Love Your Wobbly Bits

I was hit by the fashion bug. The good news about this season is that the clothes are airy and feminine. They're designed to build curves on the boniest of frames.

I am not bony. I consider myself quite curvy. (The extra 40 pounds helps.) Finally! Skinny people are trying to look like me!

But they can't. There's a lot to be said for real curves.

To be fair, we don't see as many skeletal women as we used to. We see toned, healthy, fit women of all different shapes and sizes.

Like in Real Simple magazine when they showed about 6 different 150-pound women. Each body type was represented. You never saw 150 pounds in so many different ways in a magazine. It was refreshing to see all of our shapes and curves honored.

Real curves don't always follow an hourglass model, either. Sometimes, real curves come in the shape of a pear. Sometimes like a juicy orange. Sometimes, real curves are apparent on one part of the body, leaving the other bits pretty linear. But they're still real.

They're still feminine. They're still US. And aren't we beautiful?

The only time real curves become a problem is when they slow you down. If you can't climb stairs or play in the yard with your children without running out of breath, then your real curves are slowing you down. It's time to put your curves to work for you instead of the other way around.

That's what I'm trying to do right now. I am proud of my body. I love my curves! But I want to control where my curves curve.

There have been times where I've set myself down and said, "Tomorrow you're starting an exercise program." I even cried over it to convince myself that I was really going to do it. Tomorrow came, I worked out - really tried to kill myself. Hated it. And the grand exercise adventure came to an abrupt end.

So now, very slowly, I'm following my sister's advice. Walk more, dance more, have fun more. Enjoy the feeling of movement more. (I had forgotten that it feels really good to move!)

Funny thing is, I am finding that the more I move, the more I want to move. As I introduce new ways to move, I magically find the time to move more often, and for longer stretches. A month ago, I didn't think I had the time to "exercise" - now I do it without even thinking about it. To top it off, the world hasn't stopped because I spend a little less time doing the things I thought required all of my time.

I'm becoming healthier. I'm losing weight. I'm feeling muscle under my flesh. The things that were important a month ago are still priority items, and I'm still progressing. I'm a lot more confident. A lot prouder. And a lot happier with my "wobbly bits". I'm more comfortable in my own skin, even though I'm changing the skin I'm in.

It's not about losing weight to become beautiful. I'm already beautiful. So are you. Moving lets you "feel" your own beauty in a new way.

Moving is about loving your self. Start small. Act silly. Just move.

[P.S. Have you seen the Bridgette Jones movie where she's hiding under the sheet getting dressed because she doesn't want her lover to see her "wobbly bits?" He says that he's rather fond of her wobbly bits, and she throws off the sheet with a big smile on her face. I love that scene! I feel like Bridgette!]