I treat my body as if it were my best friend

MunemiIs your current body shape your most natural state?

MunemiWould you say that the figure you have now is the most natural for you?

KateHmm, yes… The reason I paused is because I’ve been exercising a lot for the past six or seven months, so I’m a bit bigger than I was in the two years prior. But yes, this is about my normal. When I exercise a lot, I get very hungry, so I end up eating more. I generally gain or lose about two kilograms, but that’s normal for me.

KateI would say… yes. (pause) The reason I hesitate is because I’ve been exercising a lot more the past 6,7 months. So I’m a little bigger than I had been the previous couple years. But about this range is what I feel normal for me.
When I do quite a lot of exercise I get so hungry that ended up eating more and get bigger. I go up down about plus minus 5 pounds and that’s about natural for me.

Ideally, I eat very healthy foods. I really like natural foods and try to avoid processed ones. Very simple things. But I also love cookies and ice cream, and it’s okay to eat a little bit occasionally. I basically eat a very balanced diet. I’m very conscious about staying healthy, and I want to remain healthy in my 40s and 50s.

Ideally, my diet would include basically very healthy food, I’m really into natural whole food and I don’t like to eat processed food, really basic simple stuff. I also love my cookies and ice creams, you know, a little bit of dessert here and now is fine. I’m a very balanced eater. Also when I get older, I’m so aware being healthy and wanting to continue to be healthy in my 40s and in my 50s.

MunemiFinally, in Japan, plus-size models don’t exist, yet many women lack confidence in their appearance, obsess over their weight, and go on extreme diets. What message do you have for them, having overcome your own struggles and found peace with yourself?

MunemiWell, finally. There is no plus size modeling in Japan, but there are a lot of girls being insecure and struggling with their weight and be on a strict diet. What would you like to tell them as someone who’s gone through it then found a peace in yourself.

KateI think it’s a difficult issue for women all over the world. The messages from the media are overwhelming: if you want to be attractive, if you want to be successful, if you want to be happy, you must be thin. Considering that many people are naturally petite, I imagine it’s even harder in Asia. The pressure on Japanese women to be slim, not only the pressure felt by women worldwide to achieve an ideal appearance, but also the unfortunate tendency seen in many places globally where women are expected to be petite, reserved, quiet, and not too opinionated, and to be subordinate. In such an environment, if you are large-bodied, the psychological distress you feel would likely be even deeper.

KateSo I imagine it’s really hard for women all over the world. The message in the media is overwhelming if you want to be attractive and want to be successful, if you want to be happy, you have to be thin. And in Asia, I imagine it’s even worse, because most of women are sort of naturally smaller than they are in Northern and Western countries. So the pressure for the Japanese women to be very slim, not just as women from all over the world too, not just to fulfill that the this ideal of beauty, you know, women are supposed to be small and not supposed to get in a way and not supposed to be too loud, and they are not supposed to have too much opinions, women are supposed to be subordinate, all over the world, unfortunately.
So when you are bigger and it’s such a deep psychological problems with that, just in society, because you are not supposed to look bigger, you are just not supposed to be in a way.

My first message is that I deeply understand the desire to be accepted, the longing to achieve conventional ideals of beauty, and the struggles and conflicts that come with it. With that understanding, I can say that my life opened up to greater happiness when I became healthy and began to respect my body. I treat my body as if it were my best friend. I wouldn’t tell my best friend, “You’re too fat,” would I? I would look for all the beautiful parts of my friend. But we often tend to look for flaws when we look at ourselves. So, please, treat your own body with the same respect you would give to your very best friend. When I was a skinny model, even when I seemed to have achieved everything I desired, I was still fighting with myself. But after I accepted myself and began to respect my body, I found more happiness, more professional success, and I started to see myself as more beautiful. The success that came when I truly liberated myself was truly wonderful. And the feeling of being freed from the pressure to conform to conventional beauty is priceless. I wish for all women to give themselves that gift.

My first message is, for any women, I understand the desire, and I understand the problems and struggle of wanting to fit in, and wanting to be a cultural like ideal. That being said, I can say that I have found greater happiness in my life in being healthy, and treating my body with a respect and treating myself with a respect. I treat my body the way the kind of my best friend, so I would never say to my best friend “ You are too fat.” I would look at my best friend and I would see her how beautiful she is and all the positive things in her, well as when we look at ourselves, we tend to just see the negative things. So I would say, first, treat yourself with a respect in the way you treat your very best friend, and look at yourself with the eyes you look at your very best friend. And my advice is that when I done that to myself, I found much greater happiness and much greater success, and much greater beauty than when I was fighting with myself; I was someone who has been that ideal, I was a very successful skinny model, I had everything exactly the way supposed to be. And when I let myself being myself, the success was I mean, amazing! And so there is nothing quite like the feeling of being liberated from that needs to fill the ideal, and I would encourage all women to give back a gift to themselves.

It’s okay to say, “This is me, and I have so many wonderful things about me.”

MunemiI feel that many women try to change their appearance to be liked by men. Do you think that if they accept themselves and are natural, it would be more attractive to men?

Munemi　I think there are many women in Japan who would try to look like something that men would like. Would you say if you are comfortable with yourself and be yourself, and that would attract guys more than trying to be what they might like?

It’s okay not to have large breasts, or a flat stomach. You don’t have to be perfect. It’s okay to have fat, it’s okay to have whatever you consider a complex, as long as you can say, “This is me, and I have so many wonderful things about me.”

KateI would say so. When I was so so skinny, I occasionally got asked out, and I had a couple of boyfriends. But I was so sort of obsessed with my body, and I couldn’t fully fall in love. And I could never really be loved by them. When I started getting healthy, I noticed that I got asked out a lot more. I actually felt more sexy because I just really felt comfortable with my body and you know, again it’s all so physiological, because you may not look the way you may want to look, but if you can free yourself from the need to look the way you think supposed to, it’s incredible sexy thing. And the liberation, really attracts people. So purely being motivated by desire to attract people, men, it’s about sex appeal, and being confidence.

Men find very wide verity of things sexy. Men like skinny women, men like full figure women, men like women, as long as she make him feel good and as long as she feels good about herself. He’s going to be turned on. You don’t have to have huge boobs, you don’t have to have flat stomach, you don’t have to be perfect, you could have cellulite, whatever it is you think your problem is you could have it, as long as you are like “ You know what? It’s just me, and this is who I am. I have so many amazing other things to give.”

MunemiThat’s wonderful, Kate. I support you!

MunemiRight on, Kate! Cheers!

Kate Dillon is known in the fashion industry as a groundbreaker and a passionate advocate for environmental and humanitarian causes. Her work has been widely featured in the media, including on Anderson Cooper 360, Good Morning America, and the PBS NOVA series as well as in Vogue, Glamour, and People. In order to be a more effective advocate, Kate completed a Master’s in Public Administration in International Development at the Harvard Kennedy School in 2009 where she won an award for her thesis on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in Bolivia. Now back in the fashion industry full time, Kate continues to model while serving as vice-president of the Komera Project, a fund that provides scholarships for secondary education to girls in Rwanda, and is co-founder of stylecommune.com, a website for socially conscious style currently in development.