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Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Body Image Challenge



I've been a fan of Girls Gone Strong and Molly Galbraith for a while. They promote strength and overall health and fitness as opposed to weight loss at all costs.

Molly just started a 28 day challenge to help others begin to shift their mindset from body hate to body acceptance and love. Sounds like a great idea to me. 

Please take a few minutes to pop over to Molly's site and read some truth from and about fitness professionals regarding their body image issues. (Hint: they have rolls, cellulite and stretch marks!)

Just like almost every other woman in America, I've had and continue to have issues with parts of my body.  I'm getting better and better with self acceptance but it is a work in progress. The picture above is a prime example. I would never have posted that before but I'm feeling inspired to share in an effort to help myself and others get over some of these flaws that are only of concern to ourselves. 

No one else really cares that I have back fat (pictured above.) Guess what, I have rolls, cellulite, wrinkles and other stuff.  Guess what, no one cares. Guess what else, I'm still awesome.  And so are you.

I urge you to take the challenge. If not for you then do it for the young girls in your life. 

Working with 3rd through 6th grade girls, I've witnessed the despair, heart ache and anxiety over their body image and weight in particular. It breaks my heart to hear a 3rd grade girl call herself fat. What's even worse is when that 3rd grade girl is well within the average range of weight for her height and age. I'd like to say that I only witnessed that once, but that would be a lie. Time and time again as I weighed these girls I heard these body hating comments. I felt like I was at the births of many eating disorders. And that is probably the sad truth. Some of those girls will have or at least flirt with an eating disorder. I can only remember 1 girl that held her head up high and had obvious self worth when it came time to weigh. Guess what, she was a young athlete in the making. She was the girl playing tag and swinging from the monkey bars. She was a girl that liked being strong and agile. And I'm willing to bet that her mom had a pretty healthy body image as well.

I don't have a daughter but if I did, I would want that mindset for her. I would want her to know that a body is for running and jumping and working and playing. I'd want her to know that her body will carry her to do good and great things for others. I'd want her to know that her body is a home that houses her soul and carries it around to bless the world it's in. I'd want her to know that her body runs best on good wholesome food but that ice cream on a summer day (really any day) is glorious. I'd want her to know that she will be knocked down and beaten up in this world, but her body can and will carry her through it. I'd want her to know how fearfully and wonderfully she is made and that her worth is not a number on a scale. I'd want her to know how to treat her body  preciously, respectfully, guardedly and lovingly. Most importantly, I'd want her to know, to her very core, that her true beauty lies within. It can't be seen in a mirror. It can't fit into size 6 jeans. It can't be quantified because it's potential is infinite.

We are all works in progress. Never ever give up.


#LoveYourBodyChallenge


5 comments:

  1. Thank you Bev. This is wonderful!! I am in on the Love Your Body Challenge.

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  2. Bev, I am going to join the challenge - for me and my mini me!

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  3. True to form, I am a little late. Starting Day 1 today.

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