I admit, I've always been thin. I've been a size 2/4 since I was 15 years old and now I am 26. But, I am soft and pear shaped so, while I look even smaller at first, when a
person takes a real look at me they see where it's all hiding. This is something that I battled with for years and oh how I have been tormented by other females for having all my fat in my toosh instead of my chest and how men are lying when they say they prefer booties over boobies. But oh contrare ladies!...
.the women who say that are lying and are either in denial or are trying to pull you down. For years and years I hated how I looked and wanted to change it so badly all because 'no man would be attracted to me otherwise'. But God knew what he was doing when he made me because I have no doubt in my mind that the man I am married to firmly believes with all his heart and soul that I am the most beautiful woman on the face of the planet...and I am not about to jeopardize that nor talk him out of it. He has made me embrace that toosh of mine.
BUT, I will always battle within myself when I try on clothes or look in the mirror. Us pear-shaped gals no taller than 5'2" have a stinky of a time with clothes. And while yes my husband loves my body I still want to trim it and maybe look in the changing room mirror with a little more confidence than before.
Before we came out to the country we are interning in for the year I had hit an all-time high with the number on the scales. My weight no longer was only staying in my toosh and thighs but it was starting to thicken my stomach...I despised it. So, when we came out here within the first week I lost 5 lbs. Within 1 month I dropped 10 and then 17 in which now I'm always floating around 110 lbs depending on what scale I use (and yes that's annoying). I honestly have been extremely lazy in my exercise routine but I've been great with my diet.
Diet is the key for me. Before we came out here we were having 'party nights' 1-3 times a week which consisted of late night grocery runs and grabbing some sort of junk-food and a movie. My diet was horrible. But a couple months before we came out
my sister got me on a free online study called 'The Lord's Table'. It really made me rethink food and how we looked at it. Then coming out to a third-world country gave the final stamp to the meaning behind food.....
Food is just something we need to fuel our bodies and keep us healthy and strong. Making our decisions for what to eat based upon taste/craving, body image, etc is not right or healthy. But making our diet decisions based on what would please God is key. I didn't finish the study, but I didn't need to...seeing and hearing about people starving and scrounging to have at least 1 meal a day really forces a person to change their perspective on food very quickly.
When a person is hungry they don't care about what they are eating as long as it's food. Sure, it's okay to have a brownie now and then and to go have an ice-cream date with your man but to be controlled by those impulses and to make them on a constant basis is not uplifting to God nor healthy for the body he created for you.
Because of the history with cancer in my family and my digestive issues I have to make sure to have a decent amount of produce every day. Since we've been here I've been eating huge carrots and large portions of peas at least 5 times a week and I try to have a mango every day. My usual daily intake consists of oatmeal and a mango for breakfast, a very light lunch of some kind, and either chicken, fish or whole grain pasta for supper with more veggies than anything else put together. And yes, I love to bake and so I often have no-bake cookies or brownies or fudge in the fridge and I would have a little. But I always give away a lot of what I make so that I don't eat it all and so that I have something to give to these people whom love to give so much to me.
I brought this exercise band with me that I have found to be amazing. it folds and fits into any tiny little crevice and yet it works so much of you all at once.
Ladies, we don't need a gym or some expensive trainer...just a video or an at-home routine should do the trick.
With this band I wrap it around my feet while laying on my back and placing my legs straight up. I spread my legs, pulling the band, as far as I can for 20 reps and then I do it again with my legs at a 45 degree angle. Finally, I will spread them as far apart as possible and hold it for about 15 seconds or however long I can manage it. This not only works my hips, booty, and thighs but I've noticed right away that my waste has been pulling in giving it a deeper curve. It's not changing the shape of my body necessarily but my skirts and other clothes are fitting much better.
I don't do a lot, and I am planning on adding to my little routine, but I just wanted to share that with you because it helps me so much and it's so stinkin' easy.
I don't plan on ever having what the United States considers, a 'perfect body'....which is fine by me because my husband doesn't even like that. Before I got married I was sooo worried that my future husband would expect me to shave my legs every day, have the perfect body (curve mixed with skinny mixed with tone and absolutely no cellulite). But I learned that he doesn't care about any of that. The cellulite on my thighs doesn't bug him one bit, he doesn't care about my legs being smooth every day, and he adores my body the way it is.....petite and pear-shaped.
My Guidelines:
1.
Only eat when hungry -unless that means you will eat late, then eat supper to keep from eating at night.
2. Don't let what you choose to eat or don't eat consume your thoughts and mood.
Just please the Lord.
3.
Have a little exercise and a lot of veggies.
4.
Drink lots of water and not much soda or milk.
5. Don't over-eat. If you eat until you're satisfied then that isn't quite enough for some people (like me, whom gets full very quickly).
Just stop eating the moment you start to feel full and you'll be fine.
I would do the typical thing of showing you pictures of my body (befores and afters)...but 1. that's weird and immodest and 2. I promised my hubby that I would stay in the shadows and not tell or show who I am...there are some weirdos out there that love the internet and what a person can find on it.
here is the site for online bible study that helped give that spiritual kick in the bum I needed to gain control.
What are some of your food struggles?
