It’s time we give up the desire to be skinny. You have to be okay with yourself no matter what your size. If you are overweight then you should love yourself enough to give you the gift of health. It would be nice if we did it to feel good, strong and at peak health instead of to project an image of ourselves and to the world.
In all honesty, we know that our body should not really be a reflection of ourselves. It is a reflection of our health. That being said a person who is in perfect health is not any more lovable than a sick one at least that is the way it should be.
Cathy’s story:
“I think back on the time I was in my teens, twenties, thirties, forties and now my fifties. In my teens I think I thought my body was perfect. I didn’t go on diets, I didn’t exercise profusely and I thought I was great the way I was. It was because I was just me. It was what was inside. I fixed my hair, dressed nicely and was stylish, but it was for fun, not because I felt a pull to project myself in a certain way. When I got out on my own things changed. Maybe it was because I wasn’t regimented. It was also the dawn of fast foods and the fact that I was old enough to drink.
I fasted for 30 days. After 3 days I was in a state of euphoria and I loved that. At the end of the 30 days I was really hot! I also had really bad breath and gained weight back just by looking at food.
Through my 20′s all I had to do was gain a pound and I felt like I was ready to go over the edge into obesity. I was actually underweight but I never felt that way.
In my 30′s I went through what most women wait until their 50′s for. It was a surgical menopause and from then on it was a major struggle to keep weight off. I took diet pills for a long time. I found the doctor who advertised fen fen and that stuff really worked. I think I am probably pretty lucky that I didn’t develop heart trouble like everyone else. My supply got cut off and phentermine did not work in the same way.
In my 40′s I went back to school and was investing so much time in my studies and business that I forgot to eat and I lost weight again. This time I gained it all back as F-A-T.
Which takes me into my 50′s; I began my 50′s with that f-a-t. I was not obese but I was so inflamed from medication that I looked like I carried around an extra 20 lbs. I began eating more (yes more healthy foods) and moving more and I got to where I wanted to be slim and healthy. I no longer eat to be skinny, I eat to be healthy. The truth is, if we quit eating foods that add to our health, we quit being healthy. Finally, in my 50′s I figured out that the two are connected. If I give my body the gift of health, it gives me back what I am meant to be. I may not be meant to be skinny any more, but I am back to the healthy place I was as a kid and a teenager where it is about me and not my figure.”
Truth is, I totally relate to Cathy’s story. At the beginning I was perfectly happy and it was because my body was exactly what I wanted it to be, thin without any work. The more junk I ate and the more I tried to manipulate my weight the harder it became. Hormones are what put me over the edge. The older I got, the harder it was to control my weight. I am not providing excuses, I am only stating my struggles. I keep asking, “Why do these people follow these diet regimens and gain it all back?” If the diet is so great, why don’t they stay on it or if they do stay on it, why don’t they maintain the loss?” The truth is, consistency is a big thing. Second to consistency is constant improvement and upgrades to what we do.
You cannot do intermittent health care. Movement has to be a daily thing. We have to eat to nourish and maintain our bodies. It is an odd thing that has happened in our society where food intake is such a social and pleasure thing instead of a way to fuel our bodies. We have to learn to cultivate happiness and make it a part of our everyday lives.
There is nothing wrong with being aware of what we do to stay slim and strong and healthy. But we should love ourselves for who we are on the inside but also love the potential we have; both inner and outer and always strive to live up to it.
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