From Crash Dieter to Body Acceptance Activist; Carmen Rene Talks: Loving Our Bodies at Any Size, Living with Lymphedema & her “Eat the Cake Too” Movement!

This week, Rye and Jess had a really powerful conversation with Model, Speaker and Body Acceptance Activist, Carmen Rene. Carmen has a thriving, engaged community of followers on Instagram, through her account - "eatthecaketoo" where she shares insightful, thought-provoking captions, along with unfiltered, un-airbrushed photos, celebrating her curves, rolls and every bit of cellulite..encouraging others to be kind themselves, embrace and accept their bodies as they - in all their beauty! Carmen also shares a lot of realness, recipes, plus size fashion tips and more on her YouTube channel, which she plans to ramp up even more in 2020! In this episode we talk about: The moment when she realized that something was “wrong” with her body size and how it almost became the catalyst for her journey to becoming a body positive activist Her experience going to weight watchers from the 6th grade on and how she finally broke free from the diet culture and decided to focus on how foods make her feel instead of if they would help her lose weight The sexy photoshoot that was the jump off point for her Eat the Cake Too movement on Instagram and how she highlighted all areas of her body to communicate the message that your body is beautiful no matter what your size Carmen’s experience living with lymphedema and how it’s impacted her confidence, her modeling career and her message The misconception that being fat is unhealthy and why our health cannot be measured on a scale What body acceptance means to her and how she’s gotten to a place where she fully and unapologetically embraces her body in real life and on social media The support she’s received from her partner and how he’s helped her to fully embrace her body PLUS What Carmen is really looking forward to sharing more of in 2020! Resources: Carmen Rene on Instagram @eathecaketoo  Carmen Rene on YouTube  Carmen’s Inspirations on Instagram Tess Holiday @tessholliday  Paul Fishman @paulfishman  Brianna McDonnell @_the_b_word_  CONNECT WITH US Shoot us an email! [email protected] Send us a DM! Solo 2.0 Podcast on Instagram Jessica Suchan on Instagram Ryan Burch on Instagram