This is a post about loving your body. In a health way, not a sexual way. Gutter mind. Or maybe that's just me. Anyways...
If you've read anything else ever about how and why to love your body based on anything but your weight, you probably won't read the same things here. This is partly a rant, based on how frustrating living in my own body is. It is also partly inspirational, because I hope a few people will realize how lucky they are, and that they should show themselves some love.
I myself have read a bunch of stuff over the years about how to love your body, mostly based on the facts of all it can do and how strong it is, and how to feel good about it's abilities that are not related to how much you weigh.
HOWEVER.
When you live in a culture like ours and you feel you need help with your health journey, and your doctor or nurse practitioner tells you that they can't help you because you 'technically' fall within the 'healthy limit' on the BMI scale, that can be extremely frustrating. First of all, BMI is so outdated, so don't even get me started there. That's a terrible thing to be refusing someone help based on. But I guess when you look at me and then you look around you at all the obese people, you can make an easy judgment about who needs more help.
The difference though is that I WANT HELP. I think it's ridiculous to tell someone that they weigh a fine amount, so they just need to accept it and move on. So your birth control pill makes you hold an extra 10 pounds...so what? So your Nexium makes you gain extra weight...so what? You're healthy enough, and hey, if you want to have babies one day, you should just focus on 'being healthy'.
Here's the kicker. I'm not healthy. Oh sure, on the outside I look perfectly healthy, and you might see me eating a bunch of carrots or going to the gym, but the truth is that my body is broken on the inside. Pretty badly too. If you haven't read about my health problems before, let me break it down again. I've got endometriosis, IBS, asthma, GERD...plus, I get migraines, and have suffered through many joint and muscle issues. I don't say this to have a pity party, but I say it to point out that what I have to do to stay in the mediocre shape I'm in now is above and beyond what most people do to be super fit. Almost 8 hours of working out every week, plus eating well most of the time. I warmup, I stretch, I squat, I run, and nothing. Yes, I am stronger, and I am very thankful to my body that it can do that. But I know I need to lose fat to be healthier. Honestly, if I weighed that same as I did now and had less body fat, I would be so happy. Not only would all my hard work shine through, but I would be healthier. There are health problems that run in my family that can be staved off by maintaining lower body fat. I don't want them! And I'm trying to do everything, and nothing works. I've had to resort to taking fat burner pills just to see some progress, and I was really torn about it. I wanted to do it on my own and I couldn't. With all the work I put in, that should scream to a doctor that there is something else wrong with me. But no. It's all, "It's probably what you're eating, keep a food diary", and "Birth control could cause a few pounds gain but not as much as you think". Never mind that I know in my mind what I eat every day, and that last time I went off birth control I lost 10 pounds and then some. NOOO. I have to be wrong. Because what do I know?
Which brings me to the purpose of this post. And some of you might not like this, and that's fine, because I'm past the point of caring. If you are sitting there overweight or obese and reading this...get off your butt and go for a walk. Go biking. Go swimming, go running, go to the gym!! If you have health problems due to your weight problem, please do me a favour...make yourself better. Work out, eat healthy, do something! It bugs me to know that there are people out there killing themselves with food and sitting on their couches and just accepting their fate when I can't do anything about my own problems despite wanting to and working so hard for it. You can do it. You have the power, and I bet that underneath the fat and illness is a healthy person just dying to get out. I'm so frustrated with my own body so often, and honestly, I don't always love it, but there's NOTHING I CAN DO ABOUT IT. I often say to my husband how much I hate my body and how much it hates me. And hearing that I should just give up and be satisfied with it is infuriating to a degree I can't even describe. But you. You can be healthy. You can solve all your problems. Just get up and take the first steps. Please. You can do it. That is how you can show your body some love. It's that easy.
<3 Amanda
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