I’m going to start this post by apologising for how quiet I’ve been on my blog over the past month. Sorry about that, I’ve been crazy busy completing my personal trainer course and after a stressful few months, I’m now a qualified PT! Woohoo!
Anyway, sorry for the silence, but I’m back now and wanted to talk about something I feel passionate about…as always. 😉
It’s really easy to focus on our flaws, we all do it. But I just want to take a minute to remind you how important it is to be kind to yourself.
Obviously I write blog posts about how to improve your health and fitness levels, but there is absolutely no reason why you should hate your body on the journey.
The reason I’m writing this post is because it bothers me when I hear people say things like: “I’ll be happy when I’ve lost a stone,” or “When I’m a size 10 again it will all be ok”, so I wanted to talk about that.
Firstly, let me explain that I did go through a period in my life about five or six years ago when I craved having a thigh gap and being super skinny. I know…crazy, but it was all over the media that the thigh gap was apparently attractive and that was back when I didn’t focus on my health. I purely focused on how I looked in a dress/bikini. It was also evidently before I developed my own sense of what I actually want to look like…before I stopped letting anyone or anything influence what my image of the “perfect body” was.
Anyway, back then I was a size 6 (UK) and loved it. I had no idea how unhealthy I actually was because I didn’t stop to think about it. As long as my dresses fitted nicely I was happy! I was unwell all of the time, but didn’t think to connect that with my food intake. Duh!
I recently tried on some of my old clothes as I was having a clear out (because my wardrobe is packed full of clothes I never wear), and when I tried on my old size 6 dresses, they wouldn’t do up. For a few seconds this bothered me and I did the whole thing of freaking out that I had gained weight, but then I realised I’m so much healthier, stronger and fitter than I’ve ever been, and the weight gain is mostly muscle and obviously a little body fat, simply because I had so little fat on me before that it was unhealthy…so why should it matter that my old clothes don’t fit anymore!?
It’s very difficult reconditioning your brain to think this way and I was actually talking about this to a friend a few days ago because we are both going through a similar thing as our focus has changed from being skinny to strong.
It’s crazy, isn’t it, how everything evolves around a dress size or a certain weight on the scales!? Why do we care so much about that? So anyway, after the few seconds I spent freaking out I realised it’s brilliant that my old clothes don’t fit anymore…because I’ve left the old me behind. The me who thought it was ok to not eat enough, the me who based everything on how my clothes looked on me, the me who was always back and forth to the doctor…and I literally mean at least once every week (seriously). That person is gone and a strong happy healthy me is here…to stay.
*Is it weird that I totally feel like I should put on a cape and burst through a door superhero style right now?*
If you’re going on the same journey as me and realising that health is more important than dress size, then embrace the way your body changes! Don’t fear it. Be proud of what your body can now achieve that it couldn’t do before! I know for certain that the old me never could have done half of the things I can do now! Probably mostly because I didn’t eat enough to have the energy levels I now have. Oh, and now I have curves! Yay!
As I’ve said before, if you are naturally made with a tiny frame then that’s totally cool. However, what’s not ok is starving yourself and putting your body through hell to try to be skinny when your body doesn’t naturally want to be that way.
Don’t let a number define you. Whether it’s the scales, a dress size, or anything else. Step back from that and realise that health is what is important. If you are able to do things you couldn’t before then you’re doing brilliantly, no matter how small the improvement is!
This is so great! I love reading your body positivity posts and that featured photo is AWESOME! I would have so feared letting go and falling on my face! Alice xx
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Thank you so much!! I’m glad you like the post. It’s amazing how many things change when you stop worrying about numbers and start focusing on being happy and healthy. Haha, that fear did go through my mind as the photographer kept asking me to hold on for about two minutes! But it was worth it for the shot. 😉 xx