Body Image

    I am thinking about positive body image this morning after something I read.  After almost a year of my getting healthy journey I am feeling pretty good about myself.  I am not thin by anyones standards.  I am healthy and fit though.  I can easily walk miles and exercise nonstop for a hour if I feel like it.  I have no more aches and pains then any other 51 year old woman and feel much younger then my age.  What an improvement over how I felt last year.  Heavier and sinking into old age with all the worst of the problems that go with being overweight.

   I no longer am going for skinny or even thin.  I think that goal changed around 4 months into my journey.  I started going for healthy and fit.  Fit by my standards.  The better I feel about myself the more it was being noticed.  I try to portray myself as a fit healthy person and when people see me and know me that is what they say.  Even my doctor yesterday was commenting on how active and fit I am.  This from a woman who has seen my fat rolls!  Eating healthy and exercising has the added benefit of me losing weight.  I try to let that become my obcession.  I don't weigh myself 3 or 4 times a day now and don't freak if I gain a couple of pound briefly because I know what to do to get rid of it and I know it will slowly be gone for good in time.

   My journey is going to take longer then I had thought.  In the beginning I would say, next year when I reach goal.  Now that I know this has become a lifestyle change for me the time constrant is removed.  It will happen when it happens.  Slower for me then for some but I think it is working better this way.  My skin is tightening up really nicely for a 51 year old lady.

   Anyway.  I read a good article that got this whole train of though going.  Here is a portion of it and I will enclude the link if you want to finish it.  It just fits what I have learned.

  

"All of us can't be thin. But every single one of us can be healthy. By focusing on what you're eating and how much you're exercising, you'll be able to achieve optimum health and fitness, even though you may not achieve society's ideal of thinness. Accepting yourself does not mean that you're hopeless and that it's okay to do nothing. It means that you feel good and care about yourself, and that you want to be the very best you can be, regardless of your genetics, regardless of society's standards.

To achieve this level of optimum wellness, you must have a positive self image. This means that your feelings about your body are not influenced by events in your daily life. For many people, life's problems are projected onto their body. "If only I were thinner--or more muscular, I would have made the team, gotten the job, been chosen. . . . If only I were thinner--or more muscular, I could meet more people, find the right guy/girl, be happy." This self-defeating habit is reinforced by the images we see in advertising; your body becomes an easy target for everything wrong in your life.

When you have a positive self-image, you value and respect your body; you are also more likely to feel good about living a healthy lifestyle."

Accept Your Body and Learn to Have a Positive Self Image - Fitness on Yahoo! H