I have a serious case of the "blahs".
I know this is normal. Everyone has bad days but I just cannot seem to get rid of it.
I have complained to my sister about just not feeling as toned and small and healthy as I have in the past few months. I even asked a friend at work "Ok, tell me for real - do I look like I have gained weight?" knowing that I haven't. And also knowing that it is totally normal to fluctuate a few pounds anyways.
So -- after griping to my sister and some friends I decided to motivate myself with a blog post about loving your body in hopes that maybe someone else suffering from a case of the "blahs" will get a little kick in the rear from this too.
I am a firm believer in the whole "If you don't love yourself first..." idea. And usually it applies to people trying to be in relationships to make themselves happy when they aren't happy with themselves but I think it applies to so much more. Including loving your body. Period. 250 pounds. 120 pounds. Big hips. Big thighs. Big boobs. No curves. Too many curves. Stick legs. Flabby arms. Muscles.
What the heck ever.
Your body is your body and if you don't love it at its worst, are you really and truly going to love it at its best. You may think you will but believe me, you will ALWAYS find some part that you are not happy with. Loving your body is not so much about saying "Yes, I really love my huge thighs," but about saying "Ok, God gave me some serious thighs here. So let me embrace these babies and put them to work and tone them up and they are gonna do amazing things for me, like squat 185 pounds!" Ok - that is personally what I have to tell myself cause I got some serious leg action going on- but take whatever part of your body you may think needs improvement and insert it here! I am not saying by any means that if you are overweight and want to change that you shouldn't because you have to love your body as is - I just mean love yourself period. Don't count on losing weight to be happy with yourself.
Also, remember where you have come from but don't let the old you hold you back. You HAVE to let go of the old you but you have to remember her. Does that make sense? Someone said to me this past week, "Emily, you don't see yourself like other people see you." And you know what, that is the honest to God truth. Now, I can look at pictures of myself now and be happy with myself and know that I have lost weight. But somewhere in the back of my mind, I am still that girl who was thrown into the obese category on the BMI and Body Fat charts. I catch myself going to grab bigger sizes when I'm in stores and them I remember that I am not that size anymore! I think we all store that old version of ourselves deep in the back of our minds and I think once in awhile she likes to come out and put negative thoughts in our heads.
So, push her back into the back of your mind and tell her to shut the heck up because you love your body and you are making some positive changes and you don't need any Debby Downers!
One of the greatest gifts I have given myself over the past few years is to see how AMAZING our bodies can be if we treat them right. Give them a little love and some good nutrition and some exercise and you will be amazed. A few years ago it would have been tough for me to pick up 50 pounds from the floor. Now, my 1 rep max for a deadlift is 230 pounds! To the non weight lifting readers out there - basically that means I can pick up 230 pounds of dead weight off the ground. Holy moly. So when I get down on myself I remember that feeling of finally picking up that weight.
Man. That is an amazing feeling.
And for those of you who don't lift, then I am sure there is some accomplishment that you have had recently that you have stopped and thought, "Wow, I cannot believe I can do that!". Use those moments to push you forward. And no matter where you are in your journey - be proud of that. Enjoy the journey because it is an amazing journey to do something for yourself. Love yourself where you are at. If you have been stuck at a certain weight or if you can't do something particular at the gym, who cares. You have gotten this far and you are awesome for that and eventually you are going to lose the rest of that weight, or lift that weight at the gym that you could not get before, or run that mile faster than you ever have. So don't hate on yourself for what you haven't done but love yourself for what you have done.
Someone remind me of this post next time I get a case of the "blahs", okay?
- E
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