An Interview with Ingrid Sigfridsson - Fabulously pink and glittery Diet Drop out!

           Ingrid Sigfridsson is a Swedish Girly girl with a love for all things 50's, a multitude of tattoo's and a lipstick collection to rival a cosmetic isle this woman is a force to be reckoned with! Spreading positive self love vibes on the daily whilst listening to vinyl and wanderlusting over places she can travel too next! I managed to get an interview with the fabulous Ingrid and ask her my body positive interview, I want to know everything about her body positive journey and how she developed her confidence!

All the images of Ingrid are linked back to her Instagram to give her the credit she so rightly deserves and also to make it easier for you guys to follow her and become as inspired as me! Now, introductions are over, let's get down to interviewing!!

 So Ingrid, how did you decide to start blogging your journey on Instagram?

  Well, it kind of just happened. I started my Instagram account just to post selfies and pictures of things I think are cool, like biker jackets, 1950's diners and stuff like that. One day someone commented "You are fat" on a photo and I reacted with "You're damn right I'm fat! So what?" and I started to post body positive mottos and how I'm not ashamed about my body and why no one should feel bad about themselves. Soon I discovered that there was a wonderful community of body positive bloggers on Instagram and my stuff got reposted, I got followers and eventually my page had turned into a body positive page, which I'm so happy about!

Wow, crazy how one comment can be a catalyst for something so fantastic. Is that what made you choose to practice body positivity?

  I'd say why not be body positive? Wouldn't anyone rather be accepting and happy than spending time and money on hating themselves?

It's a kind of survival strategy to me, to choose self love over negativity.

I think everybody would rather be accepting and happy If they could but it's a hard behaviour to learn, is this the reason you decided to promote body positivity?

A few yeas ago, during lunch break at work, one of my co-worker was talking about that she and her family were planning to go to the beach and how she was hoping that nobody would be disgusted about seeing her body in a bikini. I thought that was so sad that she couldn't be just excited and happy about spending a day in the sun instead of being anxious about her body. "I think you'll be fine, though. Everyone's at the beach is too busy worrying about themselves, they won't pay attention to you" I said.

   Two days later she came up to me with a huge smile on her face and said "Guess what? I had your words in the back of my head the entire day at the beach and you were right - nobody cared and I had the best day ever! Wanna see pictures?"  

Right there and then I realised how big of an impact we have on each other, how a few positive words can change things. Isn't that amazing? That's why I decided to promote body positivity.

Yes, it is amazing how just a few comments can change somebody's perspective /goals regarding their bodies. Has self love always been one of your goals?

More or less, yes. It's quite hard to tell exactly where and when it started for me, but I think it was a reaction towards being badly bullied in school and by family members for being fat. It came to the point in high school where I had to decide if I would let them break me or fight back and be happy. The choice was easy - I dyed my bangs purple and started wearing short dresses although people told me I couldn't. Well I did it anyway because it made me feel good - and no one died from seeing my body! Of course it was still a daily struggle, but by standing up for myself and look fear in the eye I gained confidence and that took me a long way. Sure, people still bullied me, but at least they bullied me for being myself which make them the weak and insecure ones.

So inspirational, even I wish I had that type of confidence. I believe it's important to love and feel confident about ones self, it's just so hard! Why do you believe self love is important?

Because it's entirely necessary to love or at least accept not only your own body but all types of bodies to be happy. Nothing constructive or positive comes out if self-loathing or a judgemental state of mind. It's important to remember that body positivity and self love is not about promoting a certain body type or life style. It's about loving and accepting ALL bodies, no matter if you're skinny, fat, buffed, chubby or whatever. I don't care if you're a gym rat or couch potato, you're still beautiful and awesome.

Sound advice, i'm definitely an awesome beautiful couch potato!  Do you have any advice from others who are looking to practice self acceptance and being body positive?

It IS a journey and it takes time and effort to reach self love and acceptance, because we are practically brainwashed into constantly critizing ourselves and others - that is considered normal, even requested. Unfortunately confidence can be labeled as arrogance, but that is definately not the same thing! There is nothing wrong with loving yourself, ever! Start looking at all types of bodies without judgement. Really look at them and challenge your own reactions - "Why do I think that is ugly/wrong?". We basically need to re-program our minds because we have been teached from the day we were born that we need to change, to lose weight, to hide our bodies, to be self-consious. 

Fake it until you make it! Look at yourself in the mirror and say "I'm okay, I'm good enough". It sounds silly but it works! 

And remember that your body and mind hear everything you think about yourself. Be careful with that selfdegration we so easily do, it does a lot of harm. Be kind to yourself!

I hear a lot of people claim confidence as arrogance, it makes it difficult to feel confident when people are sneering and exclaiming they hate arrogance! Is this the hardest thing to deal with when learning to accept ones self?

No, I find being constantly questioned. "Are you sure you should wear that?" "Should you eat that?" What people really should do is minding their own business and pay less attention to what others do. One of the most important things we need to learn is that other people's bodies are not ours to comment, chritisize, make assumtions or suggestions about. We are obsessed with bodies! Look at the Oscar's. Nobody cares about the movies, it's all about the celebrities and what they are wearing, who looks fat etc. And it's the same thing in every magazine, every school, every workplace. You are considered a weirdo if you're not dieting or at least putting yourself down. 

We need to start focusing on ourselves as individuals and not as bodies. We are so much more than a body: we are amazing human beings with hearts and souls.

I get a lot of ' should you eat that? ' too , the most common being ' I thought you was on a diet?! '. What are your thoughts the dieting industry?

It's an industry that makes billions every year by telling us we are never thin or pretty enough! How can that even be legal? They honestly couldn't care less about people's health or well-being, they want us to starve ourselves and hate our bodies so we buy more products, more "miracle diets" that never works. And they always pull the health card! "Being fat is unhealthy!" No! Skinny isn't equal to healthy, fat isn't equal to unhealthy. You can never tell much about a person's health status just by looking at their body, people of all sizes get sick. And would you ever blame a thin person with bad eating habits for getting ill?And health is so much more than physical health, it's about our emotional and mental health too. 

 Has loving yourself opened up any opportunities for you?

Oh definately! I've met so many lovely new friends, online and irl, people who've become very important to me. And I feel less limited, there is practically nothing I can't do if I really want it - and that goes for everyone! Your body or weight doesn't dictate your abilities or dreams.

I love meeting new friends with the same goals and ideas as me, can you recommend any inspirational people, or articles to others regarding self love and acceptance?

 

The book that really changed my way of thinking is "Fat! So?" by Marilyn Wann, it's so great and funny and a brilliant lession in how to embrace and accept yourself. I recommend it to everyone, regardless of their body type.  On Instagram there is a wonderful community called Pizzasisters4lyfe, a very positive and supporting group of people who are all about body love - check them out!

Link To Pizzasisters 4 lyfe is here.

I'll have to check them out myself , love myself a bit of pizza and a good book! Have you read or do you know any body positive mantras/mottos that resonate with you?

"All bodies are good bodies". 

Very true! Very positive which is what we're all about! Do you have a favorite positive song you like to play, cheer you up?

That's a tough one, because music is such a huge thing in my life, I'm a record hoarder. I'd say something from the 1960's, like "Dancing In the Streets" by The Mamas & The Papas. And "Rock Star" by Hole!

 Awesome! lastly , if you were a superhero whose power was to spread to gift of self love, what would you name yourself and who would you gift self love too first?

My name would be Diet Dropout (which also is my hashtag on Insta), I would have a pink cape with DD in silver glitter letters and I'd give the ability to self love to the next random person I meet - everyone deserves to start practicing radical self love!