We are being bombarded by diets. I know it’s that time of year but, open any newspaper or magazine and on television, we, the overweight ‘gullible public’, are given every choice to shift those unwanted Christmas pounds!
And we, the ‘gullible public’, seeing all these celebrities jumping onto the bandwagon and publishing their books filled with ‘photoshopped’ before and after photographs (okay, I’m a cynic) are brainwashed into feeling guilty and disgusted with the sizes and shapes of our bodies.
I have so been there! Even though I have never been on the ‘obese’ spectrum I have often wanted to shift a few pounds! I have tried many of these faddish diets with no long term success! It took me until my late fifties to realise this!
I have always been extremely body conscious. When I was a lot younger I was very thin and unfortunately kept that image as my ultimate goal weight for many years. As I moved through the decades and my body shape changed, keeping hold of this almost anorexic image just made me more determined to shift pounds and exercise to get back to that pre-baby, young teenage shape. Totally unrealistic but the illogical part of my brain was always the dominant one and ruled my life for decades!
But, I have moved on! I don’t know what made me finally accept the ‘me’ I see in the mirror. I didn’t have an epiphany. It was a gradual realisation that the unrealistic image of my body I had clung to for so long had to go!
I used to wear shoulder pads to improve my shape and never look like a pear! I wore leg warmers to enlarge my calves when wearing jeans or trousers! Instead of shopping for clothes to suit my body shape, I followed the fashion trends and used all these often uncomfortable ‘enhancements’ to give me the look I wanted. I’ll tell you a little secret. For many very uncomfortable years I wore tight skirts that showed no lumps or bumps by forcing my poor body into ‘two-ways’ and sitting at a desk for hours suffering often extreme pain and discomfort.
Yes, I deserved all that pain and discomfort but that just shows how bad my problem was! And then the realisation slowly, surreptitiously, began to dawn on me! I found a style that suited me and was comfortable and allowed a few (not too many!) lumps to show. I also changed my lifestyle to suit me. I started running, something I had always wanted to do, slowly building up to five kilometres with no ridiculous pressure to achieve marathon status!
I now choose the exercises I enjoy and, the big bonus, am accepting that the weight I feel the best and is the most achievable is not the waif-like seven stone of my youth. I am not the same woman my husband married. I hope that I am better! Sensible and happy in my own skin. Yes, Christmas does put on a few extra pounds but they soon fall off when life returns to normal. I don’t count calories on holiday either. What a pleasure to embrace special foods and nice wines a few times a year and then enjoy getting back to normal for the months in between.
So, I’m not qualified to give any advice and certainly would not have the audacity to tell anyone what to do! I have just shared my experience with you and want to wish you all a marvellous, happy, healthy, stress-free 2019! 👠
Jenny Burrell 