A Letter to the Women in the Room

As young kiddo, growing up it was easy to not really care about what you were eating.

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But as a teenage girl, once you do start paying attention to the messaging around food and diet, you start learning about weight loss and how a woman “𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝” look. ⁣

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Sometimes the messaging is less obvious, like a woman in a sports bra on the cover of Cosmo Girl. ⁣

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Sometimes it’s directly in your face, like the Hydroxycut or Jenny Craig ads. ⁣

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You’re made to believe you’re ugly or just lazy if you don’t look like an “after picture”. ⁣

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I remember starting to drink Slimfast Shakes for breakfast and snack on Special K bars for lunch. ⁣

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FORTUNATELY, this did not last long because not only did I notice my performance in softball suffer, but I just genuinely enjoyed food. I wasn’t going to let some BS magazines tell me not to eat. ⁣

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Ever since then, I’ve rebelled HARD against that messaging. ⁣

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Why do you think I get so fired up about BS weight loss products and expensive starvation diets?⁣

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I’m so sick of women being told (by men AND women) that they need to lose weight because that’s what sexy is. That being attractive means you have a thigh gap or skinny arms. ⁣

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I’m sorry, but that’s BS.⁣

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You know what is sexy? Confidence, self-esteem, and actually caring about what makes you healthy.⁣

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Things like…⁣

- 𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥. ⁣

- 𝘙𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘻𝘰𝘯𝘦. ⁣

- 𝘌𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘨𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩.⁣

- 𝘛𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴.⁣

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I won’t lie to you guys… I wrestle with the expectations of what a fitness professional 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 look like. I don’t have a 6 pack, I have insecure body parts, and I’m definitely not stepping on a bodybuilding stage anytime soon. ⁣

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But I seriously have to ask myself, wtf is actually important to me? Is it a 6-pack lifestyle? ⁣

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No… ⁣

𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨⁣

𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴⁣

𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘺 𝘨𝘶𝘵⁣

𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘶𝘱 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘦⁣

𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝟿𝟶 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘺𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘺𝘮⁣

𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵⁣

𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘧*𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥⁣

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I want all these things because they are 𝐌𝐘 expectations of a healthy life, and 𝐍𝐎𝐁𝐎𝐃𝐘 else’s.⁣

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𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘢 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘯.