As the end of the year is quickly approaching, there is a lot of focus on those dreaded resolutions of losing that excess fat that you accumulated over the last year. Whether you’ve gained six pounds or twenty, come January slimming down becomes an obsession. Sometimes the obsession is damaging physically and emotionally affecting you and your relationships.
First of all, let me make it clear that there is a difference from being health conscience and fixated on being skinny. Understanding your body and keeping cholesterol in check, sustaining the proper muscle mass, and fighting heart & bone decease are prudent as you age. Getting the proper nutrition and exercise are important and should be made routine in your life. Crash dieting and excessive exercise leads to poor choices at the dinner table sometimes with devastating consequences. Young women in particular have image issues that result in unhealthy behavior such as drug use, broken relationships, and shortened life spans.
Eating healthy doesn’t mean that you can’t indulge and enjoy real food such as cheese, chocolate, or pasta. When it comes to heavy or fatty foods, keep in mind it’s about portion control and sticking with your exercise routine. (The importance here is routine) Besides, you can’t avoid cheesecake or ice-cream forever. What kind of life sad would that be?
Having a good attitude about one’s body image will benefit your physical and emotional health. Feeling good is the goal of a weight management plan. If you feel better most likely everyone around you will have a better attitude towards you, hence the relationships you engage in will blossom. This great attitude of yours may also improve your marriage.
Spend life living, not counting every single calorie that enters your body then running an extra two miles to burn them. This year instead of vowing to be skinnier, try pledging to yourself a happier healthier lifestyle. You will not be disappointed by those results. Most people won’t be judging you on your waist line anyway, and if they do maybe it’s not the weight you need to lose.
Shell de Toni 