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Hey, it's Mariel.

When I was walking home yesterday, I saw a sign outside my local gym.

It said something like, got a bikini, got a body, then you have a bikini body.

I love this idea, and the way it pushes back against the common narrative that you're only

allowed to go to the pool or show your belly or even exist in the world if your body looks a certain

way. Ronald Young Jr. has thought about this topic a lot. So recently I went to a pool and there was a

picture that like came out of me shirtless and like normally I like go through great lengths of only letting people in person see me shirtless.

Like I've never posted a picture online or any of that.

Ronald is the award-winning host of Wait For It, a podcast that he says unpacks the nuanced thoughts of fat folks and all folks who think about their weight all the time.

And he understands that hesitation, the body insecurity people feel in a bathing suit or just

walking down the street. But he says there's so much more to a person than their body or the

clothes they put on it. So why not try to focus on your presence, your attitude, owning everything about

who you are? I saw this picture and I was like, you know what? Hell yeah. This is a good.

That was like a good opening to Hot Ron Summer, as I call it. That makes me so happy. I like that.

Hell yeah, looking at yourself in the photo.

Katie Sterino first found a following online by using her style and voice to promote size inclusivity

and body acceptance. She wrote a book called Body Talk, How to Embrace Your Body and Start Living

Your Best Life. And she's also the author of a new novel called Sunny Side Up.

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