For as long as I can remember, I haven’t felt comfortable in my own my body. I don’t think this is an experience unique to me; I think a lot of people, especially women, can relate. I didn’t like it in high school, when I felt like my thighs were bigger than everyone else’s. I didn’t like it in college when I realized how much weight I had put on from my constant stress, lack of exercise, and subpar dietary habits. At my heaviest, I weighed 165 pounds.
It’s not like that is an extremely high number. Based on all those BMI charts you can find online (which aren’t necessarily accurate, by the way), I was technically overweight, which bothered me to no end. In what world should a size 6 woman feel like she’s unhealthy? (Don’t even get me started on inconsistent sizing.)
I was at my heaviest after grad school in the summer of 2018. I hadn’t yet found a workout or diet that worked for me, even though I had started Orangetheory a few months prior. Orangetheory was good. You can read my full review of it, but I do think that Orangetheory was one of the first workouts I found that I like and I was going about 2 days a week. I wasn’t perfect, but it got me off the couch.
In December of that same year, a new location of F45 (review coming soon!) contacted me and told me they were opening up a location in my area. I’d heard of F45 for the first time when I studied abroad in Australia. One of my roommates got really into it while we were there, but I just didn’t think much of it at the time.
So, I signed up for F45 and started going religiously in January. The classes quickly kicked my butt into shape. Honestly, I think F45 was one of the only reasons I survived my first busy season in public accounting. Even though I didn’t love my body when I started and I still have a little ways to go to reach my goals, I really love my body now.
And here’s the thing –
Your body isn’t and will probably never be perfect to you. But, if you want to take care of it, you have to do it from a place of love, not hate. You have to workout because you love yourself. If you workout because you hate what you see in the mirror, it’s easy to get discouraged when change doesn’t happen overnight.
After about 5 months of working out consistently, I took two weeks off to travel in Ireland. Honestly, I felt kind of gross when I came back. I felt bloated and full of whiskey, Guinness, and potatoes. But, I had to remind myself – we don’t live to work and lose weight. Things like traveling are why I workout. I want to be in shape enough to hike in foreign countries and not get winded exploring new places. I workout so I can enjoy the things like Guinness and Steak pie for dinner or a mocha and eggs benedict every morning.
So here’s to loving our bodies this summer and taking care of ourselves because we love our bodied, not because we hate them.If you’ve recently started a new journey for your health (mental, physical, or otherwise) I would love to connect with you! Just shoot me a DM or comment on this post. Tell me all about your health goals!
Great inspirational reminder: we don’t live to work and lose weight!