I never wear tank-tops. Ok, in a hot yoga class, where it’s 104 degrees, I’ll wear a tank top out of dire necessity.  But I’ve always hid my upper arms. I named them my “Tharms” because I think they are like thighs, they’re so disproportionately large.  We all have “trouble zones” right? Saddles bags, pot-belly-pooches, cankles, gobblers, man-boobs, back fat, muffin tops, tharms…the list goes on.

I always wanted ‘ballerina’ arms.  There is something so elegant in a thin, almost frail upper arm. So feminine.  I remember watching my beautifully lean friends slip on anything and look fabulous. I longed to dress in clothes that were stylish and glamorous; clothes selected because they were classic, edgy, or cool, not because the outfit didn’t make me look fat.  How nice it must be to buy whatever clothes you like; not those good at covering the trouble zones.

I took Ballet for 13 years, but still no Ballerina Arms. I even studied one summer at the North Carolina School of the Arts.  There, I quickly learned most of the girls vying for a future in ballet did not hit the cafeteria cereal bar’s Fruity Pebbles bin, as I did, unabashedly.  These quiet, thin beauties stuck to lower calorie options, like lettuce and water.  Thankfully,  though I tried, I just couldn’t give up food; and “built like a swimmer”, as I was often told, I was never going to get ballerina arms.

So, alas, I now delight in the athletic build I’m lucky to have. I nourish my body with REAL food and stay fit by being active daily.  I’m also lucky that my very good-looking and supportive husband finds athletic girls sexy. And how sad it must be to just eat lettuce.