Body Image Revelation

First off, let me make one thing very clear-- I do not think I am fat.

This being said, I should also mention that I struggled with my self-image for the majority of my high school career. And in some ways I still am. But I have come to an amazing revelation that I thought I'd share with this lonely corner of cyberspace.

I've been fairly disappointed with how I look in a bathing suit, and tighter clothing. This usually led to me being upset and eating a lot of pizza and ice cream.

NEWSFLASH: PIZZA AND ICE CREAM ARE NOT THAT GREAT FOR YOU.

Who knew, right?

Anyway, my point is that, for someone who really wasn't exercising, I was eating far more calories than my body needed. Not to mention that the food I chose to eat was incredibly high in fat, and low in nutritional value.

Then, sometime last week, I realized that I could solve my body image issues pretty easily-- simply by working out.  So I started doing the P90X Ab Ripper everyday and then followed that up with either a cardio video, running a mile, or (most recently) swimming laps for thirty minutes to an hour. In addition to this, I stopped snacking and added more protein to my diet. Other than those two things, though, I didn't drastically alter my diet. And that's the best thing-- when you're young, you don't need to diet in order to improve your health and start looking the way you want to.

If you're like me and aren't happy with how you look in that two-piece, you just have to stop crying about it, and do something instead! I can't promise that the results will be instantaneous, but you'll start feeling better even before you see any major changes because exercise increases endorphins that make you happy. (Dopamine, I believe.)

Morale of the Story: Either actively work to change what you don't like about your body, or learn to accept it like you should learn to do with the parts of you that aren't as easy to manipulate.

Now this isn't to say that you shouldn't be happy in your own skin. That calls for an entirely different post. My point is that if you're really unhappy with your weight, or general physique, then you have no need to hide under baggy t-shirts, or be so self-conscious because there's such a simply solution-- exercise. Which, might I mention, is super great for your heart and thus your general livelihood.

So, work on loving yourself. Do whatever you feel you need to do in order to be completely at home in your body, but be healthy about it.