Amy Rangel
strips down for our feature on the beauty and blemish of
the human body.
Amy Rangel,
26
San Antonio
Likes: breasts,
height
Dislikes: belly
As a teenager in
Texas, Amy Rangel “never felt ugly”—no
matter what size she was. Then she moved to Los
Angeles. “It’s really brutal here,” she
says. “Someone I was dating…well, I had put on
some weight, and she told me ‘I’m not
attracted to you anymore.’ It was really hurtful. I
don’t think there’s anything wrong with
being heavy. I’m from Texas!”
[video here]
Still, the
experience inspired her to begin dieting and exercise, and
this year she lost 50 pounds. Assessing her new body, she
says, “This is the smallest I’ve ever
been in my life. I’m a size 12. That’s like
giant for here, but back home people come up and say
‘Oh, my gosh, you’re so skinny.’
” But Rangel says she’s happy to have shed the
pounds. “I do feel good about myself,”
the 26-year-old says. “But I’m choosing to be
the size I am because I’m trying to be healthy.
I’m not trying to be stick-thin or copy
something I see in a magazine.” Recently, her
now-ex-girlfriend apologized for what she said. “She
told me that I was beautiful,” Rangel says.
“She even told me that she thinks I’m the most
beautiful woman on earth, which is kind of nice, you
know?”
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Page 1 of 3
Profiles by Neal
Broverman, Kyle Buchanan, Japhy Grant