Is she anorexic?

Is that girl anorexic? I think that girls is anorexic! There is no possible way to be that skinny unless she doesn't eat!   Ever heard, said, or thought those words? I am sure if you are a woman it is very common to hear, say or think it...

Why do so many woman worry about if there is another who has a better looking body then them.  Why would we care when someone is extremely thin or toned? Are we jealous? Do we envy that which we are not? Do we feel bad for them? Why is weight such an issue for our society?

I have genes in which I am thin....rarely have I set a goal to exercise everyday and made it past 3 weeks.  I have had those stares at times in my life, I have heard others make those comments about me, do they see what I eat, do they see I don't get to exercise unless on a rare occasion? When I had my oldest child I lost all of my pregnancy weight within 4 weeks, but the only thing I was doing different was nursing.  I remember when she was 6 weeks old we attended church, at that moment I had never had so many looks of shock and disgust in my life.  I remember not caring about my weight or how I looked, heck I had a brand new baby and she was all I cared about.   The whole year I nursed her my family would have people question if I were anorexic, heck I was only 5 pounds less then when I saw the doctor for my first appointment, at 8 weeks, to confirm I was pregnant.

From that time on I hated being me physically, I was judged for being too thin or anorexic, and since then the only time I had anyone say I looked like I was larger than normal was when I had been  going through fertility and had gained 10 pounds from the medications, and my weight was still in a lower end of a healthy BMI for my height.  I have struggled to want to exercise or eat well for this very reason, I got stuck in the rut of what people were thinking of me.  I read a post on Facebook this morning, it states, "the greatest prison people live in, is the fear of what other people think".  Can we say it any louder? I am thin, but haven't taken care of me physically for fear of what others think.  Do I want to be overly thin? NO! Do I want to be healthy and live a long life enjoying my children? YES!!! I want to be the grandma who can physically keep up with my grand kids, and because of neglect for fear of  others thoughts I hope it's still possible.

Today I am going to move forward with a healthier me, not an overly thin one, one who is happy taking care of herself and not ashamed when I do.  I have always loved the toned look, and I completely admire those who can look past what others think, say, and just take care of their physical body.  In order for me to love myself I need to not only love what my Savior sees, but I need to love that I am doing everything I can to take care of that which my father in heaven has given me.

Each day in life brings me a step closer to finding Joy in me, today my step isn't going to be large, I am just going to take care of me physically. Does that mean I will not eat what I like? Or over exercise, NO!!!! I am a firm believer that all things should be done in moderation.  If you want some cake, eat a piece, just not the whole thing.   If you want to exercise to have a fit body should it consume my every thought or action of the day? NO!!!  I don't believe any one person needs to exercise for hours to be thin.  We have too much to live for to focus on it that much.

  I am a 15-25 minute person, why? Because I am a mother of three amazing children, and a wife to the man of my dreams, and I value time with them more then I need to over exert myself.  Am I saying you need to do the same? NO!!! We are all individuals, we all have separate goals and needs in life.  For me I can be grateful I am taking care of myself if I can focus 15 minutes of my day on myself not just that but caring for my physical self.  Yes if I throw an hour Ballerobica class in here in there I am okay, I believe sometimes the best form of therapy is being with great friends and enjoying time to our self. I think we know what we need to do to be our best self, whether it be a 15 minute hard core exercise, or a 3 hour visit to the gym, but don't overly process what others think about you unless there could be an issue.   If there happens to be a health issue get the help you need.  If you do

have an eating disorder: anorexia, juicorexia, bulimia, over eating , addiction, being obese, fear of taking care of our self, there are people who love you and care for your well being and they will help anywhere they can.  If you need to seek medical help do it!

Am I anorexic, or have I ever had an eating disorder, NO!!! Have I judged wrongly for this, YES!  We all do, but is our physical body what life is about? No! We live in a society where we don't always work for that which we want and it makes it easy to view others wrongly.  We don't all have the same make up of genes, and I totally love that saying, "why do we want to fit in, when we were born to shine?". We are born to shine in our body, to be the best we can be, not comparing our looks to another, but putting effort into our physical being because it is a gift from our Heavenly Father, and if we truly love what we were given we would do the best we can to keep it nice.

Love yourself for you, and accept that you may not be perfect, we all have areas where we can work on and today I am only working on me!!!