I poked by here yesterday to see if there was any conversation of interest and noticed a significant amount of threads focused around weight loss. This is completely fine, but I wanted to throw something else in the mix. A thread about accepting yourself the way that you are, and recognizing that not every physical body has to lose weight to be validated.
For a very long time, I existed as a fat woman who felt my existence was only acceptable if I validated by the "but I'm trying to lose weight" tag. It was like an apology for existing. "Yes, I'm fat, but I'm trying to lose weight!" - and that helped others to respect me or see me as a valid person. You know, when I stopped apologizing for being who I was and started to accept and care about myself, a healthy lifestyle was so much easier to maintain. It was a tough road to go but hen I acknowledged that "hey, this 325lb girl is a valid, worthy person", it was only then that I dropped 70lbs - because I wanted to do good things for myself, because I was a good person. You don't do favors for people that you hate, so why would you be able to sustain treating your body the right way if you feel bad or shameful about it?
Now I am not knocking those who are attempting to lose weight, and I'm not saying that I'm not trying to gain fitness and shed pounds, or that it's BAD to try to lose weight or that I am encouraging anyone to gain copious amounts of weight and not be aware of it -- what I am saying is that if you treat your body the right way - fuel it right and move it correctly and don't count EVERY SINGLE CALORIE, and live life with a little bit of joy, but you still are over the standards that are set by society for "weight", then that is OKAY. I also want to let it be known (for those who aren't fat that poke in here from time to time) that sometimes fat people DON'T sit on the couch and eat Doritos and ice cream all day (this is my favourite because it was an actual comment on my blog at one point, LOL). That as fat people we aren't lying if we talk about how active or clean eating we are and still don't drop weight hand over fist.
I'm definitely not trying to invalidate the weight loss threads that are going on right now, just trying to balance the topics on the forum. So that when people on the outside look in they can see that we are not quantifying our existence by saying "... but I'm trying to lose weight!".
ETA: In going with this, perhaps we could all post a recent photo of ourself (with or without a horse!) in which we feel like we look good and we appreciate and accept ourself.
For a very long time, I existed as a fat woman who felt my existence was only acceptable if I validated by the "but I'm trying to lose weight" tag. It was like an apology for existing. "Yes, I'm fat, but I'm trying to lose weight!" - and that helped others to respect me or see me as a valid person. You know, when I stopped apologizing for being who I was and started to accept and care about myself, a healthy lifestyle was so much easier to maintain. It was a tough road to go but hen I acknowledged that "hey, this 325lb girl is a valid, worthy person", it was only then that I dropped 70lbs - because I wanted to do good things for myself, because I was a good person. You don't do favors for people that you hate, so why would you be able to sustain treating your body the right way if you feel bad or shameful about it?
Now I am not knocking those who are attempting to lose weight, and I'm not saying that I'm not trying to gain fitness and shed pounds, or that it's BAD to try to lose weight or that I am encouraging anyone to gain copious amounts of weight and not be aware of it -- what I am saying is that if you treat your body the right way - fuel it right and move it correctly and don't count EVERY SINGLE CALORIE, and live life with a little bit of joy, but you still are over the standards that are set by society for "weight", then that is OKAY. I also want to let it be known (for those who aren't fat that poke in here from time to time) that sometimes fat people DON'T sit on the couch and eat Doritos and ice cream all day (this is my favourite because it was an actual comment on my blog at one point, LOL). That as fat people we aren't lying if we talk about how active or clean eating we are and still don't drop weight hand over fist.
I'm definitely not trying to invalidate the weight loss threads that are going on right now, just trying to balance the topics on the forum. So that when people on the outside look in they can see that we are not quantifying our existence by saying "... but I'm trying to lose weight!".
ETA: In going with this, perhaps we could all post a recent photo of ourself (with or without a horse!) in which we feel like we look good and we appreciate and accept ourself.