Body Image

Oh curse bad body image! It's been one of those days. I think everyone, guys and gals have days where they just look at their body and think: ugh. I've had quite a few of those lately, seeing as how the baby weight has completely stopped coming off on its own, and with the holidays a bit might have even come back. I can't really be sure, seeing as how I have sworn off scales forever! I absolutely hated being weighed so regularly while pregnant; to be honest, I really don't want to know. It's not so much that I'm scared of the number as it is that I just don't think it matters. If I am eating well and moving around enough, I am a strong believer that my body will be what it's supposed to be.

Of course, eating like crazy over the holidays + sitting around after the holidays to re-coup from traveling = 0 endorphins and therefore a very blaaaaah-ish attitude. Time to get back into some sort of routine!

I think that my views on weight are slightly unique in that I worked at a recovery center for girls with anorexia for over a year. It is just unreal to see what those girls do to themselves! They are so dedicated they are killing themselves. It was absolutely tragic to watch; that job owned my soul. You just can't help but pour your heart into helping these girls! I am no therapist, and my approach to the job did morph a bit the longer I was there, but there is no mistaking that I thought about those girls day in and day out! I have no idea how people can work there and have families; I could hardly think about anything else! It's now been about a year since I worked there, and I've gotten better at not watching and judging every single person's eating habits (Mark is thankful that is wearing off), and I don't have to battle any urges to hand out Avalon Hills business cards to gals who really look like they could use it, but I don't think I will ever lose the important things I learned in there about health, balance, love, dedication, and the power of the human mind. Gosh there is just so much more to life than counting calories!

On the flip side, I have become a ginormous fan of the Biggest Loser. Fantastic, it's so inspiring! And it's on tonight. Now I don't consider myself to be morbidly obese by any means, but I am so impressed by these people's stick-to-itness. It never fails to amaze me how much they lose in the beginning, it really reinforces my theory that the body will go back to what it's supposed to be, as long as you put forth some effort. We are not meant to be that big. It works on the other side too, my girls would gain weight back very quickly at first! Their bodies were not meant to be that tiny. As time goes on things balance out, your metabolism stabilizes, and you reach your body's ideal form.

So! In case you are curious, here's what I'm trying to do to live an active lifestyle:

1. Walk wherever I can. I am no more than two blocks from every store I will ever need, the library too! Plus Mac LOVES the stroller.
2. Jog outside. This is my absolute favorite thing, the weather seems to always be perfect for it, it goes by soooo much faster than being in the gym, and there are always people around so I feel pushed to keep going. (Does anyone else do that? I always think, "Don't stop! That person will see you and think you're a wuss!) The only difficult thing about this is what to do with Mac . . . generally I wait till I take Mark lunch, drop him off, and jog around the school a couple times.
   
3. P90X. Courtesy of the wonderful Chris Gunn, we now have this great workout video! There's a huge collection of workouts, and they really leave me sore. They're fantastic in that they cover all parts of the body in different ways, plus Mac seems to think it's entertaining to watch me flail my arms around. The only downer is it's a bit more difficult to push myself . . . my attention span always wanders and I get bored. Some of these are an hour and a half long! But I suppose that it will just teach me a little dedication.
4. 24 Hour! I have a membership to this great gym! Unfortunately, it's rare that I go there right now. Mac is too young for the kid's club, and typically at night when Mark's home I just want us to all be together as a family. But I am going to make a little effort to get there more often while I have the membership!