This post is likely going to cause some conflict. I want to talk about weight. Actually I have much better things to talk about and so do you but everyone I have seen the month of September has wanted to discuss it.
Summer is a killer. It can feel too hot to move as quickly as we do the other seasons. There is holiday time. There is an abundance of wonderful food and cold beer and sangria and margaritas. There is lounging and sleeping in.
There is paying for it later. September and January are the honest moments of wondering who the hell slipped in and shrunk your favourite jeans.
Here is the thing- and it is no newsflash- if you eat too much you gain weight. I know this- I have done it a few times really well. I was poster child for Freshman Fifteen.
This is the only area of our lives where the road up is a piece of cake and the road back is a pain in the butt.
You can say that there are way more important things than weight and you are absolutely right. Interestingly, everyone who says this, talks, thinks and punishes themselves about their weight for more hours a day than any of us can spare. Carrying extra weight can overshadow everything you do. It is very hard on your body(joints, heart, circulation, did you hear me- heart) to go up and down never maintaining your fighting weight.
Your fighting weight is the number you feel best at. You may fantasize that you can be a different body type- but you can’t change what you’ve got just ameliorate it. I will never be a toothpick-In first year university I lived with three skinny women with flat chests- I envied the sleek look of their bodies because I felt like someone’s mom with all those curves. I wanted to go without a bra like them- it looked so free. D cups are not supposed to go braless.
Very few things we do are as wrapped in emotion as eating. You can eat your sadness, your loneliness, your boredom and your frustration. My mom used to shop on Mondays and I panicked to eat goodies whether I was hungry or not because my skinny brothers might get there first. I still feel ripped off if “I didn’t get one”. Food is a celebration of life and I want to be at the party. But too much of a good thing is a disaster. And food can have huge hangover.
So we have health, self image, honouring the little time we have to waste on the small stuff but in case that has not convinced you; Our kids (daughters maybe especially) need to hear us focus on more important things.
When you get up in the morning and feel good about how you are, you can dress yourself and never think about it again all day. Your clothes aren’t biting you or squeezing you and you are light on your feet because you feel your best. You are far from perfect but you can enjoy what you have got and get busy with more important stuff.
We are what we eat and we become what we frequently do.
Bottom line- you are not waisting time. And that is brilliant.