The towel unraveled from my sopping hair and fell at my feet. A feeling of insecurity washed over me as I studied my naked body in the mirror. I turned to the side and studied the excessive curve of my shape and the way my thighs rested together.
I knew I wasn’t fat.
I knew that.
But I also felt
Not
Good
Enough.
I pressed a hand to my belly, tugged at my flab, then sucked in my gut, imagining the way my body used to look.
I lost over twenty pounds just for the wedding.
And worked out three times a day and ate only 1000 calories to do so.
It should come as no surprise that such a lifestyle is not sustainable.
Like, at all.
So, I put it all right back on.
I think I felt ashamed, standing naked in my bedroom with a towel at my feet, because I had worked so damn hard for my wedding body, and somehow, I managed to let it slip through my fingers like sand. How quickly I let that motivation and determination leave my system and render me vacant.
It took me a long time after our nuptials to finally accept that my body simply is not designed to be slender and muscular. It just doesn’t want to be 130 pounds of muscle. It would much rather be a little squishy.
The way his arms hold me at night tells me that’s okay.
Let’s face it: without the motivation of a beautiful dress on a beautiful summer day, it is incredibly difficult to justify slaving away at the gym three separate times a day and living on hardboiled eggs. That doesn’t make me happy. You know what does make me happy? Cheez Itz and Diet Coke. At what point are we willing to sacrifice bliss for the stereotypical perfect body? I may not be slender and muscular like I was (again, for a hot sec), but I am curvy and no less beautiful.
That wasn’t easy to come to terms with. It’s almost natural to get stuck in comparisons of what you once were or what your friends are or what your sister has always been. Once I stopped comparing myself, I could just look at me for me and focus on liking what I saw in the mirror.
What am I saying here?
Love yourself.
You’re beautiful.
Be confident and let yourself shine as you tackle adulting.
And buying yourself a perfectly fitting power suit won’t hurt, either.
#adulting 