When I was in high school, I was larger than some of the girls in my class. I thought I was fat.
Looking back and going through some of the pictures from high school, I realize I wasn’t fat at all. I was a wonderful healthy weight with wonderful healthy curves. The reality is at that time I was misguided.
In 2004 I lost a lot of weight as a result of my marriage ending. If you asked me how I did it, I couldn’t tell you. I was still eating. I had a very healthy relationship with desserts. But even though my weight and dress size had gone down I wasn’t happy nor did I feel I looked good.
Nine years later I’m taking a stand against diets and the phrase “losing weight.”
My stand is that I am going to first love myself the way I am.
I’ve always been heavy but most people couldn’t guess my correct weight. My critical health numbers are good although I am anemic. I look good in the clothes I wear. I’ve got an hourglass figure. I would say in general, I’m not too bad for a chick in her 40s.
I’ve been around people who constantly talk about losing weight. They don’t say “get healthy.” They are always losing weight. Always. This makes me wonder if they really want to lose weight or if there’s something else they want to change about themselves. Most of the time it is not their weight. Also, I’ve seen what yo-yo dieting does to a person’s heart. It’s not pretty.
What I have learned from my life is I’m in a good place. My primary focus is choosing healthy foods, enjoying some of the bad stuff (if I don’t have it I will crave it and eat more), and managing stress. Why would I want to add more stress by dieting?
I’ve found for my life that through loving myself I make better choices. Through those choices I have been able to maintain my weight and dress size. Accepting myself also energizes me to do the stuff I love like rebounding, walking and dancing my butt off when the rhythm is gonna get me (click this link and move).
What are your healthy choices?
