Love Your Body

Age of Contentment

Walking down a local street of shops and restaurants, I spied a little basket of discount Ts. It was one of those serendipitous moments of just-my-size and extreme-cheapness that leads to thoughts of the item having been placed there just for me. Perhaps even wondering if there is a message from the universe in it. As an Eastern philosophy fan, I’m endlessly finding myself drawn to items with a Chinese symbol and accompanying English translation. This time the T-shirt also included some additional text. It read “Contentment” under the Chinese symbol plus it said:

“to hold onto and to let go of everything all at once”

Read more

Goodbye Scale

Usually by this time in a diet and exercise goals effort, I would be discouraged by the results on my scale. Luckily, I haven’t gone near the thing for a long time and I don’t plan to. My best intentions to make wellness my primary goal and weight-loss a secondary result were always sabotaged by … Read more

Seeking Balance Inside and Out

I feel somewhat conflicted about the topic of appearance. Since I am against the hyperfocus on a woman’s appearance and the negative affects on women’s body image, I am generally turned off by women’s fashion magazines. I haven’t been into using a lot of make-up since high school, having become more of a make-up minimalist in my adult years. However, I also have noticed that after gaining weight, I lost all joy in my appearance. I started wearing frumpier clothes and never putting on more than blush to brighten up my face. So while I don’t think too much focus on appearance is healthy, I also think that my nearly total disregard for appearance was a sign of my negative attitude towards myself. I no longer felt that I was able to be attractive or that I was worthy of attention. At one point, I found myself at a friend’s Mary Kay party which is the sort of thing I would normally avoid at all costs. However, it turned out to be just what I needed at the time. Through faking being into make-up for my friend’s benefit, I rediscovered that a little primping can go a long way. I felt prettier and realized that just a little bit of extra attention to myself gave me a little lift. It was a reminder that I had started acting as if I didn’t matter. I now like to have a little face powder, mascara and eye shadow on hand for occasions when I want to be get a little dressed up. Flattering clothes, haircut and make-up really can be a boost to your self-esteem and mood. As with everything in life, it is about balance. Too much focus on appearance isn’t good, but neither is too little focus.

Read more

In Search of Mindful Eating

Now that I’m into reading the “You on a Diet” book, I’ve launched into a full online exploration of alternative approaches to healthy eating and weight management. I remembered seeing something about mindful eating that I intended to go back to one day. A web search led me to a number of interesting resources that are in line with my thoughts on dieting. For instance, I found this article “Women who accept their bodies more likely to eat healthy” which says:

“Women who accept their bodies the way they are seem to be more likely to follow principles of healthy eating, new research shows… There’s this belief that if you give people unconditional permission to eat, they are going to binge and add on a lot of pounds. But that’s not what we have found…”

Read more