- Weight Inclusivity
- Eating for Nourishment
- Positive Physical Activity
- Among more!
The new(ish) thing is Health At Every Size. Am I 25 pounds heavier than I want to be? Yes. Am I healthy? For the most part, yes. Besides chronic injury/pain I am dealing with, I am pretty healthy. My bloodwork is always normal. My blood pressure is pretty low. I’m not diabetic. I can walk Bella for several miles without pain. I can maintain activity for the most part (depending on the injury feeling of the day!)
I am a very active person. According to BMI I am obese (still). Even at my lowest weight (which was incredibly hard for me to maintain and my body gained about 10 pounds from that and then stayed there) I was still considered overweight. Even thought I was wearing a size 6 pants and small or medium shirts. When did size 6 become overweight?? Basically, BMI is Bullshit. And YET…entire industries (medical, insurance, etc) keep using it as some kind of gauge.
I really enjoyed this article. Here are two parts that really stood out for me:
“Anyone who trains is an athlete, regardless of their body size.”
Yes!! I have believed this since the start. Anyone that is doing any physical activity, no matter what their size, IS an athlete. And –on a side note– deserve to be included in the conversation AND have fitness clothes that are made for their size!
When I was 50 pounds heavier than my lowest weight, I was a fantastic swimmer. Was I “fat”? Yes. But I was still an athlete! I could swim a mile without stopping, in a fairly quick time. I’d say that’s pretty athletic. I have many friends who are considered overweight but love hiking and can keep a pretty fast pace. So the judgment is harmful. Size does not = health.
When I was at my heaviest and inactive, yes, I was unhealthy. I was pre-diabetic. I had high blood pressure. There were a lot of issues. But honestly, working out has changed all of that.
“The role of fitness is not to “burn off” the food you eat.”
I’m struggling with this one. After years of logging, weighing, tracking my calories and monitoring how many calories I burn from each workout, it is a VERY hard habit to break.
“Health isn’t just physical” There is so much more to health than the physical aspect.
Something Logan has said a few times to me: “Mommy you are so squishy.” Then he pokes me and giggles. The first time he said it I instantly felt shame. I felt sadness. But then I reminded myself that my 5 year old doesn’t care what that means. He liked that I was squishy because we were cuddling on the couch. And I reminded myself that this body, that is now squishy and “overweight”, had a healthy pregnancy and delivered a healthy baby.
Weight loss doesn’t have to be your purpose in life.
Part 2 coming soon!
bp7
This really speaks to me. I commented a month or so ago because I was deep in despair about my body. In the last month I had my first doctor check up in years. We hardly had anything to talk about because I am so healthy – great cholesterol, nowhere near diabetic. I workout almost every day and eat lots of fruits and veggies. Yet I despaired because I am 15 pounds over pre-kid weight (and even back then, I wasn’t pleased). I started therapy for body image issues. We’ve only had two sessions so far. This morning I was explaining that I lost weight and kept it off after college for about ten years. I exercised daily and tried to keep my calories around 1500-1600 a day. I told the therapist that I just haven’t been able to do that since I had kids and I feel so much shame about it.
Her first comment – maybe you were underweight for your body before since that is a very low caloric intake.
I have been poking that idea all day and it’s really hard to even understand. By BMI I was not underweight. By my standard of having tummy rolls I was not underweight. By the ‘ideal body size’ numbers online I was not underweight. And yet… should you have to work so hard every day to be at your body’s ideal weight?
Lisa Eirene
I love your comment so much! I totally relate to it. And it inspired me to write a post about it, so keep reading!
I will say that I am glad you are “doing the work”. It’s hard. I hope therapy helps!