Here’s the thing about weight loss:
It probably won’t solve all of your problems & magically make you a happier person.
Shocking right?I remember having this ultimate goal of reaching a certain weight, because in my head that would be where I’d find true happiness & I’d never complain about myself again. Wanna know what happened when I stepped on the scale that day and saw my magical goal weight? I was excited for a second, took a picture and sent it to my mom, she congratulated me and that was it. There was no magical “omg I’m so happy no complaints ever again my body is perfect yay!!!!!!” switch that went off in my head. Nope. I just found more things to complain about. My arms? Still too flabby. My legs? Need to be firmer. Stomach? I could lose a couple inches. See, I still found things wrong with myself and I’m pretty sure if I had lost another 15 pounds i’d keep doing the same thing. And the same for the next 15 pounds.
We’re taught to obsess over this number our entire lives, fear doctor visits because we know we have to see this number and God FORBID someone ask you what your number is. We’re taught to be embarrassed by this number, compare our numbers to each other and try to make our number match our favorite Instagram model’s number.
The truth is.. A goal “weight” is never really the end. It probably won’t stop there. You’ll think “cool I’m glad I’m at this weight but how much flatter would my stomach be if I lost another 10 pounds?!” “My arms will probably look better if I lost a few more.” And the cycle will probably keep going. That’s why I say, excuse my language, but fuck the scale. Weight loss isn’t always consistent. It’s not always linear. These past four years I’ve lost 60 pounds.. Gained about 20 of those back.. Lost another 10… Gained that 10 back and so on. At my highest weight I was 208 pounds & at my lowest I was 148 pounds. When I went on a cruise with my friends I had the best time of my LIFE and I was 165 pounds. Back when I fell in love for the first time I was 188 pounds. When I started pursuing my love for singing after being way too shy my whole life and got asked to audition for “The Voice” I was 170 pounds.
My point is- these incredible things didn’t happen at my “goal weight”. They happened when I was enjoying my life & doing my best to appreciate every moment. We spend so much time focusing on getting our bodies to a “goal weight” that we forget to use our bodies to enjoy our freaking lives.I’m not saying you shouldn’t always focus on your health, because you should. What I’m saying is that it’s okay to have that piece of cake at your friend’s birthday celebration. It’s okay to go and have a few drinks with your friends. It’s okay to go over your calories for the day and gain a couple pounds. It’s okay to go on a week long vacation and enjoy the food around you. As long as you’re not doing this every single day.. IT’S OKAY. Don’t miss out on fun experiences because the menu of the restaurant your friends want you go to to doesn’t have a calorie count for each meal. Do your best to make healthier choices as often as you can, but don’t rely on a scale to tell you everything about yourself, because the day that you reach that “goal weight” you’re working towards isn’t even promised. It’s cool to monitor your weight and try to stay in a healthy range, but if a number on a scale has haunted you for years and years like it has me, toss that shit out the window. I’m not saying I don’t still have “goals” for my body, because I do. I’d love a tighter stomach & more toned arms and legs, and I will keep working towards those goals, but focusing on a number isn’t the way I’m gonna do that anymore. I know I don’t only speak for myself when I say that more days than not I find myself feeling less than confident about my body and this post isn’t to pretend that I don’t. I’m a true example of needing to practice what I preach, and I know I’ll have to re-read this to myself a few thousand times, but that’s why I wrote this; For myself and for anyone else who needs a daily reminder that we dont owe anyone, especially ourselves, perfection.
MotiveWeight http://ift.tt/29aEJNI
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