So, um… how do I say this…
I am not petite. Even at my smallest weight I wore a size 10 because of size of my hips and butt.
Shockingly, no one cares.
Well, except me.
No one else cares what my jeans size is. My family doesn’t care. My dog doesn’t care. Old Navy with their vanity sizing doesn’t care. My friends don’t care. Red hair don’t care.
But, that part of me had a big impact on me for a long time… on where I’d glance first when I looked in the mirror in the morning, on how I felt about myself, on what kind of clothes I bought and more.
Luckily, I’ve come to appreciate my build. I also appreciate that similarly shaped women are more celebrated in the media. When I got an email to do a giveaway for a book called “My Big Bottom Blessing” I probably nodded at my desk. Yep, this is just right.
Today I am giving away a copy of My Big Bottom Blessing – How Hating My Body Led to Loving My Life.
Here is a video clip with the author, Teasi Cannon. I love that she references how the media impacts how we feel about how we look.
It’s a book about Teasi Cannon’s journey with her body and God.
The first line is, “Does this book make my butt look big?” So you gotta love that.
To Enter: Leave a comment. Any comment.
Open to residents of the US and Canada. Closes tomorrow (Tuesday) at 5pm PST.
I read this book and I related to many of the chapters. I love that the core of this book goes back to it is a Spiritual warfare we are fighting, and she reminds us that God loves us in spite of our body hatred and that Jesus died on the cross for every sin. Love this book. More Christians need to talk honestly about this issue.
I love the first line you posted from the book, “Does this book make my butt look too big?” LOL
This book looks so fun!
sounds like a good read. I wanna win 🙂
maybe this book will finally teach me how to love my man-calves. 🙂
Does this book make my butt look big? Love it!!!
Looks like a good read!
My butt is HUGE
Sounds great 🙂
I would love to win this book!
I’d love to read this book!
I would love, love, love a copy of this book!. I have a booty with a side of hips 😉 Maybe some people love it, but I’m only slowly growing to love them but I know they make the rockin’ world go ’round!
I dont have a BIG BUTT, but I do have ALOT OF GUTT!
You would think big girls have butts, not this one. I always wanted a big butt! I would trade my gut anyday.
I would love to read this book. Sounds very inspirational.
I remember my mom telling me when I was 9 that my cheerleading skirt didn’t fit properly because my “little butt stuck out so much.” I don’t think I even noticed how large my bottom half is until I met my fiance 7 years ago, but thankfully he pointed it out so much (in a good way) that I really can’t imagine not rocking a badonkadonk. And I love it.
Sounds like good info! Have struggled my entire 37 years with body image.
I, too struggle with body image and many times I wish I could see myself as God sees me (other people, too). I sometimes wish I could be hurt, because I dislike myself and my body so much.
I could really benefit from a book like that.
I’m still learning to love my body too. I would love to read this book.
Never had a small bottom and I don’t think I’ll ever have one– despite ongoing weight loss efforts over the years.
I think my big squat weight in BodyPump is making it…bigger??! Oh, well, it’s growing on me 😉
Sounds like a great book!! Would love to read it!!
Does this comment make my butt look big???
I would love to read this book!
I would love to win this book!
This sounds like a book I should really read!
You should try this medication I am on, Noassatall, (no-ass-at-all)it might help. 🙂 I gain all my weight in my stomach. Yeah, worst place EVER!
oh my god, i can’t believe this woman wrote this book about me and didn’t say! lol
PROUD to have a big butt!
🙂
Ha!
I like big butts and I can not lie!
Great giveaway
vmkids3 at msn dot com
This sounds like just the type of book I want to read right now!
I’d say that this theme of negative self perception trancends any body type. I’m tall and have wide hips for my frame, while a good friend of mine complains about being too skinny and feeling self conscious that she eats alot and can’t gain weight evenly (no she does not have an eating problem, I lived with her for 3 years and I can vouch for her).
I think we all strive for an unobtainable ‘ideal’ that doesn’t exist. This book sounds like works to debunk that myth we all carry with us.
This book looks awesome! Definitely something to add to my reading list this summer.
Pick me Pick me! I have struggled with similar issues about my body and I would love to read this book!
I have a big bottom and I would love to read this book. 🙂
pretty sure this would be a great summer read to squeeze in (much like my skinny jeans!)
At least us big bottomed girls have Sir Mix-A-Lot to tell us where it’s at 😉
Sounds like a fun book!
P.S. Just wanted to let you know that I don’t comment a lot but I actually read your blog every single day and love it!
Sounds like the story of my life. Looks like it will be a good read:)
I’ve always had more curves then I’ve been comfortable with and I love to read. Thank you for writing such an honest blog! I’ve gone back to read it from the beginning but I’m still in 2009 after your move to Maryland.
I agree with the media having to influence us to lose weight and look “normal”. This sounds like a book I could read in one day! I hope to win!
[email protected]
I lost almost 50lbs on WW and I still have body issues. At my smallest I’m a size 8 but still see that size 16 girl in the mirror. I’m really interested to read this.
I watched a documentary recently titled ‘Miss Representation’ about women are presented by the media. Very interesting! We, women, are our own worst enemies though. I too hate my butt and thighls, but I love what I can push my body to do. So, I guess I need to embrace those parts of me that enable those awesome things to happen. This book looks like it would help a lot of people see the positives.
It’s amazing to me how different woman are physically, and we hate how the media tells us what we should be…then we turn right around and dissect those women around us, like the media!
I know some women who aren’t skinny or fit who go to the beach and take pictures of big woman and make horrible comments. Why? I suppose the group-bullying psychology makes them feel safe and insulated from the same…but I don’t know — maybe someone else on that beach took a picture of them and are doing the same thing.
Yes, please! Hate my butt and thighs; totally disproportionate with my waist and boobs (regular and 12-yr-old-boy small). But after growing, birthing and nursing two humans, I decided to like my body a lot more!! I mean hubs loves it, so I should too. We’re SO.MUCH.MORE than the flesh God created us in. He thinks we’re perfect so we should, too!!
Running and achieving those goals also helped me accept the large-normous legs I happen to have been blessed: if they can run and carry me on my busy days, I should at least not talk SMACK about them. And whenever I start b*tching about my legs, I get thankful that they’re healthy and they can walk/run/move. I have people in my life (young and old) who cannot walk without assistance (wheelchairs or crutches or walkers), so it seems pretty stupid and petty of ME to diss the legs God gave me.
Run on, mama…you look great!! 🙂
PS: I’d love to read this book!
Sounds interesting and most likely very entertaining. I’ll be adding it to my reading wish list.
This sounds like “just what I need”
I’ve had child bearing hips since I was in second grade!
Most of the time I love them…except when I have to buy jeans. It turns into a marathon session of trying on every pair in the entire store, and then either a) buying every color of the one brand/style that almost fits perfectly, or b) walking out empty handed. What jeans do you buy?
Getting to love my body is a constant struggle. I am getting better but there is still progress to be made on that front.
I have struggled with and overcome an eating disorder and am getting ready to begin my master’s degree in counseling in August. I would love to be able to read this book and use it as a reference for my future career!
I still struggle to accept my wide hips and thick backside. This book sounds like it was written just for me!
I am a “quartorican” according to my hubby. And definitely inherited the “big bottom” so Id like to read about this being a “blessing” 🙂
sounds good! runner_girl5k at yahoo dot com
I’ve got a big butt and hips, too! I’m learning little by little to love it. I tell myself it may be big, but it’s strong!
I certainly have a ‘big bottom blessing.’ Unfortunately, my booty is not very proportionate to the rest of my body, so I have a very difficult time finding jeans and dresses that fit!
My sister and I joke that she got all the boobs in the family and I got all the butt…big booty rockin’ everywhere?
Sounds like a good book
I’d love to read this book!
Good Morning!
Thank you for the great giveaway please count me in 🙂
kathypease(at)gmail(dot)com
sounds like a great one
i like big butts and i cannot lie, all you other sisters can’t deny!
liking my big butt may not have always been true, but just have to embrace what ya got!
ps. so glad this one is open to Canadians!!!
and is it bad that the big butt song is going to be playing in my head all day! ha
I just started working out with a personal trainer 2 weeks ago. I was super pumped in the beginning, but now I seem to have hit a “brick wall”…I need all the motivation I can get! 🙂
Looks like a winner!
Sounds like a good book! I have learned to live with the fact that I have big hips and thighs that never go away!
My problem is north of my waist, but I feel you!
Mandatory comment 🙂
I love it – a topic I think EVERY woman can relate to. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Any comment? Thanks for the giveaway.
What a great book! I too am enjoying the media celebrating a normal female body!
love the concept of this book, and i love being proud of healthy, fit bodies no matter what shape they come in!
What a great book!!
I can always use a good uplifting book to show me that body woes are normal, but not living your life to the fullest because of them is NOT. I’d love to read it!!
my favorite quote from your blog comes from the time you were feeling down on your backside and asking ben why you were born this way. he responded “because god answered my prayers”your blog has helped me appreciate my own generously sexy booty!
You win! Email me your name and address 🙂
Sounds like me! My husband loves my “trunk”… wish I saw what he see!
This book sounds good. Loving our bodies can be a very hard but necessary task. Learned to love my “junk in the trunk”.
I need a new book to read…will this make me appreciate my big assets?
I have always had a butt (size 8 bottom, size 2 top), and one of the greatest difficulties is shopping! I would love to win this book.
I’ve got a big butt and I cannot lie, so this giveaway to me you cannot deny!
But seriously, I love my behind, and would love to read about others booty’s and their struggles (because as a former big girl, I have had my fair share of big butt struggles!)
sounds like a cute book
Haha, I totally get that. I always see those commercial and they’re all like, “I lost 40 lbs and dropped 5 pants sizes!” I lost 40 lbs, and how many pants sizes did I lose? One. Just one. It’s definitely one of those things that’s hard to come to terms with.
i’d love to read that book!
God, this book looks good.
Sounds like an interesting read. I would love to win a copy!
Thank you for this giveaway. This looks like an awesome book!
Can I have a copy please? Even though I haven’t and don’t struggle with my body image (ok, maybe except the pimply face when I was in my teens!).
Flatbottom girls need love too!
Canada! Yah! Oh I need to fit my jeans to my large backside. : )
If it makes you feel better, I have rather slender hips, so I wear a size 8 pants. However, with the size of my ribcage and breasticles, I have not worn anything below a 14 for dresses and blouses for over a decade. 🙁 Just how all of our bodies are shaped.
I can not lie I will always have a big butt……too.
Want.
OMG!! Sounds like an amazing book!
This sounds like a great book. I read “Women, Food and God” recently and while I enjoyed it, I don’t feel like I came away with any real/tangible tools to change my perception on things. However this book seems like it would be much more in line with the direction I hope to head in regards to my own body image.
I have always had a butt. I used to hate it, but now I am liking it. I look like a woman and my husband seems to like it so that is what matters.
I feel this girl… My theme song in life is “I like big butts and I cannot lie…” Actually, that’s the theme song I made for my husband for me.
Wow-I feel like that book is talking about me! I’d love to read it!!!
I didn’t think I’d be interested in this book at first, but after watching the video I’d love to check it out!
I love people who accept themselves for who they are-I’m working on this!
This seems like it would be a great book!
Yay! Gotta love a book about accepting ourselves…all shapes and sizes:)
sounds like a great summer read!!!
This sounds like a book I need to read! I also have trouble appreciating my bottom half.
finally a giveaway open to canadians 😀
i’d love a new book for some good reading material, and this one sounds great.
i am the same way as you, at my smallest I am a 12… these hips don’t lie!
I’d like to win the book, but I’d rather have you reassure me that it’s okay that I just ate 3/4 of a bar of chocolate.
Totally okay.
I would love to win this book! My thighs and butt have always given me a pear shape that I still have trouble appreciating. It is the hardest area for me to see any difference workout wise.
But atleast I have nice shoulders and arms! Lol
sounds like an amazing book!
This book looks amazing. She has such a good heart!
i would love to read this! i recently lost 25 lbs and still have a ways to go to get to a “happy” size. but one thing’s for sure…I always have and will continue to have too much booty in the pants!
The book sounds great!
Sounds like a great book! I’m adding it to my list just in case. 🙂
Looks like a great book! I’m he same way- I have a larger lower half and wide hips! I’m slowly learning to accept it!
Um, yes. I think I need this book. I’m also not a petite gal, even after losing some weight, working out almost daily and running a half. I’m bitter about it and I’m the queen of negative self talk. I know I shouldn’t devote so much head space to self body loathing, but easier said than done!
34-29-42 and I run with my booty rockin’ everywhere! 🙂
As someone who is constantly struggling with self-esteem, I’d love to read this book!
i find that my happiness and acceptance of my body (and booty) coincides with a healthy relationship with the Lord. this book looks awesome!
I am sure that I am not the only person that struggles with self-esteem and self-outlook. Social media has really skewed the idea of what is truly beautiful. I really hope that this book helps whoever wins gain a new perspective about their body and true beauty!
My butt has to stay cushy or I’m not comfortable enough when I sit down! 😉
I am heavier in the booty and love that it should be celebrated. I admit that I struggle with loving it myself but the older I get the better I am at appreciating my body for the strengths instead of the weaknesses.
I love your blog Monica, I probably visit it too much! Lol
But this book looks like a great read!
I’d LOVE to win this book! My shape has always driven me crazy!!
I’m a big bootie girl, too. Small titties, big bootie.
I am totally pear-shaped and it drives me nuts! I would love to read this book!
Looks like a great book, I’d love to read it. 🙂
The title made me laugh!
I definitely want to read this book !
“Instead of worrying about the size of our legs let’s worry about the size of our legacy.” Wow very powerful statement! If I don’t win the book I will have to buy the book, so I surely hope I win.
I’m the same way! I’ve been a size 10 since middle school & even though since then I’ve become a serious runner and gotten in way better shape, I’m still a size 10. It hasn’t always been easy, but I’ve learned to appreciate it.
this looks like a great read!
I would love to have the book. My daughter is 12 and just starting with the weight focus……… And she is thin………..its crazy how we see ourselves…………I think the book could help me to help her to see herself more positively. I want to encourage and teach her to see the inner beauty she possesses as more important than outer beauty.
I also have a bigger butt than most and will not shrink no matter how much I exercise. I have come to grown to love my butt. Reading this book would be another great motivator to love my body more and more and stop picking at its flaws.
I’d love to read the book! I have a big butt and thighs, too. I need to learn to love them.
looks like a good positive read!
I would love to read this book!!! I struggle with body image coming from a formerly obese life. This sounds great!!!
Luvena Cervantes
What an awesome book! Id love to win and read that!
I love triscuits!
This book sounds great and very positive! I’d love to read it!
This book sounds amazing! I would love to read it! 🙂
Fat bottom girls we make the rockin’ world go round!!!!!!!
Hey Monica,
I would really really reaaaaally love to receive this giveway. When I watched the video of Teasi describing her struggles and her story and transformation, I really connected with her and can identify myself in all that she said (being the bigger kid, bigger clothes, being the chubbier sibling!) – which is really the point right? Particularly the part where she said that changing the way we see ourselves changes the way we see God and relate to Him. In the past year I’ve been able to really identify my weight struggle, my bad eating habits, emotional damage, and admit that I need help and need to change. The funny thing is, for the longest time, I didn’t realize that I needed God’s help in this area! I LOVE Him, and live my life as a follower of Jesus, and I’ve allowed God to infiltrate and transform and lead every part of my life….except my issue with weight/appearance/self-esteem. It’s funny because watching this clip of the author talk really struck a cord with me- just in the last month or so I’ve realized that just as I trust Jesus with everything else in my life- how is this crap any different?! Point it- it’s not. I’m trying to get through and overcome my issues with God’s help and it is an amazing feeling being able to surrender that and let Him carry the burden while helping me through this. I’m sorry if this seems like a crazy God loving Christian rant – it’s really not – just that I totally identify with everything about this book, and would love a chance to win it and go through it to further my journey along and gain a fresh perspective from a God loving woman who clearly has a lot to teach.
(ps. I won that running journal giveaway a couple months ago- but never received it. It’s ok! I’m totally not mad hehe.. this giveaway would be 1000000 times better! 🙂
Thanks Monica! (and Teasi!)
Also- for the record, by butt is VERY big 😀 hah!
I like big butts, I cannot lie 🙂
Looks like a great book. I’m so terrible about tearing myself down. But mine would need to be renamed “Big Belly Blessing” 🙂
I cannot remember a time in my life, since I was about 10 when changing my body wasn’t a priority. Well, actually there have been some times. But few from the otherwise onslaught of that “in 10 pounds” thinking. Now that I’m a little older, have had my 2 boys and started moving my body I am probably in as good a place as I have ever been with body image. But I have to work on it. For me it means deciding. Deciding to live in my skin as is and working to keep it healthy.
i have the same problem… my butt and hips always make me go a size up and it makes me feel larger than i am.. 🙁
i am starting to love my curves though 🙂
I’m a fellow big bottomed girl, but blonde hair don’t care 😉 – this book looks like a good one!
My butt is probably one of my favorite parts of my body. Why? because it is one of the only things that makes me look feminine.
Even my boyfriend admits that from the font, I look a willowly and often waif-ish, but from the side and back, video girl 😉
just now what to do about the flat chest….hmmm.
Even at my smallest I’m a size 10 distance runner too, double digits rock – both in running and in sizing;)
Reading about other’s struggles with their body image and how they overcame those struggles has been the single most inspiring thing to me since choosing to live my life in a healthy way. Thanks for all the inspiration you give to others through your blog!
Love this!! I struggled with body image issues for years and now love what my body can do for me! And I like a little junk in my trunk!
I’m definitely going to check this book out — I’m a fellow big bottomed gal 🙂 Love your blog!
Wow, after watching this video, I’m inspired. I’d love to read it!
oh why the hell not… i’ve got junk in the trunk. sometimes i love it. sometimes i hate it. if the book is funny, why not?
I’ve gotta booty too! We have a love-hate relationship…
I love the sound of this book! Ironically, I wish my butt was bigger. It’s pretty flat. My opening line would have been “does this book make my GUT look big?” For as long as I can remember I’ve been obsessed with my midsection. One day I hope to get over myself.
Love reading your blog! I look forward to it every day.
Yes please! I also have red hair and don’t care 🙂 love the blog….
Id love to read this book…hope I win!
I love your new sexy headshot!! Ow Ow!
This looks so good! I am also big in the hips area and am growing to love it more. I am definitely going to have to read this! 🙂
When I met you at the MGM in Vegas last year I was so excited to see that you were “normal” and by that mean… You look a lot more like me than the “normal” cover of Runners World. I can relate. Thanks for showing that runners are real.
Looks like a great read, I will have to put it on my wish list!
I had an unfortunate situation happen to me this weekend. I was out for my friend’s birthday and we were waiting for our ride to pull up next to the restaurant downtown. I started stretching my calves on the curb because I had run a lot that morning and they were sore. Then I caught a creepy man and his friends trying to take a picture of me from the side. I was wearing a fitted skirt (definitely not a mini!) and a loose tucked in top with flip flops. Now I know I’m not fat or that any undergarment or inappropriate body parts were showing so I can only guess that they were laughing at my bubble butt. Definitely a low point in my night, hopefully this book could help me handle situations like this in the future.
They were NOT laughing at your butt – they loved it! Most guys love a girl that has a booty, makes them think of sex. You are sexy my friend.
Guess what? I’m not petite either. And I want this book!
i too have a big booty and hips….it wasnt until recently, very recently (and im 25!), that i have learned to embrace and love my big booty! =] p.s. what brand of jeans do you usually buy? i have a hard time finding ones that fit well!
This book sounds great! PLEASE pick me….I have been down on myself lately….this sounds like the picker upper that I need! 🙂
Sounds like a book all woman should read, looking forward to it! If I don’t win it I will buy it and pass it on to my friends.
Hi Monica! I would love that book, it’s right up my alley. Have a great day!
I feel like the grass is always greener on the other side. I have no butt to speak of and am always jealous of girls who have something going on back there. Own that butt, Monica!
Would love to read this book!
I once had a very nice African-American woman tell me I “had a booty like a black girl.” I was 12 and this started a lifetime of hating my general backside.
I need this book!
Ive always had a bubble butt… My bf loves it.
That’s a great title. I’ve always had a round butt.
My butt/hips is one of the main struggles I have when it comes to body image. Luckily, running gives everyone a view of my “junk in the trunk.” I’m starting to appreciate that my hips and butt have let me run a half-marathon. Big butts are beautiful!
Sounds like a great book. Would love a copy!
my butt was a lot bigger BEFORE I had children. Now (just like my breasts), it’s not as perky.
God, while my behind may not be the largest, it’s totally my biggest insecurity.mugh.
I wish i had more but, i’m described as boxy and flat chested
Sir Mix A-lot says it best, I like big butts and I cannot lie.
Butt-schmutt! Who cares about butt??! I <3 my butt! I <3 this book (I hope I win but will buy if not). Rock whatever butt you have, it's the only one you got! Oh, and if you fall flat on your butt, you will thank your lucky cookies that you ate them and didn't break your coccyx!
I def have a lil junk in the trunk as well 😉 As I’m nearing the end of my summer break (I’m a kindergarten teacher) I’m looking for an easy/good pool read! 😉
Sounds like a great book! I would love to win!
It definitely sounds like a good read!
I’d love this book. I have a scrawny upper body, and then BAM huge butt and huge thighs. So hard to accept at deal with.
The book sounds hilarious! I would love to read it while lounging by the pool rockin’ my bikini!
could use a good read hope I win!
Butts and God….. Sounds interesting!
Yeah for curves!
i love to read and would love this book! looks awesome!
I like big butts and I cannot lie!
I’ve always been curvy. Got that big butt. Always have to wear a belt so my underwear doesn’t pop out.
That book sounds like something I need to read. After an indulgent weekend i spent the day hating my butt/hips.
This sounds like my kinda book! Would love to win it!
Big booty girls, for life!
I love that there is a book like this!
One of my favourite t-shirts ever, I got for supporting Colorectal Cancer that has a picture of a woman with a big butt and it says “Does the fat on my ass make my ass look fat?” I wear it proudly to the gym.
Wow! Sounds like a great book.
I think the size of pants is arbitrary. It’s not consistent in any stores I’ve been to so I’ve long stopped caring! At Kohl’s I wear a size 4, at Target I wear a size 2, other places I’m a 6….the number doesn’t matter, it’s how we feel!
I’ve got the butt, boobs, hips…ain’t even mad. Once you accept it, and start rocking it, you become unstoppable!
I like having a booty, but hate that once I get pants over my butt then my jeans are too big. I wish it was acceptable to wear elastic waist bands…
I can’t definitely relate..I would love to read the book. 🙂
I need this book. My gluteus is rather maximus. Lame joke, I know.
Hurray! I also have a big hips and butt; I can’t fight it. Hey, it’s womanly!
I was reading an article the other day on how depending on the time/decade/fashion craze, different body types are “in”. Like apparently members of the IBTC have the ideal breast size now…sorry Pam Anderson! Plus…guys and girls see an idea woman’s body differently. Some guy like the big butts (and they cannot lie)
Oh yes I can soo relate. I have always struggled to accept my hips and rounder thighs. I am just now starting to accept my body at 27 and that I will never have skinny bird legs, and that’s okay!
I deal with this issue EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. After having two children, my body has changed so much and I would just love to look the way I looked before I had them. My husband tells me it’s a figment of my imagination but I insist it’s true. Especially since I’m asked repeatedly if I’m pregnant and my youngest is three.
I would really enjoy reading this book if I’m chosen. Thanks!
Girl, I am SO with you..my big booty leads me to having to go bigger in all things from the waist down. I like that some gorg celebs with big bootys (kim k, j lo, etc.) are getting some good press for their bods, makes me feel even better about mine 🙂
Sad that we can be so influenced by outside influences rather than seeing ourselves as perfectly, wonderfully made. I had bangs until after having my second child because my mom told me what a big head I had and I still look in the mirror and see imperfection, but am learning to be content – or maybe just not care about other people’s opinions.
I don’t have a butt though, and for that, my husband says I am jealous 🙂
During one of the last races I ran I saw a woman wearing a shirt that said “Does this make my butt look fast?” and I loved it!! As long as we feel strong and feel good about ourselves, it doesn’t matter what we weigh! My butt and legs help me run fast and far and I appreciate that about them 🙂
I just remembered that I promised myself I’d buy that shirt when I ran a sub 4 hour marathon!
Everyone in this house loves their butt. I love my butt. My man loves his butt, and the dog sniffs her butt. A lot.
I would LOVE to have this book! I too am bigger in the butt and hips area. A lot of my pants are big in the waist because I need to buy bigger sizes to fit them over my hips and butt! haha.