Growing up in the UK in the '70s and '80s, I didn't see a lot of people like me, I was quiet and shy and stayed in the shadows.

Like most teenage girls in those days, I wanted to be a supermodel like Cindy Crawford, but I was too short and too round. I tried many fad diets that didn't work. Then I discovered exercise, which helped me to lose weight, but in my head, I was still too fat.

As I am reaching half a century next year, only now (49 years later) have I truly begun to love and appreciate my body. The strength it gives me, and the babies it's produced for me. I still have my insecurities, but instead of letting them depreciate me, I try to embrace them. I need to set a good example for my own teenage daughter, so she grows up strong and confident.