What if we stopped counting… carbs, calories, fat grams. An end to the distinction between good and bad foods. Ate food to nourish and satisfy us in the quantities our bodies are asking for. No entering foods in your journal and doing calculations in your head if you are allowed an item. Eating food without guilt or shame.
What if we stopped worrying… what insignificant people in our lives think about how we look or choose to live our lives? Stopped thinking we're being judged all the time and then making ourselves feel bad about it. We stopped with the thought “what would people think?” because it doesn't matter in the quest to live our life authentically.
What if we moved our bodies how we wanted to… without prescribed plans, stopwatches, and a list of “what other people do.” We would run, jump, swing, dance, or do anything else our heart desired that felt great for our body and soul. We didn't feel the need to prescribe to the next crazy fitness trend and instead embraced the power our bodies have every single day that allow us to move how we please.
What if we stopped measuring… our pounds, our inches, our miles. We stopped comparing ourselves to each other and to charts on paper. No clothing size would have a negative connotation and instead just focused on what makes us feel freaking fabulous.
These things could be incredibly frightening or incredibly freeing. For people like myself who are recovering from binge eating disorder (BED), or who have battled a lifetime of yo-yo'ing could take an inch and go a mile (or ten). Or perhaps we would learn how to practice patience, love, and acceptance and learn how to actually listen to our bodies instead of all of the voices telling us what to do, how to be, and what to look like.
This is all off the cuff and just a bit of a rambling post, but these are questions I think about often. Sometimes it comes up when things are great and other times when things are bad. The problem is that my indication of “good” or “bad” times comes by a weight on the scale or a recent accomplishment of how well my numbers for my last meal stacked up against my plan. We wander around trying to live our lives with distorted minds and skewed perceptions of personal failure and success.