So what is “Normal Sized” or “Average?”
Mekayla Diehl is “Normal”
More specifically, I keep hearing about Mekayla Diehl and her recent beauty pageant ‘win…’, and trust me, it is a win!
There are only two times when I recall anyone talking about a beauty pageant:
- When Miss Teen South Carolina’s video went viral for her botched answer to “why 1/5 of Americans can’t locate the United States on a world map”.
- When Miss Indiana, Mekayla Diehl, sported a bikini in front of the world viewing audience with a less than perfect flattering figure by recent competition standards.
Despite being eliminated prior to the top 10, most mainstream media outlets including Twitter @RealMissINUSA @stephwatson_91, @terraj21 and others saw a frenzy of activity with overwhelming applause for Mekayla’s so called “normal” body. No doubt about it, she was confident in her own skin and owned the moment.
Most comments thank her for not being a bag of bones, loving the ‘healthy’ life and representing the “Average” or “Normal” woman.
Where I have a problem, and the newscaster agrees, is that many people are saying she looks “Normal”, like them, and in reality they haven’t done the self check picture – odds are those people who say she looks normal see themselves looking like her in their mind… and only their mind, not their mirror or camera.
This video shows Mekayla’s body compared to the “Average” American woman and the difference is striking….
• 5’8” vs 5’3”
• Size 4 vs size 12/14
One person even referred to her as a size 2. Really, a size two? I don’t think so and neither does anyone else who is being honest! With the average US women’s size being 12 to 14, I think most people may be confused on what a size 2 looks like.
Certainly Mekayla is a very pretty girl, but let’s not confuse a beauty contest with any level of fitness or health. Just to set the record straight, there is no normal size.
There is only healthy and unhealthy.
Just because Miss Indiana chooses to carry a few extra pounds compared to other competitors does not make her healthy, fit, or normal. The interviewee on the video even said that with all this wonderful response the public is “thirsting for diversity and the way we see beauty”. She was trying to justify the fitness level of Miss Indiana and they are mixing apples and oranges.
There are a lot of old sayings – beauty is in the eye of the beholder pops into mind and thank goodness everyone perceives beauty differently or we’d all have a hard time finding dates, but stop right there…
Beauty is NOT fitness. Most fit women are beautiful in my opinion, but I know there are some guys who like XXL women.
But don’t think for a second that when she disrobed in front of the world, she wouldn’t trade her “normal” physique for a lean body with abs if it were super easy… It is not. The interviewee hit the key point right on the head – “saying she is the average American woman is not really the right thing to say in this context because this is, once again, Miss USA”. I think she was from Emmenation.com – I need to check it out since she seemed pretty logical and honest.
Let me repeat one thing above, this is Miss FREAKING America! Not Saturday date night at the movies, the gym at 5pm, or even speed dating… In any one of those contexts she would be way above average to downright smoking hot, but if she would have made a few changes in the kitchen and the gym, no doubt we would have seen her in the top 10 and maybe even wearing the crown.
Just because she didn’t make that commitment doesn’t make her fit… she is way more fit than 80 – 90% of Americans her age, but it would be like me comparing myself to Ronnie or Arnold or stepping onto the Arnold Classic stage or even trying to compete at a mid size city qualifier bodybuilding tournament… Out of my league… and I am self-aware enough to know that I am not in good enough shape compared to the competition to win. Still better than most people and still above average American 40ish year old men, but not Elite level.
I realize that this is a beauty contest, not a fitness contest, but over the years it looks like it has evolved to include many of the requirements of fitness contests so being a little different worked in her favor, not during the contest, but after and most likely she’ll get modeling or spokesperson contracts because of that “different” type of beauty – like a mole on Julia Roberts’ face. Still doesn’t make her elite fit just as it doesn’t make her “Normal” American fit… Get real America and quit lying to yourself.
Now back to my “normal” lifestyle of eating fruits, vegetables and lean meat, combined with a “normal” amount of exercise. Oh yeah, see you in the gym at 5am, right?
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