When the pressure to have the perfect body becomes too much.

​It's everywhere: society's ideals of what the perfect body is. When you've spent the vast majority of your life overweight, these images are shoved down your throat everyday. It's overwhelming. 
If you've ever been on a weight loss journey, and you have reached your goal, there is more societal pressure to keep it off. Not only have you dealt with the pressure to lose weight, you deal with the pressure to keep it off. You can't win!

​I've struggled with my weight since I was 8 years old. I'm now 38, and while I look somewhat normal, I am overweight by BMI standards. At my highest, I was 260lbs. At my lowest, I was 138lbs. Before yesterday, I was 155lbs (I ate an entire bag of gluten free gummy worms while watching the Punky Brewster reboot, so that's probably going to add a pound or so to that number). I shouldn't be completely terrified of my lack of self-control, but I am. Why? Because there are people in my life who are expecting me to fail at keeping the weight off. They want me to go back to that place of self-loathing. These people want me to be miserable because it makes THEM feel better.
​In high school, I was bullied for my weight. Guys never talked to me, and girls shamelessly hated on me. Years later when I lost weight, these people came back into my life, called me an inspiration, and suddenly wanted to be my friend. Some of the guys wanted to be my friend too. I felt the pressure to keep my weight down. There were times where I skipped meals, and went too hard in my workouts (while dealing with a spinal injury).
​I was crumbling under the pressure.

Me, when I was 17.

Me, when I was 37.

What if we took away their power over us, and empowered ourselves to be happy no matter what size we were? I'm not saying steal my gummy worms, and down 5 pizzas in one sitting. As long as we are generally healthy, we should feel beautiful and sexy at any size. It is expected for us to be large and not in charge of our happiness. We can be small, medium, large, XL, XXL, XXXL, and more...and in charge of our happiness.
​We deserve it!

Don't let bullies, life, societal norms, and that inner voice (that sounds like society) tell you that you aren't good enough as you are. Release the pressure back into the universe and be the goddess or god that you are. 

#bodyimage #bodyacceptance #selfcare #societalpressure #bodypositivity #blogging #lifestyle #amblogging #blogger