A letter to my body

So through one of my favorite blogs, poshdeluxe.com, I found another one: comradegogo. And through comradegogo.com I found numerous other blogs about getting and staying in shape. Most of them are about life-changing weight loss and that person's struggle in achieving it, maintaining it and the emotional aspects of going from overweight to in shape. They are all really great and motivating!

At one, Back in Skinny Jeans, it recommended writing a letter to your body. As a way of discovering and getting in touch with what might be holding you back.

So,(deep breath) here goes:

Hi Bod,

Thank you. Thank you so much for putting up with the emotional ups and downs I take you on. Thank you for not having my back give out completely from all the time I spent in bed under the covers. Thank you for keeping my cholesterol and blood pressure at a healthy level even as I stuffed you full of bad food and barely got my heart rate beyond resting at all.

That's a tremendous feat, now that I look at it from that point of view. I ingested sweets, pasta, lots of alcohol, cigarettes, other drugs and still you stayed reasonably healthy. Kudos to you, bod!

On that note, I am sorry. I truly am sorry for doing all those things to you, when all you wanted was to be taken care of with the respect and attention you deserve.

As I said to you the other day, I'm trying. It's going to take a little while because sometimes you get cranky at me when I get all gung-ho about working out and eating healthy. I understand. It's my fault, I trained you for almost 4 years to expect a certain kind of treatment from me.

So, I understand why my right knee hurts when I run. I would hurt too if someone forced me to live in an un-healthy manner and then run with too much weight on my back. I understand.

I also understand why sometimes you just crave to eat a whole pint of ice cream. I rarely give it to you anymore and it doesn't help that our skinny, high-metabolism husband needs to eat fattening foods and usually around us. I want our skinny, high-metabolism husband to eat more. I will try. But you gotta try too, no more of this low blood sugar act you have been doing the past year. I promise I will try to react to those moments with good snacks, apples and peanut butter...I know you like the sound of that snack, right?

Let's make a pact. I will try to take care of you and you will support me. I will buy new jogging shoes to help with the knee pain, I will try to cut out the sweets that only make you crave more (hey I understand! It's chemistry!), I will try to be encouraging and make sure your heart beats strong and true and you get at least 15 minutes of sunshine (with sunscreen on you, of course!).

You, in return, will try to heal the knee like I know you can. You will also relax at night and sleep better. You will remain calm and in control during stressful or low blood sugar moments.

I think we both know that we're in this together. Everything I do, helps you to help me to help you...etc...

Thank you again for hanging in there with me, bod. You are gorgeous, strong and loved.

Love,
Me