Body Beautiful-By Holly Prouse It's a brand new year. Suburbanites are flocking to the gym to burn off their hefty holiday fare. They're stepping their way to fitness, they're kicking their way to cardio, they're sweating at a gym near you. I, however, am thinking my way to health and fitness. It's good to have goals .I'm 250 pounds. It's easy for me to say because it shocks me, too. I weigh what? Now don't get me wrong. I have a full-length mirror at home.I know what's what. But the last time I remember thinking about this dreaded number was somewhere around 225 pounds. How long ago was that anyway? I've been thinking about the issue of weight these days. I bought the January edition of O magazine. You know the one photo of the thin Oprah standing next to the plump Oprah. Her face is befuddled; elbows bent and palms raised to the sky as if to say, I dunno. Yeah, I don't know either. The article inside the mag is short and Sweet what happened to Lady O is that she basically let her hectic change-the-world lifestyle become her whole life. She forgot to take care of herself while she took care of the world. Gone was her almost-militant exercise regime, and back was her on-the-go eating.I saw Oprah on Entertainment Tonight recently. She was huffing and puffing on a stairmaster and proclaiming that exercise is back in her life! There might have been a carrot clutched in her fist, too. She's going for it; balls to the walls. Oprah's battlefield is already littered with casualties of insurgent fat cells. You go O! But what I want most, more than anything first, is to love myself the way I am. That doesn't mean that exercise isn't the way to go. It certainly is. But I'm spending a lot of time disapproving of myself, feeling weak and slovenly, because I'm not Sweatin' to the Oldies at a gym near me. I'd rather think of myself as already being where I want to be. I'd rather ask How do you feel? And hear myself answer, I feel healthy! I want to stand in front of the dreaded bathroom mirror and marvel at the miraculous and undulating folds of my shapely body. I'm gorgeous! I need to let go of my self judgment and walk the walk, the infamous Marilyn Monroe walk; the kind that only full hips can Do listen, I'm about a size 22 dress. There are beautiful women out there who wear a size 10 dress (lucky ladies) but who are miserable about it. It's all a matter of perspective, folks, and we need to just be happy with what we have first. How can I nourish my body when I hate it? I can't. It doesn't add up. Love me first, and the rest will follow.I am a mental Sculptress my body is my beloved creation. Body Beautiful. |