Wow, so that was quite the 8 weeks, no?

Getting Healthy was a huge success, and we’re really excited that you guys seem to like it as much as we do! The girls did an amazing job of sharing their stories, ups, downs, and thoughts – I’m eager to see the next chapter!

Speaking of… (Good segue, no?) We’ve done some rearranging around here, in terms of Getting Healthy:

• By multiple reader request, we have separated the RSS feeds completely. So if you were following Getting Healthy via the main TD feed, you’ll no longer receive GH updates once CH.II starts. You’ll want to subscribe to this feed to get the updates. The reasoning can be summed up by a reader comment we received, saying that “it’s like a SHAPE magazine stuffed inside a Lucky”. We’re both flattered, and amused!
• The main GH blog is still located here, but it looks much different! We’ve created a customized GH area with pertinent Getting Healthy Girl info, also by request! You’ll find all their contact information on this page, and once their intro posts go up, you’ll be able to view their goals from their author pages. You can locate each girl’s author page by clicking their byline (i.e. the “By ___” note beneath each post title) in their posts. We’re still working on the sidebar content, so do be patient!

Mind you, we’re still (& constantly) improving the new Getting Healthy area. We really, really, really appreciate those of you who took the time to fill out our survey. While GH might be getting pretty large, we want to assure you that the main function of TheDemoiselles.com is still about fashion relating to body image, and overall wellness. We’re not going anywhere! All of your notes and tips are much appreciated, and will be put to good use.

Please feel free to continue sending us feedback via our info@thedemoiselles.com address! Or, if you prefer a little more anonymity, use our Contact page.

PS – Don’t forget about the Banglz giveaway! It ends on Wednesday! This contest has ended.

It’s a well-known fact that The Demoiselles is focused, above all, on maintaining and promoting a positive body image.  But in the wake of fad diets and fat fashion, how do you define “positive body image”?   It’s a source of constant discussion, and during our many (and we mean many) conversations about the best way to present the idea of a positive body image, we kept returning to the same common denominator: health.

Mental health, emotional health, physical health: all three are crucial components of a positive outlook, including positive feelings about your body.  None of us are perfect in all three of these areas, us included.  We’re just two twenty-something women – like many of you – and we certainly don’t know it all.  (Case in point: sometimes we eat an entire box of macaroni and cheese in a sitting. Physical health? Please.)  But we certainly want to know it all…and we definitely don’t want to do it alone.

That’s when we had an idea. It’s something that would not only be a drastic change for The Demoiselles, but perhaps one of the coolest opportunities we’d ever have the ability to facilitate.

What if we got a bunch of girls, in ages ranging from 19 to 26, from 5′0″ to 5′10″, with almost every body type imaginable, all with different health goals…and asked them to document their progress along with us? Well, you’d have the new project we simply call “Getting Healthy“.

These girls, the both of us included, are committed to posting once per week about their goals, their health (mental, physical, emotional), their discoveries and their obstacles in the journey to become healthy.

You can find these posts (to begin next week!) under the “Getting Healthy” tab at the top of the page.  Additionally, because this is such a gigantic operation, we’ve created a new RSS feed specifically for the “Getting Healthy” category, which you can find by clicking here:

To keep The Demoiselles from getting too cluttered, we’ve decided to keep all Getting Healthy posts off the front page of the site, but if you’re subscribed to the main RSS feed – don’t worry! You’ll still get updates.  So add us to your feed reader! We promise you will not be disappointed.

Starting Monday, you’ll begin seeing introductions from each of the girls: their goals, their struggles, and even *gasp!* full body photos. As you get to know everyone, we encourage you to support, suggest, and interact with us, because we all know how amazing support can feel during a life change. Moreover, we hope that you’ll join us and make your own strides towards health – either privately, or in posts and Flickr photos along with us.

This is a huge life change for each of us, hopefully for the better.  What’s the biggest life change you’ve ever made?