Love Filled Shoes

On my last post I talked about other peoples views on fat and my views of body image and have to restate that “It really is a balancing act”

Weight loss just isn’t about weight but it’s about learning how to eat healthy, making activity a routine of your life, and changing your perception about your body. The weight loss is just a benefit of balancing all of these things.

It’s not an easy thing to do. Believe me, I completely understand. It’s something that I have struggled with all my life. There is so much of life wrapped around food. We just had a holiday that people normally associate with filling themselves with food. Plus unfortunately many of us use food to deal with the stress and emotions of life.

So how do we balance everything?

Learn what healthy eating is and make changes every day to achieve it. That’s right! Find out how many calories your body needs to survive. Learn what actually is in all that processed food that we eat. Or just completely leave the processed food alone. Also remember that every day is not going to be perfect. Just try with each meal to eat healthy.

Be Active! I know that jobs are physically and emotionally hard. Activity is a good stress reliever. Activity doesn’t always have to be about weight training and cardio. Just take do whatever you can do to have an active lifestyle.

You can learn a new sport, do stretches while you watch your favorite television show, take dance lessons, take martial art classes, volunteer at a garden ever day, and take a walk.

Change your perception! I think Lady Rose talks about it best when she says “I must admit I was very proud of myself - not because I didn’t overindulge; but because I didn’t stress”

I don’t know about you but I know that I have to change my perception of myself and how I react to situations. I also have to change how I relate to stress, boredom, and other emotions. Only when I don’t use food to deal with these things in life will the balance come full circle.

So remember the three points of balance. Healthy eating, activity, and personal growth. It won’t happen overnight. We won’t be perfect at it but it will happen.

This morning I was happy to see a news article on the Navajo Beauty Pageant. Billy Luther has produced a film about being Ms. Navajo. A film that shows that Beauty is about knowing yourself and knowing where you came from.

Luther should know because he comes from a long line of women who are Navajo, Leguna, and Hopi.

Beauty is very much internal, Luther says. What Navajos perceive as beautiful might not be beautiful to others, he said.

“It’s having the knowledge of your culture, it’s having respect for your mothers and grandmothers, it’s the language, fluency. As we say, that’s harmony, that’s what we strive for,” said Luther.

Why is the world so focused on looks? Sure a healthy body and clear skin has it’s benefits but why are we a culture that values looks over education.

This is one of the reasons why my life is not just focused on my appearance. Of course I want to be thin but I also want to have an education. When someone comments that I’m pretty I also want to say “Thank you and I have a Master’s degree too.”

Do I have enough drive and intelligence to obtain a Master’s degree is still to be seen but the degree is definitely one of my goals.

I’m always looking for new videos to learn from. Remember that variety is the spice of life and that includes exercise and activity. So here are some leg exercises from Diet.com that can be modified for any activity level.

 Ok. Well I wanted to add the video but it doesn’t seem to be working. So you can find the actual video here.

If you don’t have an exercise band these exercises can be done hand weights. Or they can be done without weights at all if your just starting out with arm and floor exercises.

I’m looking forward to seeing the results from these exercises. I hope that you are too.

That’s it for today from the 500 pound woman. As always remember that you are worth the effort you are putting into your life and keep going!