Two pictures.
The first picture is of me over twenty years ago. My metabolism was amazing, which was good because my eating habits were atrocious. When I did eat it was usually fast food. I drank too much, I smoked too much, I stayed out too late. My anxiety and depression levels were through the roof!
The second picture is of me twenty-plus years and twenty-plus pounds later. My metabolism has slowed way down, but I eat healthier - mostly home-cooked meals. I no longer smoke, I only drink occasionally, and I get plenty of sleep (most of the time.) My anxiety and depression levels are under control.
If I were to ask you which picture shows me in good health, most people would pick the first one. After reading the descriptions, many might pick the second one. But this is a trick question. In both pictures, I suffer from intestinal issues. A few years after the first picture I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis.
There is a great body positivity movement going on right now, but one of the arguments some people have against it is that overweight people are not healthy.
But what is healthy?
I've had health issues most of my life so if you judge a person's health on lack of issues then I've never really been healthy. But if you judge health by the actions a person takes to take care of their body - I am much healthier today.
I am not skinny anymore. I've got more fat, more stretch marks, more cellulite - but I love my body for what it has done and what it continues to do.
If we only love our bodies when they are perfect and healthy, none of us would ever love our bodies. None of us would ever be happy.
Many body-shamers think that the only way someone will change is if you hate yourself. I found the opposite to be true - when I love and accept my body, I want the best for it. It becomes less about how I look and more about how healthy I am.
I am in a much better place now than I was in my twenties - not only physically, but mentally as well. I would not trade what I have and what I know today for that skinny body. Not anymore.
The point is - love your body for what it is now.
Amy Young
Confessions of a GenX Mom