I got fortunate, flawless skin, big eyes, thick lashes, long and shiny hair, slim body.
You usually don’t really appreciate what you got from Mother Nature. Just take it as it is, you don’t think of your beauty as a gift, you are not grateful for it, you are only using it day in and day out.
I was just like that.
Before I turned 14, I was really tall and skinny. But my first period didn’t come alone, together with the pain in my lower back and cramps in my belly, moodiness, and occasional pimples I got plus 5 kg or 11 lb. It was a welcome gift to my adulthood, I suppose. It wasn’t too noticeable to be quite honest, as I mentioned before, I was tall, so all my extra kilos nicely and evenly spread all over my body, mostly hips, and booty but nevertheless. My parents convinced me it was “fine,” and I believed them; I was ok with “fine,” “fine,” was good enough for me.
By the time I turned 20, “nice and evenly” and “fine” didn’t really work for me anymore.
I realized that it was time to stop consuming chips and chocolates every other day and take responsibility for my body and look.
That stage in my life, I called “seesaw.”
For the next 10 years, my weight, like a dollar rate on a currency market, went up and down, but more up than down.
I was limiting myself for half a year. I said no to chocolates and tarts, no to potatoes and mayonnaise, no to milk, bread, and oily salad dressings. No, no, no! Beautiful and slender body! Yes, yes, yes!
But funny enough, as soon as I got what I wanted, as soon as the scales showed the so desired number, as soon as I squeezed in my favorite skinny jeans, something clicked in my head, and for the next half a year, I was eating and eating and eating a little bit more. And then I was losing all those extra kilos or pounds again. It was a vicious cycle I
and it was exhausting.
I was on all possible diets. You name it, most likely I tried it: water fasting, single product fasting (like fish or meat or fruit), no food after 5.00 pm or 2 meals per day only, calories counting, endless story.
By the time I turned 30, I had gone to the gym. Every day, 5 times a week, I was working out. Just in 3-5 months, I got stronger, enduring. I was in a good mood all the time and didn’t catch the flu even once. At some point, I realized that I was going to the gym not because I had to, but because I actually liked it.
I checked my weight once, and it was higher than when I started. But I could see that the body has changed. I was fit, I was in better shape. I could see the difference, and more importantly, I could feel that difference.
I started eating healthier and focused on quality, not quantity. When you work out, sweat, get blisters on your hands, when every time you have to push yourself and overcome your own limits, you cannot just keep on eating rubbish, it would mean all that work and sweat you put in was for nothing. I had all new respect for myself.
I am 35. I am working out or doing yoga or pilates 4-6 times a week now. I am doing so not because I have to, but because I want to. I cycle, walk a lot, hike when I get the chance, drink lots of water.
No more dieting. Soda, chips, mayo, fast food, dairy (thanks to lactose and casein intolerance) are long forgotten. I just don’t crave all those things anymore.
After all those years of searching for the “magic pill” or the diet that actually works, well, diets don’t work, but lifestyle does.
I think the second I stopped fighting my weight, my body, and myself and started listening to my body needs - everything has changed.
I do look better now, and most importantly, I feel good about myself. According to my height /weight ratio, my weight is healthy, and I am healthy too, and that what counts.
I am thrilled that I have finally found what works best for me.
How about you? What’s your story? Do you listen to your body?
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