So what if we have 'love handles'?

TRUTH be told, we want to be desired, loved, and wanted. Often, when self-doubt creeps up on us, we tend to think that we can never be as desirable as the women on magazine covers.

Beauty is appreciated, expressed, and experienced in many ways. What is beauty to you?

From my point of view, the search for the essence of beauty is one self-explorative journey that we will all go through. On the subconscious level, we grow up trying to shape ourselves and live up to the image perceived as favourable.

At the end of the day, beauty is not always consistent with what the mainstream media or multibillion dollar beauty and fashion industry portray.

While physical attractiveness is about how one looks, beauty is who the person is as a whole.

I am full-figured. I spent years as a teenager to discover and build up my body confidence. If you knew me back when I was in high school, I felt awkward most of the time and didn’t think that I am beautiful.

Fast forward many years later, come to think of it, I noticed a few major changes in how I perceive beauty. For one, personality outshines physical attractiveness any day.

Secondly, beauty does not tie to the numbers. Not your age, nor your weight. Beauty is the glow that radiates from an individual who is healthy, both in the mind and body.

That however, does not mean that we should just let the number on the weighing scale goes overboard by eating all we want without a care in the world. Beauty is attainable when we look after our bodies by treating ourselves to a healthy lifestyle.

I started to really look into shaping a healthier lifestyle about a year ago. I took up running as a routine outdoor activity and made a conscious choice to have a more well balanced diet. I knew early on that in order to make healthy living into a lifelong routine, I should take it easy and not rush into launching an ‘intense diet plan’ that will likely last for just over a course of several weeks.

In effect, as the months go by, my mind and body become more inclined towards healthier food options. My craving for fast food, “mamak”, carbonated and sugary drinks have decreased tremendously over the past year.

Not to say that I do not have my fair share of ‘love handles’ but I have never felt better. Because, what matters the most is to feel good about ourselves, isn’t it?