Friday, December 7, 2012

Body Issues...Dun Dun Dun!


Today we’re gonna talk about body issues, quite possibly one of the most widely discuss topics out there. My issues started at the age of 10, when during my class birthday party at school, a boy called me fat for having more than one candy bar. I’m not even sure if I was “fat” or overweight at the time, but that stuck with me forever. I don’t still think about the kid, or hold it against him, but I wonder if I would’ve ever had these serious issues had he not said anything. Maybe my body issues go along with my depression, because some days I don’t notice my flaws at all or don’t hate them as much as usual, and other days I beat myself up terribly over the extra weight I carry around. We all know society holds people to pretty high standards when it comes to physical appearance, and I have doubts it will ever change; at least probably not in my life time. So I think that is exactly where my issues came from, other than that stupid comment in middle school.

I’ve always been a pretty active person, played every sport there was from grade school through high school and I still exercise to this day. I just have had periods of no activity and being comfortable in my routine. I’ll bet someone else knows what it’s like to get into that boyfriend stage and eat out all the time and forget the gym membership you’re wasting money on by never going. So those are really my worst downfalls, social situations. I love to have a good time, and let’s be honest, majority of the time I would prefer to be having a blast at a bar rather than a gym. But the gym isn’t exactly supposed to be fun so that’s just another lame excuse, people don’t always go to the gym because they want to, but they go because they should. And by should I mean it’s good for you, so do it!

So here’s where actually being overweight started, because I think all my years in middle school and high school were wasted years of hating my body that Lord knows I would kill to have back. I always thought I was a bigger girl because all my friends are stick thin skinny minnies. So it all started in 2007.  I had been dating this guy for almost a year and fell into that comfortable stage I was talking about earlier. I’m not exactly sure how much weight I gained during the process, but I ended up at 170 lbs. That is a lot for a 5’3” (at the time) girl. I have always been thicker boned and muscular so I carry the weight well, but I think that’s another thing I attribute to being fat. I’m built very different from all of my friends so I had grown up hating my body, what a waste of energy I’m finding that was and is. So here we are at 170 lbs, my insecurity gets the best of me, always, I used to be insanely insecure and it has gotten the best of my and all of my relationships until this point in my life. Thankfully due to this new stage in my life I have found a world full of confidence I never knew I could have and never thought I deserved it or would find it. So we broke up, because of the insecurity, and I don’t blame him, it’s an ugly thing and I wasn’t proud of it. So I hired a personal trainer to whoop my butt into shape, and that he did. I lost 20 lbs and was feeling pretty damn good, despite how expensive the sessions were. I don’t regret it, because it helped me, but I don’t know that I’d ever pay so much for that type of thing again.

So five years have passed since then, and I’m not sure how the weight piled back on, but there were a few relationships in there, some spurts of depression, poor life choices, and one surgery that left me unable to exercise for a few weeks. I skyrocketed to 185 lbs. Good Lord for a short girl that is not attractive, and of course nobody would tell me I looked bad, because fortunately I do carry my weight very well. It doesn’t mean I should think I’m healthy and be happy with it though, and I wasn’t, and still aren’t. So in February of 2012 I joined a gym, desperate to lose weight. I’m not sure what my issue is, maybe a combo of not enough exercise and needing a better diet, but I have a really hard time losing weight. So I cleaned up my diet a lot, stopped drinking so much (I’m getting older, I can’t party like I’m 21 forever), exercised more and started to run. I don’t consider myself a runner, I have asthma and I was a smoker for a long time, and still do smoke sometimes on the weekends. But I can tell you this for sure; I would attribute my weight loss now, from drinking less and running more. I have lost 25 lbs in the past 3-4 months! And you best believe I’m not stopping yet. And I should point out that my goal isn’t to be skinny or rail thin, but I want to be fit, and healthy looking and not have the BMI of an obese person even though I’m probably only 20 lbs overweight. So friends, help me, push me, encourage me, and inspire me. I want to keep running, I want to be able to run a mile without stopping, I want to be able to run a 5k without walking, maybe a half marathon, maybe even a marathon. Running is amazing, therapeutic and helps me clear my head. It also has helped me reduce my cellulite considerably and I know how much we women hate that problem area.

So gist of today: if you are unhappy with your physical appearance, check yourself. Are you really overweight? Are you eating unhealthy and making unhealthy choices, developing bad habits? Do you exercise or get any physical activity? Losing weight/becoming more healthy is not a bad thing, you just need to make sure your motives are right. Hope my story could maybe shed some light or inspire anyone to feel like they can do it too!!  

As always, feel free to leave me comments, words of wisdom, or anything else.
 

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