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Body Image Battles...


Ugh...the dreaded "Battle of the Bulge".

One day, in kindergarten, my now 8 year old came home and asked "how 'much' calories are in this mama" and I nearly died.

I'm not a dieter. I've never been a dieter.

Would you believe we don't even own a scale? It's true!

I try to eat healthy (and by "healthy" I mean only 4 handfuls of chips rather than the whole bag) but, that comment, from my sweet little girl, made me realize just how much our kids pick up from us.

Apparently, one of the mom's of my daughter's friends was dieting, counting calories, and her daughter picked up on it. However, the last thing I want my daughters to do, is to worry about their weight.

I want them to be confident. I want them to feel great about their bodies and how they look!

Once upon a time, I gave myself credit. Credit for not dieting...but, if I take a long hard look at myself and the words I use around my daughters...I'm not doing them any favors. Just because I don't diet, does not leave me immune to body image issues.

I've never been happy with my body. My legs are too short, my love handles to "lovey", and my saddle bags too large. I don't want my girls to ever think that about themselves...so, I'm trying (I'm trying, I'm trying, I'm trying!!) to "love the skin I'm in".

My mom has told me that, someday, I will wish I had the body I did now. I know that's true...'cuz the body that my 16 year old self hated, I would LOVE to have right now! Or, heck...my 25 year old body would be pretty great too...so, I'm trying to keep hindsight, in my foresight.

I'm trying to recognize that "Hey! I ain't no Giselle Bundchen with her "muscle memory"...but I'm not half bad!" I'll admit...it's hard.

'Specially when the evil Captain and her nasty sidekick AuntFlo come around...boy, they're a miserable pair, aren't they? Makin' me feel all fat and ugly and wrecking my resolve to appreciate what I have now?

Next time, I'm just gonna flip 'em the bird and tell 'em where to go! I'm gonna look in the mirror and ignore my buddah belly and my cellulite (guess I'll hafta raise the mirrors above waist level...) and tell myself, "You know Mama, you ain't half bad!"


Comments

  1. oh Mama! I love this! I worry about what image I portray to my 8 yr. old! I don't ever want her to think she's not absolutely amazing!! so I work out, but not TOO much and eat 'balanced' meals (french fries + salad = balanced right?) and keep her image of herself healthy by not having too many magazines w/ super skinny celebs and their freakish post baby bodies lying around.
    I think you are doing great!
    so flip them the bird and say :hey i've had 5 kids! i look DANG good! take that Giselle!"

    loves,
    Amber

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  2. Good idea- to not worry so much.
    I have a problem with this myself and I need to remember that 10 years from now I'll wish I was just happy with the skin I was in.
    I do need to eat better though. I don't think diets are that good for us, really it's just about eating well.

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  3. I SOOOO remember thinking 5'8" and 140 was fat. Mmmmm....sounds like a dream bod to me right now.

    I remind myself that this buddha belly carried four of the most beautiful women on this planet for a good 3 years of my life.

    I've also decided that it never hurts for them to see me decide to take better care of myself when things go too far south...carefully of course....minus the obsessiveness.

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  4. First of all, you are gorgeous and look AMAZING! But it really is sad how early little girls pick up on this stuff these days. My friend was telling me some little girl was telling her that she couldn't eat any of their snacks because there was too much sugar, carbs, etc. etc. Sad! I think teaching children healthy habits is SO important but teaching them to love themselves is just as important.

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  5. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh - GREAT attitude!
    I'm trying to teach myself the SAME thing!
    LOVE the skin your in!
    maybe I should WRITE that on my mirrors with lipstick ;-)

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  6. My eight year old said the same thing! Blew my mind! She said she was going to stop eating candy because she needed to go on a diet. WHAT? I told her I agreed with the candy part... its not good for your teeth!

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  7. That's a great perspective. I never thought about looking at it that way. And BTW, you are not fat. You look great!

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  8. Ok, scary that I'm reading this because my daughter just asked me today, "mama, how to do people get fat from eating too much food?". She's THREE (almost four)! Where did she learn this from????

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  9. I consumed no less than a million calories today with my lack of self control. So thank you for making me feel better about it all!

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  10. we do talk about calories occasionally. really more calories in and calories out. i was anerexic for many years (i know you can not tell now). When I hear my children talk about calories it breaks my heart.

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