body image

How travelling taught me the singular pleasure of a two-piece.

‘Fit For TV: The Reality of The Biggest Loser’ pulls back the curtain on one of television’s most extreme experiments.

I say this with reluctance because I don't want to sound too much like a Cathy comic strip, but bathing suit season can be difficult. All of the careful staging and camouflaging you can do with clothes — a belt here, a slip there, a high-waisted hot short never — is undone the second you strip down to a bikini. The love handles, meaty thighs, stretch marks and cellulite are all on display for the world to see. If you have any body insecurities, this is the pretty much the worst nightmare. After all, during sex, you can always dim the lights — not a possibility while you're ankle-deep in lapping waves or splayed out on a dock.

The YouTube fitness star talks to James Fell about her experience growing up as a thin woman and shares the most shocking comments she's heard from strangers.

After years of chasing the idea that weighing less would solve everything, I no longer see a smaller body as better, and a fatter body as worse.