is HARD. Being a musician is hard. Long days with little sleep is hard. LIFE IS HARD. But even though it is hard, we must put our everything into those things that keep us going. But we must also put our everything into ourselves.” [source]
You can check out the Fat Girl Running blog here.
[tps_title]#5: Leah Gilbert, Australian-based plus-size endurance athlete, fitness instructor and founder of Body Positive Athletes[/tps_title]
“I think there comes a time when you need to make peace with yourself before you progress and realise your true power, both physically and mentally.
The work that your body does for you day in, day out to keep you alive let alone allow you to perform in a sport is something that should be always appreciated and never suffer the disrespect of ‘comparison’.” [source]
Click here to visit the Body Positive Athletes website/blog.
[tps_title]#6: Krista Henderson, Canadian-based founder of Born to Reign Athletics, and an award-winning, multi-sport athlete[/tps_title]
“That appreciation of what I accomplished and not needing instant gratification in shorter time periods like 1 year, was a game changer for me. Now I look at my life in 5-year chunks, and that also allows me to be more present and flexible. And sometimes, bigger goals just need more time. It’s up to you to decide what’s worth it. But I do believe that the bigger goal, the more support you need. And I cannot stress how important it is to get some help, when all of this is new to you.” [source]
You can visit Born to Reign Athletics here.
[tps_title]#7: Julie Creffield, founder of the Too Fat to Run, U.K.-based plus-sized athlete, author, entrepreneur and running coach[/tps_title]
“But why are we so put off from standing out and being different through the disproportionate fear of possibly being laughed at? Imagine what the world would look like if every women who was scared all of a sudden stopped, and led the life she wanted to instead, just think what the dynamic would be in the workplace if women stood up, instead of sitting back?” [source]
You can check out Too Fat to Run / The Fat Girl’s Guide to Running here.
It’s like Julie said…imagine what we could do once we let go of fear and lead the lives we want? We hope this inspires you to get out there and live fully doing whatever makes you happy with yourself and your body.
What do you think of these plus size athletes? Leave us a comment below and let us know.