Kelly: Earlier today, Holly and I were at our favorite coffee joint having a conversation that carried over from one that started this morning. I was reading on a website I like called Makes Me Think where people post their thought-provoking stories. Some of them are sad, funny, and mostly very inspiring. A few weeks ago, I read a story where a young lady was at her wedding when she was in the food line and her 10-year old cousin was in front of her. It mentioned that the food was a buffet style, but the 10-year-old said she didn't want to eat anything because that's how she would stay "skinny and pretty." 10 years old. Just let that sink in. I remember not too long ago I was taking my roommate to the grocery store, and I was in a t-shirt and sweat pants. This was on a Sunday, because after I got home from church I took my nice clothes off and put on those. She asked me why I did that. I had never really been asked that before, so I replied that I just wanted to be comfortable and that I really don't like dressing up...which is true. She then said that she was more self-conscious than us because she said "I would never go out like that." Which is fine. It's all fine. Some people are like that, and that's fine with me.
As most of you all know, Holly and I have continued to maintain our healthy eating/walking habits for a little over a year now. The improvements we have seen and felt in ourselves have been excellent! For my new job I had to take a new employee physical; to be honest I was a bit disappointed when I saw that my weight had gone up a bit from the last time. But after this morning's conversation, I was much happier. I'm still at a healthy weight for my age and height. I'm continuing to feel good and feel better about the way I look; I found myself perusing bikinis at Old Navy yesterday, thinking that I would probably look ok in one. I guess the point I'm trying to drive in is that we didn't do these changes to get back into bikinis; we did them because they were doable and we wanted to just be healthier. I am so thankful that God has brought us this far and has gotten us to the point where we are comfortable with the way we look. So what if I'm not in a size 2? I don't WANT to be in a size 2; I just want to use the body that God has blessed me with and make it a bit healthier. Life is too short. But for some people out there, that's what they want. They want to be "skinny and pretty." I just want to be happy with the way I look, and I am.
Holly: My message to the female population is this: STOP OBSESSING. Just stop it. It's not healthy! You are beautiful the way you are. Seriously. Please stop. It breaks my heart to see so many beautiful women beating themselves up over one mistake, one pound they didn't lose, one season in which they weren't "bikini ready", one extra snack they had in the day, etc. Instead of focusing on where we could be, how about focusing on where we are now?
I remember back when my clothes first started fitting a little looser, I immediately found myself in that mindset; that mindset of "oh, how much can I lose? How far can I go? What do I need to do to keep losing, keep losing, keep losing?" I truly believe if our main goal is just losing weight, then you're setting yourself up for failure. Be realistic. Focus on being healthier...the rest just comes naturally! Trust me on this one.
I bought a couple pairs of shorts yesterday. They are a size 8. I haven't been in single size pants since high school. I'm not going to lie, I did do a little happy dance in the fitting room. If you thank God for who you are, who He has created you to be, and for where He has brought you to, it all just comes naturally. We discussed this in an earlier post...this one, to be exact. That's why I do what I do. That's why we do this blog. We don't do it to keep gaining followers, we don't dig through mounds and mounds of sources to try to tweak it, we don't go out of our way to build our reach. No, we do it because, almost 2 years ago, God laid it on us, and we just enjoy sharing life with people. I don't need validation in the form of a typed comment or a new reader to know that people read what we write, because I've had numerous conversations, face-to-face conversations, from people saying they enjoy what we write. If you want to chime in, great. If not, well then, we're going to keep writing. No snot off our noses. And that's why I continue these healthier changes. Yeah, don't get me wrong, it's great to see the physical changes, and to receive compliments, but in the end, I just give it all back to God. Our bodies were designed for Him!!!! I think it hurts Him when He hears us ragging on and on about how we constantly want to fix something about ourselves that we don't like. Just think about that the next time you wake up with a large zit on your forehead, or you skipped your workout, or you gained an extra pound.
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