Loving Yourself at Any Size

Don’t be a hater. I’m not talking about giving the evil eye to the trainer who’s pushing you to sweat through those last few burpees, or despising the fact that your best friend has the metabolism of Gisele, while you seem to gain weight by simply looking at food. I’m talking about hating on yourself. I hear it all the time from people struggling to lose weight or to achieve the physique of someone who posted a (highly edited) gym pic on Instagram. “I hate my body type.” “I’ll never look like him/her.” “I’ll always be fat.” Quit that crap! So what if maybe you're more an apple than an hourglass.

Of course, it’s not perfectly fine to live unhealthily either. On social media, especially, there's been a vocal counterculture of young, obese women professing their self-love. While I encourage being body-positive, being unhealthy is not something to glorify -- especially when we arrive at the scientifically proven conclusion that nine times out of 10 morbid obesity (defined as having a body mass index of 30.0 or higher) ultimately results in life-threatening conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Beautiful is not the word I'd use to describe clogged arteries; it's more like dangerous and scary as hell. While there are rare exceptions for people who are “plus size” to have healthy numbers related to blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar, the majority don’t.

So, knowing that concern over your health comes first, why is it important to espouse that big is also beautiful? Because all people are beautiful, worthy and deserving -- even if they are unhealthy. And only from a place of self-love can you appreciate your worth, value the necessity of your health, and know that you are capable of reversing any health crisis poor lifestyle habits may have gotten you into.

Love yourself, love your body, love your strength, and love yourself enough to focus on eating well and staying active.