Even if you're not a celebrity, the pressure to look good for events (and every day life) is one every woman knows well. Whether it's a wedding, bathing suit season, or just a night out with friends, there are endless opportunities to feel like you need to shed a few pounds.
TV host and chef Padma Lakshmi knows this all too well, and wrote a raw, emotional essay for The Hollywood Reporter this week, where she opened up about the way this pressure is trickling down to her daughter.
For the last few years, Lakshmi's life has followed a loose schedule of six weeks of filming Top Chef, followed closely by walking the red carpet during awards season. If you thought dressing for the beach was tough, imagine dressing for a live show broadcast to millions.
During this time, her diet shifts from eating thousands of calories a day – she estimates between 5,000 and 8,000 when filming – to restricting her diet and working out up to two hours a day in order to lose the 15 or so extra pounds in time for the Emmys.
"It's always a nail-biting extravaganza at fittings, praying that a few pretty dresses that came down the runway on a teenage model who is a size 0 will miraculously fit my 40-something body," she wrote.
Lakshmi didn't realize that her habits were rubbing off on her 7-year-old daughter. After all, she still orders pizza, but while her daughter enjoys a slice, Lakshmi would eat brown rice and lentils instead. When they make pasta, Lakshmi wrote, she'll just eat Ragu and greens.
She became aware of the problem when her daughter started making comments about her own weight. According to Lakshmi, her daughter told family friends, "I don't want to eat because I'm watching my figure," and, "I weigh too much."
These comments "stopped me dead in my tracks," Lakshmi wrote. "Her words scared me. Language matters. We send signals to our daughters every day."
In response, Lakshmi is easing up on her strict, red-carpet-ready routine. While Lakshmi enjoys fashion and getting dressed up for shows, she's not going to stress if her dress size isn't as small as she'd like, or focus on a goal weight. After all, no one asks her male counterparts how they get in shape for the show.
"That one day — or any day — on the red carpet isn't nearly as important as making sure my daughter doesn't measure her worth by her dress size," she said.
Whether you're a mom or not, Lakshmi's message is a powerful one.
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