My favorite specific message from the 2009 Fat Talk Free Week video states “Focus on Health not on weight or size.” I think that my personal journey started in an attempt to meet the thin ideal that surrounded me in society. I needed to be skinny. But four years into my journey, it has become more about health. Now, I need to be healthy. I don’t have to be a size 2 or even a size 10. A number on a label will not guarantee my happiness nor the direction my life takes. But a healthy body and mind will have a huge impact on my future. And I have big plans!
It is okay to want to lose weight for the sake of health – I encourage it! Adopting a lifestyle full of exercise and healthy habits is a positive choice. The important part is to keep that positivity at the forefront of your mind everyday. We can’t let Fat Talk creep in and turn a positive journey into a negative one. I find that it is a delicate balance for myself. I have had moments where I’ve broken down in the last year over weight. Just cried, and screamed a little too perhaps, and said terrible, hateful things about myself and my body. Things I would NEVER say to a friend, a family member or even a stranger. That kind of self talk is Fat Talk and it is not constructive. I certainly didn’t feel better after putting myself down! As Kelcey quoted “If you don’t like what’s being said, change the conversation.”
I truly love myself. I LOVE who Gwen is. I want to get to a place where I can say the same thing about my body. Right now, I accept my body the way it is – beautiful in so many ways and a work in progress. It always will be. But I know I can do better. I want to be healthy, and I’m well on my way. I want to run another marathon when I’m 30. I want to set a good example for my kids someday. I want to make sure that I’m still able to run around with H in 40 years. I have a lot of living to do! Losing weight and maintaining an active lifestyle are part of that for me.
Fat Talk has no place in that lifestyle, or any for that matter. It must be eliminated, because it only pulls me down into a dark and stormy place. So while I struggle on occasion with that I see in the mirror or how I feel I stack up next to other women, I will not fill my mind with Fat Talk. I will focus on my health and the strides I’ve made. And I’ll be proud. And pull my chin up, square my shoulders and smile. Because I’m really quite something, really, all you have to do is ask me and I’ll tell you!
Three things I LURVE about my body:
- I have super soft skin – ask H
- my blue eyes…they’re killer
- I have pretty great calves and legs, esp in tights!
What about you, what do you LURVE about your body?
