slim | Zikoko!

Small yansh got the accolade it deserved last year, but there are a lot more things slim girls are made to feel insecure about. In this article, Irene jay tells us how to rock being a slim babe in Nigeria with pride.

1. Value yourself first

Raise your head up and own the room when you walk in. No one can love you more than you. People can say you have such a pretty face, but if you’re not content with yourself, the complements fade. Love the collarbone you’re hiding, wiggle your small butt when the other girls are out on the dance floor. Don’t spend your whole life second-guessing yourself before you walk into a room. You’re too special to feel so little.

2. Say no to silly jokes

Nigerians struggle with boundaries but you need to enforce them — especially to the people in your life. Being slim is not a free pass to be the butt of every joke. If the flat-ass jokes are getting too much, tell them to stop. If they don’t, then that relationship isn’t worth it. Babe, cut them off until they learn to respect you.

3. Get over secondary school

Focus on the present. Let that scared little girl from JSS1 go. It’s normal to lose a bit of confidence when you see other girls going through puberty at a faster rate than you — girls were moving from bra tops to proper big girl bras, getting more attention from the boys and you felt left out. I understand the feeling and it’s okay, but half of those girls also felt ugly for different reasons. Free yourself from the shackles of secondary school insecurities, you’re beautiful, now and always.

4. You don’t have to be a model

Are we in Nigeria if someone doesn’t ask whether you’re a model every five minutes? However, that’s not a reason to chase a career in modelling. It was a way for me to earn money on the side in university and it’s blossomed into a career for me, but that doesn’t have to be the same journey for you. Your slenderness doesn’t automatically translate to a modelling career.

5. Work out if you want to

Girl, if you want to work out, work out. Anyone saying you’ll disappear is simply projecting their lack of discipline and insecurities about their body on you. Tune out the noise. Focus on the goals you have for your body, because those 30 minutes of jumping jacks will do a lot for your confidence.

6. Enjoy food

You need to stop being overly focused on eating food to gain weight. You have to love your body for it to do what you want it to. Enjoy your meals and feel healthy. Savour the taste in every bite. Find meals you love and cook them if you’re not as lazy as I am. At the end of the day, you just need to trust your body and treat it with love.

7. Stop worrying about collar bones

Repeat after me: baggy clothes do not make me look better. Dress for your size. Don’t allow anyone to tell you that your jeans make you look too skinny or that a dress makes your collar bone pop out. Accentuate your assets babe. Those legs are fire; rock mini skirts and flaunt it. Your small boobs would look so good in a dress with a deep plunge line. And your back? Girl, if you don’t have a dress that shows off your back, then you’re not living. Let your body lead the way. Stop holding it back.

8. The right partner will come

While loving yourself is important, your partner needs to gas you up as well. Don’t settle. If they make you feel insecure in fitted outfits, please dump them. There should be no room in your life for a relationship that makes you feel small. If they can’t grab the ass you have and be happy, they should pack their bags and leave.

9. When the right partner finally shows up, get out of your head

You’re not too skinny to be hot. Let your partner hold you. Get out of your head and enjoy the moment. No, your butt is not too hard. No, your laps are not too skinny. Let them pull you close, lift you up — just get out of your head to enjoy it. Yes, the plus-size babes are voluptuous hotties but don’t downplay your flexibility. Trust your body in all its slimness and revel in its beauty.

Ortega

February 21, 2022

Her

Her, Nigerian women, slim
So you are the envy of all your friends because of how slim and compact you are; you can literally pass through anywhere, even closely packed vehicles. But what’s most annoying to you is how people think you have no right to complain about the woes of being thin–even though they don’t own your body and can’t comprehend what it is like to be you!

You will relate to these 12 things if you’re so tired of people telling you about how being skinny is the best thing after dodo and jollof;

1) When people say you don’t need to exercise:

Because they assume that being skinny is all you need to be healthy.

2) Clothes from 10 years ago still fit:

Having no need to buy new clothes, because the new clothes you bought three months ago still look brand new and you still have the outfit that’s in your cute 9 year old picture. Oh, and shopping for clothes is just the worst because nothing fits.

3) Not being able to add weight no matter what you eat:

You’re just cursed with a high metabolism and an ability to burn fat so quickly that nothing stays in, so even if you eat a truckload of burgers and a horse you can never add weight. But, your friends don’t understand how bad you want that extra inch because they are all saying that you are LUCKY.

4) Getting bullied in buses:

You’re there minding your business jeje and then one woman with a wide waist, huge load and 7 children comes to sit beside you in the bus and proceeds to yell at you to “shift”. To where madam? The air?

5) When people assume you don’t weigh much and can be carried easily because of that:

Ha! They forget that you have more bones than skin, ignore your warnings that you’re heavy and then proceed to fall on their heads when they try to carry you.

6)Always feeling cold–because skin and bones:

Sticks and stones can break you but the cold is deadlier than they are because it never leaves you–even in the hot afternoon.

7) The dead jokes:

People trying their hand at comedy with dry jokes that are so overrated; be careful o so breeze doesn’t carry you away; hope you’re not sick, this one you’re looking like this?; tini beku, and so and so forth.

8) Deader compliments…

When people think you’ve never heard them before and can’t stop saying it when they see you; lepa shandy, slim shady, modella, and any other uncreative things they can think of.

9) Endless weight gain advice:

Don’t make the mistake of telling someone you are trying to add some weight because the floodgates of unsolicited advice will open, they’d tell you things like; “Mix milk, egg and Maltina and drink up in one gulp”, “Eat fried food”, “Wake up at night to eat, eat junk food”, “Don’t worry you will get fat when you get married or have a baby.”

10) Always needing to use belts or hidden elastic bands in your clothes:

…because you get thinner and thinner and every clothing item you own is your enemy.

11) When you have to make excuses for being naturally skinny:

Oh no I’m not skinny, I’m just thin; I eat and eat but it goes nowhere.

12) Sitting on uncushioned chairs hurts:

Feeling like all the bones in your body has shattered because your butt doesn’t have enough flesh to protect you from harmful benches with sharp edges.

Gabriella Opara

November 18, 2019

Oldies

slim, Struggles