Being surrounded by the new fads of green juice and constantly monitoring what goes into your body can be consuming. A culture that promotes being healthy and being thin at the same time is confusing, and misleading to say the least. Thousands of people are fighting eating disorders and being enslaved by calorie counting, and that is simply no way to live. Being healthy and being obsessive are two very different things, and it is time that this society makes that clear.
Only allowing yourself to eat a burger because you went to the gym is not healthy.
You are not defined by how many miles you ran or how many calories you burned off. Work out because it makes you feel happy. Work out because you like how it feels to sweat. Work out because you want to know how strong your body is capable of being. Do not work out because you think that running on a treadmill makes you any more deserving of a slice of pizza. You are allowed to eat what ever the hell you want. Food is not a reward for being thin. It is a mean of survival and something to enjoy. Enjoy the amazing restaurants around you and the company of friends, family, and even strangers. I have spent too many days hating my body after going out with friends to dinner and missing the gym. The gym does not make you a better person. It may make you a happier or stronger person, but it does not under any circumstance make you a better human being. Being healthy goes far beyond what you put into your body.
Your brain will often mislead you and tell you cannot eat this or cannot wear that, but those are all things society has convinced you to believe. If you are full, stop eating. If your body wants greasy food, listen to it's desires. If you feel sick after eating, note that that food is not what is fueling your body. Eat food that loves you back. Run until your body tells you not to. Dance until your legs need a break. Lift until your arms tell you they need rest. We over complicate health. You simply have to listen to your body. You are in control of it. You are responsible for loving it and making it the best it can be, which does not mean making it smaller.
The five or ten pounds you always obsess over are your becoming. The late nights spent eating pizza with friends that understand your heart. The adventures in another country and trying all of the french cuisine you desire. These five pounds are your comfort. Stop trying to become small. Focus on loving who you are and being healthy because your body deserves it, not because society demands it.
