Keeping it REAL with Namaste AF

Okay y’all, it’s time to get REAL today on the blog. First off, I wanted to share a new lifestyle fashion brand that recently launched – they’re raw, REAL and unfiltered. I have so much respect for brands who remain true to themselves and aren’t afraid to tell it like it is. I’m a person that loves honesty, and this company does just that. Secondly, I wanted to get real about how I’ve dealt with body shaming + kept up with my personal choices to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Introducing Namaste AF – a yogi brand that was tired of those ‘feel good, follow your heart’ kind of yoga shirts that sometimes don’t reflect what you are ACTUALLY feeling during class. Their unfiltered merchandise (for both women AND men) encompasses pretty sassy and pretty raw wordings that are simply just, real! All of their clothing is ethically made – love that they have a strong commitment to sweatshop free clothing & local DTG printing. I was sent the ‘Yoga Butt‘ crop tee which I think is the cutest ever (seriously, how cute and unique?!) – especially because that’s definitely what I strive for every time I’m at the gym 😉 Check out their story and their collection here.

Time for some real talk: as several other girls have, I’ve been body shamed before. And let me clarify – BOTH fat shamed and skinny shamed. My fat shaming experience actually came unexpectedly from someone once near and dear to me – one of my ex-BFs (and don’t worry, I’m 99.9% sure he won’t read this lol) used to make subtle, random comments that I was getting chubby, that I didn’t have a six pack/abs, and that I should go to the gym more (ironic, because this was coming from someone who didn’t workout like ever). I would laugh them off, but deep down comments like those def had an impact on my self esteem and made me self conscious! After we broke up, I heard he told his friends he was glad we did because I was getting ‘fat’ anyways (ouch!). To give some context: he said all of this when I weighed prob about 104 lbs. Fat shaming is very mean and very real. And no matter what the extent of it is, it should never be justified and definitely does not feel good!

As for my skinny shaming experience…I was at a coffee shop before I was getting ready to head to the airport, so obvi I was looking like a bum and sporting some yoga pants. Some guys walked in and one was talking really loudly about how my outfit was NOT attractive and I shouldn’t be wearing yoga pants because I look like a stick in them with absolutely no curves. Skinny shaming hurts just as much as fat shaming, and it baffled me that someone really thought it would be okay to talk about someone else’s outfit choice / critique their body right in front of them. Yes, we all have our opinions, but we also need to remember that none of us are perfect and all of us should be content with who we are or what we are working towards. It’s alright to talk about our bodies in a helpful, non critical way – but NEVER okay to make fun of someone or cut them down. I’m sure we have all experienced some sort of body shaming/critiques in our lives, and as tough as it is…it’s important to stay strong and not let it affect us (although I know other peoples’ words can be hard to ignore!).

Now I know I’m not a fitness blogger/expert, and to be honest fitness is not THE number one priority in life, but it IS important to me. Staying healthy (besides the fact that I could definitely eat more greens…heh) and making good decisions for my body is a huge part of my life. I drink water all throughout the day, don’t smoke, never drink soda, rarely eat fast food, and try to never miss my weekly fitness classes. But for the most part, I still eat what I want (total carb + meat lover over here!) – I splurge on sweets every now and then (totally sucks having a sweet tooth..) and shamefully opt for the elevators instead of the stairs sometimes. We could all make better, healthier lifestyle choices but it should be for OURSELVES and not because others are belittling us to. Not trying to sound cliche, but here’s your daily reminder that YOU are beautiful and your body is too! 🙂

A huge thanks to Namaste AF for sponsoring this post. As always, all opinions are my own.