What do you feel when you look at this? Do you feel singled out? Picked on? Like less of a person? What sorts of emotions does this conjure within you? Does it inspire you to be better, give you hope that it CAN be done?
I'll tell you, I may be a "fit momma" but I don't strive to have single digit body fat or to be a size two. And with my hip bones I would have to slice open any size two, even at 7% body fat (even at 125lbs I only fit a size 5). And neither do many people. Does that mean I make excuses all day about WHY I can't do that and have long, flowing, beautiful wavy hair with three kids at my knees? Hell no!! I'm striving to be my own version of healthy, and to me that means enjoying french fries and daily chocolate, freedom to enjoy social events of the culture of north america without feeling guilty or imperfect. It means learning to be ok with ME and NOT measuring myself against other women (probably the hardest thing to do when we're bombarded repeatedly with comparisons of other women....). It means I'm LEARNING to sort through all the misleading garbage out there and that I'm affected by media crap and mind-garbage like this, always growing and moving forward on my own path to balance. I'm living for me and my family and no one else.
I can hear so many women out there when they see this photo turning in on themselves, "my stomach doesn't look like that...I only have one and I'm 3x the size... my legs are so gross... I could never bare my belly again... I'm useless... I hate myself..." and it gets much darker and dirtier right? Kudos to you if you're strong enough to resist but even with all the progress I've made over the years I STILL get stuck in this mindset. My stomach has a fat pouch on the bottom and it's only ever disappeared around 130lbs. My body fat level is definitely higher and I can never get shoulder caps no matter how hard I try. It would likely take several years of targeted training thanks to my genetics and elongated bones. Overall, this woman has a very "ideal" body shape in general, something I can't achieve with my blocky quads, miniscule calves and big, square hips. My body is not fit for a magazine cover and I've accepted that. After years of killing myself, literally, trying to figure out what was so wrong with me that I couldn't MAKE myself that way.
I want to see more REAL women. I want to see women with "weird" body shapes, I want to see healthy, fit women with more normal body fat levels (where menstruation is still possible if held long term)!! Am I the only one?!?!?! I don't want to see more airbrushed, fake women, covered in makeup and a body that was created for a very calculated timeframe. What about the ladies I see in the gym with naturally less curves? What about the ladies with the hips and big, healthy butts?
From age 14 I grew up idolizing these photos of fitness magazine girls, airbrushed and dieted down to perfection to reach a very specific look for a single day. That's not how they look in real life. Really. Having done 4 competitions myself I can tell you that stage look peaked for only a few hours, then it was gone into a cloud of subcutaneous water cushion. In the end I had dieted so badly my body rebounded 30lbs and suffered from overtraining. I was unable to even DO any exercise, my body said no. Is that healthy??? No! That LOOK did NOT mean I was healthy, yet is considered the epitomy of health. So many dark secrets in that world, for another day....
Each person's journey is unique. We are not all so fortunate as to have the ability to sort through what is true, what is fake, what is a scam and what is a glimpse of hope. In the end, the vast majority of women want the same thing... to be skinny. Let's take the focus OFF weight and "skinny" and put it back ON to being healthy.
I am SO proud of this momma for likely inspiring many who truly don't think it's possible with children, to take care of them AND ourselves. I get where she is coming from and what she meant, but this was definitely misrepresented.
From another perspective, many women will look at photos like this one and not see the other side of the story. There are THOUSANDS of women out there that look like this, eat like birds, throw up in secret, exercise for 3+ hours a day 7 days a week and panic about taking a bite of dessert. I've been there. I was skinny. Several times. Even WON a 12 week transformation contest but what was TRULY happening on the inside was very dark and very secret from the outside world. I was tormented and tortured living in my OWN skin and yet I'm sure many others looked at me and couldn't help but silently berrate themselves for looking different. THINK about this stuff when you see people, see magazine ads, see massive before and afters... there is SO much more than meets the eye, whether it's a simple picture with a poorly worded statement or a magazine cover airbrushed beauty.
Do you know how many times I've heard, "I just want to get skinny first, THEN I'll get healthy"?!?!?
It's NOT just about being skinny...it's about getting HEALTHY!!! The more we move toward reality and focussing on the RIGHT things the better off we will all be.
JOIN the MOVEMENT!! Fit'N'Feisty is on a MISSION!!
Let me know your thoughts on the photo, leave your comments below :)
** If you're a fit momma I want to hear from you! Send me your story along with a photo and I'll feature you here! **
** If you're struggling for the support, direction and tools you need to get HEALTHY... for GOOD, then you NEED to check THIS out!! It's time to get healthy the RIGHT way **
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