What it Means to be Healthy...

I’ve mentioned this before but I feel like I should go into more detail about losing weight and self-image.

Losing weight is a war and there are days when you feel like giving up because it is just too difficult (I know I feel that way many a times). But did you ever think that maybe your attitude towards the whole process may also be stunting your progress?

As someone who has been plus size since puberty, trust me when I say I know a thing or two about having low self-esteem and not being pleased by what I see in the mirror.

As a teenager, I tried so many times to get the weight off. But what methods was I using: starving myself, fad diets, excluding whole food groups etc. Of course none of these were permanent solutions. Why would I put my body through horrible things like that? Because I hated my body. Because I felt like I deserved to suffer through those horrid methods as punishment for being fat.

Fast forward a couple years, I think that I have accepted myself and I will just be this size forever. In truth, I gave up. I would just eat and eat and never even consider the nutritional value of what I was eating. I thought I was fine with me but let me ask would someone who cared about their body do that to themselves? No! I still hadn’t figured out balance because a positive, true self-image needed to come first.

Before I go on let me ask: Which one was better: The teenage me, who deprived herself of food, in an attempt to lose weight? Or the young adult me, how would over-indulge herself with food, in attempt to prove I was content, or just didn’t care anymore?

In either situation, was I healthy? No. Was I happy? No, because I still had not figured out how to love “Me” (The “Me” I will always be).  I didn’t know how to take care of “Me” (The “Me” that will change over the years). I hadn’t learned yet that those two Me’s form a complete person and have to work together.

Once I learned to love “Me”, I was motivated to want to take care of “Me”. This meant more than just wanting to lose weight. It meant wanting to be active, eat the healthy foods and in proper portions. It means to be ok with having my arms out (no matter how they look). It means keeping my hair healthy, even if it makes me stand out, and loving it. It means not letting me participate in negative self-talk. It means always setting a new goal. It means always looking for ways to improve, not so someone else will accept me (nor me). But for the simple fact that I love myself just that much and I am convinced I have the potential. This is what it means to be healthy. This is what it means to improve oneself while loving one’s self every step of the way.

My question to you: With an attitude like this, how could you do anything But WIN?

This is the kind of healthy I want to be someday, what about you?