Body Acceptance

This entry was posted on September 18, 2013, in Life and tagged , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. 30 Comments

I was thumbing through the Internets looking for inspiration and found myself getting quite annoyed. (Tumblr can be a dark lonely bad place.) I stumbled across “reasons to lose weight” and realized mine were nothing like a lot of peoples. I kept seeing things like, “to sit on a guys lap”, “to not dread showing off your body this summer”, “to make that one boy regret not giving you a chance”, “killer collarbones”, etc. etc. You get the point. This really saddened me on so many levels.

I’m losing weight to be healthy. I can and do sit on my husband’s lap – it may not be for hours on end, but I do when I want to and he’s absolutely fine. My body is beautiful. Give me a V neck anything and I can turn heads. 😉 If Kevin determined his love for me based on my body then I’m in the wrong marriage. I’m in love with a man that loves me for me – hips and all. I don’t get the whole collar bone thing. That’s weird.

I want to make it perfectly clear that while many people focus on the “looking good” part of weight loss I focus on the “body positive” part of weight loss. I *know* there are parts of my body that I will always criticize or wish were different, but I also know that I would do that no matter what the scale said. I am working on embracing those parts and loving them. So, let’s take a look!

WhatvsReal

I used to hate what I called my “witch nose.” I always thought it was too pointy; my husband says I’m crazy because it’s shaped more like a button. He’s right.

I used to think my shoulders were too broad and it made me look manly. Am I crazy? Those shoulders and arms can lift my nephews, knead dough like nobodies business, and most importantly – hug the ones I love.

I used to dread my high waist. Jeans would gap in the back and nothing sat right on me. Wow – I can pull off anything high waisted and belts looks damn good, too. An empire cut? GAME OVER. I win.

Oh, my tummy. I used to think the skin was too loose, the fat was too much, etc. etc. What I realized is that I have put my body through hell and back. I’ve lost 125bs+! I’ve tried numerous diets. My tummy is incredible.

I used to want smalllllllllllllllll hips, but the truth is those hips don’t lie! Yes, they are wide – but damn, they are womanly! I can move those hips like nobodies business. I’ve affectionately referred to them as my “hippos” and I don’t mean that in a bad way.

Thunder thighs! Yeah, they are big, but you know what? I run 10ks on those thighs, I ride endurance rides (30+ miles!) on my bike because of them. I compete in triathlons. They are big and beautiful and strong.

I can remember being devastated when I realized I couldn’t fit into zip up boots. They are always the “in” thing with fashion. I can remember measuring my weight loss by how much further they’d zip. Guess what guys? My calves have no fat on them. They are purely muscle. Unless my muscles atrophied that zipper probably ain’t budgin. I played soccer competitively for 12 years and all together for 16 years! What do you expect?! Now I just buy wide calf boots and I’m a-okay with it.

The truth is, when I look at this picture I see a woman that has a womanly shape. A woman that has busted her ass to get where’s she at. I see a healthy woman that can do the unthinkable. I see a happy woman. I see a fit woman. I see a beautiful woman.

I no longer see  a size or a number. Honestly, this picture isn’t me at my lowest/current weight, but I absolutely love it. In fact, this is be 25 pounds heavier than my lowest/current weight and it’s still my favorite picture of me. I like everything I represent in it.

I promise one thing to you – hating your body will not make you lose weight faster. It will not make your efforts more successful. It will however, make you sad. It will make you critical. It will make you never satisfied.

I challenge you to find the positive in what you believe is your worst.

30 thoughts on “Body Acceptance”

  3. Thank you for this post! It seems society wants us to hate our bodies unless we look like waifs. Yes, I need to lose a lot of weight, but, dang it, I’m still a beautiful woman.
    I needed this post today! And your strong, healthy body looks fabulous!

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  13. LOVE! Awesome post and idea that many people can say about themselves! I also can absolutely agree that Tumblr is a very dark and scary place sometimes.

  15. This is exactly what I needed to see/hear today. You’re gorgeous and strong and inspired me to think differently about what I see in the mirror.
    I agree with the calf boot frustration too! Skinny jeans don’t pull up over my calves. But I walk, and bike ride and USE those muscular legs! Rather than than toothpicks that would break on a long bike ride but look great in boots.

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  20. I hope you don’t mind that I linked to this post from my blog. It’s fantastic and I think we all need to hear it. Congrats to you! I hope I can feel this way about my body some day. I’m really working on it!

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