The Pursuit of Healthiness

The Pursuit of Healthiness
Your Guide to Getting Healthy

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Teenagers vs. Weight

Recently I posted this blog on the forums of Seventeen.com. I probably should mention something I haven't yet mentioned. I am 16. I've been avoiding saying that but I don't particularly want to anymore. I'd like to make it more personal. I've been trying to lose weight for three years. It's a daily struggle and I've experienced several setbacks (hell I'm going through one right now).

Anyway, I'm 16 and attempting to reach out to girls out there just like me. I posted a link on the forums and ended up with hundreds of hits in just a few minutes. The forum reached the top ten in number of hits. While I was so excited to get so much attention, I couldn't help but be a little disheartened to see just how many girls are hoping to lose weight. I know some of those girls don't have to do it. I know I do, just to be healthy. I'm not looking to be 100 pounds. My goal is 140. That's all. After that, I'm not pushing it.

I was talking about health to my friends recently and these were the three girls' weights: 117, 130, 139. They are all aound the same height of 5 ft 6 in. The girl weighing 117 was more desperate to lose weight than the other (healthy weighted) girls because she is muscular without an ounce of fat on her and muscle looks bigger than fat does. The girl at 130 has been tracking her food intake for a year and has lost ten pounds (because she thought 140 was too big). The 139 girl hasn't tried too lose weight but she constantly complains about her weight and makes her more and more upset. And then there's me.

I've let myself go. I was 147 at my smallest which was about a year ago. Then came Christmas and I ate and I promised I would lose it. Then came Easter and I ate and I promised I'd lose it. Then came summer and one miserable thing happened after the other and I ate to make myself feel better. Now it's October and I've lose about two pounds in September and now I'm at about 180. Ask my friends what I weigh and they'd never be able to come up with a number. I never told them anything near my weight.

I have to lose weight. Why? Because I don't want to go to college looking the way I do. Because I don't want to go to prom no being able to fit comfortably into a dress without Spanx constricting layers of fat. Because I don't want to be winded every time I'm asked to run in gym class. Because I don't want my feet to hurt at the end of the day, every day, from walking between classes.

Anyone who's reading this, I ask you do please do a BMI calculator before going farther into this pursuit. If you're on the lower end of your BMI or even below it like the girl at 117 is, take a good look in the mirror. We are all beautiful, big and small. But you're skinny.Yes we, the overweight, probably envy you a bit, but you don't see it that way. You're not looking to be healthy, don't lie. You're looking to be skinnier. How far will you go? Eventually you will be even less healthy than those of us who are overweight rather than you who's underweight.

I'm starting a movement for us teens, or at least trying to. Stop looking for skinny. Stop praying for Twiggy's body and start looking for how you look best. Stop fighting your bodies. Some girls look better with curves like their mommas gave them. Some have an athletic body, the type that carries them for miles of miles on their marathon runs. Some have skinny bodies, few curves or muscles but at a healthy weight they still look like sticks. We are all different and we shouldn't try to fit some stereotype in a magazine. As long as we are eating healthy, exercising, and at a healthy weight for our heights, we should focus on staying who we are.

2 comments:

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