I've always been the bigger girl in my class. Ever since elementary school, I've been overweight. Going to the doctors they would tell me that I'm slightly obese because I'm not the average size, the size that kids my age are supposed to be. I get this every time I go to the doctors, I dread going. They tell me the same thing every time. You need to lose weight, you need to do this, you need to do that. I understand their reasoning, they want me to be healthy, and it's something that I'm working towards.

I've always felt insecure about my weight. Since freshman year of high school, I've probably gained about 50 pounds and I am now a sophomore in college. There was never rumors made about me, I had friends, it wasn't the cliche high school story where the fat girl had no friends. It was actually the opposite, I had a lot of friends. But it didn't stop me from thinking that everything was just a joke. There has been so much in the media lately about plus size women loving the way their body looks, and in my opinion, it's about damn time. The Dove Real Beauty Campaign is the biggest contributor.

Skinny women have always been the image girls like me strived for. Now that loving your body is becoming something that is appreciated, it's teaching all types of women to love their bodies. No one is tearing you down for being a size 00, we've just finally had enough of not being able to love our bodies because it's not the look that people "strive for". Looking in magazines and seeing a women's thigh gap or her ribs, no one tears her down for being too skinny, people tear the picture down because it was photoshopped to look that way. Because for some reason, if you don't look remotely like that, then you're not "perfect".

I'm not trying to tear women down who are a size 00, I'm just trying to say that women like me have been fighting for this campaign for a long time. Nobody once said that if you're skinny you aren't allowed to love your body. The Dove campaign is about women of all shapes, sizes, and color even, loving their bodies for the way that they are. Girls who are a size 00, love yourself, you do you girl. Girls who are a size 20, love yourself, you do you girl. We shouldn't be tearing each other down, we should be rising up together.

I'm not going to apologize for being a size 14 or wearing a 2x. That's how my body is and I'm not going to change it to make others feel better about their own insecurities. You can praise your body for the high metabolism (that I wish I had by the way) without shaming us for finally getting the recognition we deserve.