Quotes from Carre Otis

When you become a parent, it's not all about you anymore.

I didn't know what to do with calories.

We come in many different shapes and sizes, and we need to support each other and our differences. Our beauty is in our differences.

I had my first seizure, and I had to go in for heart surgery.

I've learned to surround myself with women who lift me up and leave me feeling nurtured rather than drained.

Just because you're a different size doesn't mean you're sitting on the couch eating bonbons all day long watching TV.

I am not naturally that thin, so I had to go through everything from using drugs to diet pills to laxatives to fasting. Those were my main ways of controlling my weight.

My weight fluctuated when I was 30, and I did the unthinkable - I stepped out as a plus-sized model.

My daughters, your daughters, our daughters deserve safety, protection, and the freedom to make their own choices about their personal lives and their physical selves.

You have to find a balance with food in your life - you can't take out food. It can be absolutely terrifying.

Eating disorders, body dysmorphia and a general dissatisfaction with one's life and body seems to ail too many young people.

Life is full of change and uncertainty. We know this. We experience it on a daily basis.

Being born and raised as a Californian, I somewhat ignorantly had taken for granted the diversity and liberal mindset that shaped my childhood and adult life.

I am a daughter, a sister, a wife and a mother. I am a friend of women and I am their advocate.

My own path towards wellness has been a long and dynamic one. It's taught me that healing from the inside out takes time and there can be great value in various sources of guidance.

I delight in my family obligations, but they leave little time for breaks let alone quick trips across the country.

From the time I started school, it was clear to everyone that I wasn't learning at the same pace as other kids.

While women across the globe have many differences - language, culture, environment - our similarities are undeniable, and the impact of abuse and oppression affects us all.

I'm proud that today, at 43 years old, I've come to value the aging process and focus on inner rather than outer beauty.

I bicycle 12,000-foot mountain passes, run, cross train, skate-ski, hike and mountain bike.

I was born in 1968, just eighteen months after my sister Chrisse and just one year after Dad passed the bar exam.

The doctor asked what my diet was like and I had to sit down and realize it's not normal, and hadn't been normal for about 20 years.

The pressure was if I didn't get into that dress size someone else would - someone else would get the job.

I was essentially paid to perpetuate the myth that we are all, or should at least try to be, 17 and a size 2 forever.