What do you *love* about your fat or fit(ter) body?

[delilah]

Hi everyone :) I thought I'd delurk in this forum with a curiosity question. I'm sure all of us are completely and utterly body-conscious, but it can't all be bad, even weighing 100+ over our "ideal" weights. I've noticed, since I started critically examining my body, that there are some things I really love about mine and hope that the WOL will enhance those things. Besides, I think many of us have plenty of things to hate about our body. I've been finding it helpful to remember the good things about it.

I've not gotten far enough yet to find things about a fitter body I love yet, but I'm curious to know what thing you losers have discovered (meant in the nicest possible way, of course!!)

So, my body loves:

1. I love my calves and ankles. They're shapely and narrow (even 160 pounds overweight) and I almost never have to shave them! (thanks mom!)

2. I have a pretty face, porcelain skin, almond-shaped eyes, little lips. I wonder what it looks like without the extra chin...

3. Except for a slightly injured knee (jumped off of a pier while trying to remember to bend my knees when landing. I landed before I did it), I'm still relatively healthy and not at risk for anything. I'd like to keep it that way!

[superstar]

I love NOTHING about being almost 200 pounds over weight.

There are plenty things I love about MYSELF though.

I love that I am no longer judgemental when it comes to being overweight. I used to mentally judge anyone I saw who was as large as I was/am. I was especially hard on myself as well. I didn't understand that carb cravings and insulin resistance. I just thought I was lazy, stupid, and weak-willed for not being able to stick to a low-fat "responsible" diet.

I love that I have so many great friends and family members that are there for me whenever I need them. I also love that I am able to give back to them what I am given.

I love that I can finally look in the mirror and realize that I am very pretty. I can enjoy my looks without focusing on the excess weight.

I love knowing that I spent 29 years gaining this weight, and I get rid of it all in just 2 yrs. Sometimes I feel like I should pinch myself to find out if all of this is really real. I struggled for years and years and years and years - and NOW, in the space of three months, my life is finally in my control.

Ok, that was my two cents :wave:

[Deb]

I love that my doctor was able to feel and compliment me on "very strong stomach muscles" during my last Physical.

[jazzyflyer]

okay here I go :D

I love the fact that this fat overweight image will so disappear!!!

Although I am overweight, I have a great mind set, personality and loving family!!!

Jazzyflyer

[starchile]

Hi-
No one's been around this post lately but I'll add my 2 cents in the bucket anyway! :D

1. I love that my face has always looked slimmer even when I weighed over 300 pounds.

2. I love that with my newer body I can wear form fitting tops and not have big bulges popping out everywhere! (not so for my hips and thighs yet but I'm working on it!)

3. I love that I can now fit in airplane seats and buckle the seatbelts (at least on Alaskan Airlines. I didn't know whether it was me or that they make theirs roomier) Oh, and I can lower the dinner trays over my lap!!!

4. I love that now, when i walk, I don't feel like I'm WOBBLING!

5. I love that now, when I walk, my butt doesn't jiggle!

6. I love that when I go to the stores I don't have to look for the biggest size that they have, in the Avenue or Lane Bryant! (although the down side of that is that the 18/20's and the 22's run out the fastest!)

YAAAYYY!!! That felt good!!

Thanks!

Peace,
Star

[DWRolfe]

Interesting thread....because it speaks to the issue that we need to find ways to love ourselves (appearance included) no matter what size we are...

...we've all heard/read about people who lose tons of weight but are still unhappy becasue they haven't learned to love themselves...

So...speaking just of the physical...

Even though I am overweight, I like that I have a big, hairy barrel chest and narrow hips (and small butt). If I have to be shaped like a triangle, I'm glad it's wider at the top.

And I got good face, skin and teeth.

The downside of being overwieght has been the toll it has taken on my knees (just one actually) that prevents me from doing as much as I would like. As many of you know, the pain is what snapped me out of my denial and brought me to this WOE in January 2002. Today I'm down 91lbs!!!

Thanks for posting this interesting thread!

Donald :wave:

[delilah]

woohoo!!! congratulations Donald! Wow!

I've nocited lately that the WOL has felt less about weight loss and more about the process of rediscovery. I haven't really lost enough to show, but I look in the mirror and I don't recognize myself. My body hasn't changed, but my mindset has. People all around me, including myself, are beautiful when I'm happy. Has anyone else had those sorts of mental changes or should I be trucked out to the looney bin? :daze:

And starchile... I'm soooo with you on that airplane seat/dinner tray thing. Just so long as the person in front doesn't lean back... ;)

[starchile]

...as I was eating my lunch in a WHITE blouse! No more "food on the shelf"!!! LOL!

When my bust was much larger....like over 4 inches larger...I would spill food on my shirt ALL THE TIME!!!!!! I can't even say how many nice blouses I have ruined. And believe me it's not about me eating like a sloppy pig either! Now, that my bust has decreased I don't have that problem anymore!

YEAAAAHHHH!!!

:D
Peace,

Star

[delilah]

*laugh* oohhhh! that's a good one! Most of my shirts are dark or black, but you can still see that little dribble spot!

[cre8tivgrl]

I, too, don't love much about my body or the weight except for the fact that it's coming off.

But I love the way my hair looks, feels, grow with the added protein.

I love that I have a supportive family and DH!!

I love putting on clothes and having them be loose!!!

Shelley

[Sherry B]

Ok this is going to be hard. What do I love? Well I love that I can bend over and tie my shoes now without totally blocking off my air supply.

I love that I can walk down stairs now without so much fear that I'm going to topple over and bounce like a rubber ball.

I love my additional strength. I've been lifting weights since June because my low carb efforts weren't working as well as they used to, and I love that I have managed to increase the weight from 50 pounds to 110 on my pull downs. Somehow just feeling stronger makes me feel healthier.

I love that I can look down at my legs and they look shaplier and thinner. I love that when I reach back and touch my back I don't feel those huge rolls of fat I used to feel before I started Atkins. I love that my face has thinned down so that if you only saw my face you would think you were looking at a normal weight person.

I love that my lower arms are starting to look normal weight, and that my upper arms are following suit (almost -still a little dangle under them).

I love that I feel a little more in control again, like I can actually excercise myself the rest of the way to thinness if I choose. There was a point in my life when excercise seemed just too impossible.

I love that most of my joint aches are disappearing, for awhile there I thought I was getting arthritis. It was probably just too much pressure from too much weight bothering my joints.

What I hate? I hate that I don't have the excitement I felt at first, or that I don't have the quick weight loss I had at first, I hate that I struggle for every pound, get discouraged, quit for awhile, gain back, lose again, gain back, and that in the last 2 years I've only lost a new 9 pounds (and five of that I've regained).

On the other hand I have to celebrate progress. In spite of only an additional 9 pounds, I have lost 23.5 inches in two years. That must mean muscle gained and fat lost.

I want so badly to find something that will work for me again. I think I'm just somewhat burned out on low carb, (been on it off and on since March 2000 and have lost at max 59 pounds, most of that in the first 8 months). I struggle to get back on the program, stick to the program and when I do, sometimes I lose, but one or two days of cheating (and sometimes while staying ON plan) I start gaining back. This month I started back on induction, stayed there for 9 days. Lost back down to my previous low (225) within three days, but then gained it back while still sticking to induction. Stayed on plan, excercised nearly every day and finally hit a new low of 223, then screwed up and gained back to where I am now (228).

I'm working out on a regular basis. Actually came to this forum because I was considering trying the Body for Life program. I'm just not sure if I have the stamina to stick to that program yet. I go through cycles of enthusiasm and energy and then disallusionment, despair, cheating and weight gain. (It seems to be hormonal).

So I love the changes, hate that they aren't happening as easily as they used to, that I don't have the drive I used to have.