I am very inspired by the vision of TMOOH. It’s so refreshing to see a clothing brand that promotes positive body image rather than the distorted view of beauty that we are constantly bombarded with by the media. The thing that no one realizes is that as long as you have a healthy body, you should be happy there. Yes, being obese can be unhealthy, but so can being too skinny.

I never had an eating disorder, never gone on a diet, or tried to lose weight in any way. I’ve always had a high metabolism, and especially when I was younger, I was tall, but skinny. People often asked if I had an eating disorder, and even though I was healthy, it really bothered me. I wanted to be normal. I subconsciously started eating a lot more, especially junk food. I was trying to gain weight. As far as weight goes, nothing changed, but I felt a lot more unhealthy. Over time I realized that even though I’m thin, I’m also healthy, and I am completely okay with the way I am. God created me this way and I shouldn’t try to change it through unhealthy means. I feel great about my body, and I hope that TMOOH can spread positive body image all over.

Thanks for impacting people!

-Monika

Hello, my name is Caela.

I have been watching Survivor forever, and after the finale I decided to look Brett up, and I learned that he had a teeshirt company. I saw this website, and I absolutely loved it. I have always been worried about my appearence and how I look, I’ve even tried starving myself and I used to cut myself before, because of wanting to look a certain way. But after seeing this website, it made me feel so good about myself. This project truly is amazing, and I want to say thank you.

-Caela

Hey guys,

I just wanted to say that I love your company and I admire the positive message that you are sending out to people about body image.

I am in my second year of College and I can’t remember a time that I wasn’t made fun of because I am not what magazines consider beautiful, mainly because I am not the skinniest person. Because of the way people have treated me it makes it hard for me to have confidence in myself and the way I look. There have been many times when I would come home from school and sit in my room crying because I felt like I would never be good enough to be considered beautiful.

But finding your website and reading all the positive messages you post made me smile. I look at your site all the time because knowing that there are people out there who believe in inner beauty gives me the strength to get out of bed in the morning and smile when i see my reflection instead of trying to avoid looking at it.

Thanks for everything you guys do,
Amanda

Creative commons image by edastrauch/flickr

I’m Kat and I think that your designs are a great idea to try and help the world realize how bad eating disorders and things like that are. I am 16 and i can feel the pressure to have a perfect body. Unfortunetly this is definetly a huge problem of the 21st century and by making this company i hope that it will show everyone that you can be who you are and not feel insecure, it definetly showed me and i want to thank you for that

-Katerina

For awhile I felt out of place, like everyone around me had a better body type in some way. No matter how hard I tried, it would always be like that. People who did, still hated the way they looked and it made me feel even worse. TMOOH has a great message and really has inspired me. It has inspired me to love myself and I really have been. I take every compliment and truly appreciate them. I hope one day everyone will be able to grasp this. Grasp that no one is perfect and truly, loving yourself is key.

Dear Brett and Courtney,

I used to watch survivor all the time ages ago, yet stopped recently. However, in the last week, I saw the last couple episodes of Samoa. I was immediately drawn to you, Brett. I couldn’t figure out why you seemed so much different than anyone I’d seen before. You had such a great light, and energy…it was magnetic. Then, when you recited a scripture to Natalie…I was sold. I was so inspired to see such a pure hearted person in such a manipulative game.

Later, my friend mentioned to me that you designed t-shirts for a living despite the fact that all your survivor peers referred to you as simply “the kid”. So I decided to look you up online, and found TMOOH. I was floored. It seemed like fate for me to have been lead to this project…being in my young 20s and one of the women in this world that has constantly struggled with insecurity and image, simply because of all the pressure in society. I’ve always been active, healthy and average… but because the world said I was fat because I wasn’t a size zero, I believed it.

After struggling through fad diets and eating disorders in high school, what brought me out of my self-doubt and insecurity was my faith and people like you and Courtney working to inspire the world that EVERYONE is beautiful and has something to offer to this world. I am SO THANKFUL to have stumbled upon your mission; it’s SO encouraging to see that in our generation, there are still people willing to fight for people. Everyone deserves to be happy and free in their own skin. Thank you so much for everything you’ve done…and all you’ll continue to do. This is amazing, and WILL touch the lives of many. It’s definitely touched mine, and I plan on spreading the word.

I feel so strongly about this as well, and like I said… it really encourages me to keep going forward knowing that I’m not alone in the fight. We’re ALL beautiful, and it’s time we see it for what it is, instead of through the skewed reality society paints for us.

Thanks so much again,
Kimberly

Dear The Monument of Our Hearts,
I read Luke’s story. It inspired me to write my own to y’all.

I’m not popular, but I’m not the lowest person on the totem pole. I used to be obese, but I never had the motivation to change it. I always blamed that single factor for all of my unhappiness, all of my problems, all of my failures, and, for awhile, I liked having that scapegoat-esque factor in myself. But, in truth, just thinking that that was my single fault (and that people judged me any worse for it) was one of the greatest mistakes of my life. Finally, in my sophomore year, all of it started to change. I hadn’t made the basketball team the year before, a devastating blow since I’d been playing for over half of my life, but instead of sulking, I joined crew. That decision was one of the best decisions that I will ever make in my life. I have met some of my best friends in this sport. They helped me see that beauty is who you are, not what you look like.
More…

It’s awesome that you’re using your talents and life promoting advocacy and healthy body images. Being a young lady myself, body image has always plagued me. Thankfully, as I’ve grown up, I’ve learned that who I am is more than what I look like. I’ve used my talents and my brain to find things that make me happy and lead a satisfying life, even if the road to happiness does have its own share of struggles and obstacles. Body image should not be an obstacle in the pursuit to happiness. Instead, healthy body image should be a spectator encouraging you along the way. Seeing a young man like you validate the need for awareness and actually caring is….well, its beyond my own words.

Thank you.
J.A.

Being an overweight girl my whole life has been hard especially now since im in high school. I have tried almost every diet and exercise plan out there but can never seem to lose more than 10 lbs. Because of my issues with my body I have been cutting for almost two years because to me it was one thing that I could control about my body. My friend was wearing one of the shirts at school and told me to go to the website and get one for myself.  As I was reading the Live it  sections of the site I couldn’t help but think of all the girls out there who are struggling with the same issues that I am. After reading this I didn’t want to cut anymore because I did truly feel beautiful for once in my life. I know that one week of not cutting may not seem like much to you but to me it has taken so much strength to not pick up a razor. Thank you so much for creating this company and sharing your vision with the world, you will never know how much it means to me

-Z

Hey TMOOH,

You guys are doing such a great thing, promoting self confidence and what not. I used to think that the only thing guys were attracted to were looks. But now I realize that isn’t true at all- they’re attracted to confidence. If you know your body and you know how to carry it, you’re perfect. You could be the most beautiful person in the world, but if you’re ashamed of yourself, no one will see you’re beauty.

On another note, I love your designs, they’re really unique. And that’s what being you is all about right? Being unique.

- Breanna