Come Again Ms. Moss?

Check out this amazing blog written by our February contest winner Gina Lee. Congrats Gina - we loved it!

There are very few things in life that really bother me. There are even fewer things that make me grit my teeth and want to scream such as that infamous quote by Kate Moss. "Nothing looks as good as skinny feels." When I hear people say this or post it as their facebook status, it makes me want to grab them and seriously shake the crazy out of them.

Since high school I have definitely had a tumultous love hate relationship with my body image. It was mostly tilted towards hate and self loathing that slowly chipped away at my self esteem, confidence and happiness. I would cut out pictures of beautiful skinny girls and put them up on my mirror at home as a constant reminder of my weight loss goals. Instead of motivating me, looking at these pictures everyday made me develop a distorted view of myself and what I considered beautiful.

I thought I was doing all the right things by subscribing to fitness magazines, researching how to lose weight and do exercises that give me the fastest results. However time and time again I would lose weight then gain it all back. I was never at the same weight for too long and anytime I would gain even a pound, I would stress out and beat myself up over it.

Because I've spent countless hours pouring over all these magazines about the latest diets and how to lose weight, I felt it wasn't my lack of knowledge that was keeping me from my ideal weight. I truly believed that it was my own resolve. I thought that my failures at achieving the social standard of beauty branded me as lazy, weak and undeserving. Gah! I was miserable on top of miserable. Looking back now, I realize at the very root of this dilemma was my incredibly unhealthy mindset. I was killing my body and my self esteem to reach an unattainable beauty manufactured and distorted by the fashion and beauty industries and reaffirmed by society. There is a documentary in the making called The Illustionist that explores this very topic.

I've slowly learned that you can have a healthy fit body without sacrificing your self esteem and confidence. In fact, you can be in better health, have a great body, feel stronger, have more self esteem and more pride in yourself. You just need to stop your restricting and self defeating thoughts. Instead think nourishing and self loving thoughts. For me, when I work out I think about how I'm staying healthy and growing stronger so I can live each day to my fullest potential. Running is a gift I give myself because it makes me happy and feel great. The same goes for eating. I see it as giving my body the nutrients it needs to be healthy and not starving it. With these self respecting and giving thoughts, I'm in the best shape of my life and more importantly I feel happy and whole. Want an added bonus? People will pick up on the fact that you care about yourself and treat you the way you treat yourself.

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