"Working out is a reward not a punishment!" I feel like some people might've missed the mark on the whole fitness craze! Not everyone who works out does it because they NEED to or because they HAVE to fit in those skinny jeans. Some of us work out because we like to, because we want to be healthy, or because it's a total way of life!
Glamour magazine just recently had an article about "Fitspiration" or "Fitspo": Is It Bad For You? According to Urban Dictionary, "fitspiration" is fit+inspiration and uses examples of good fitness as inspiration to attain a fitness goal. There are a couple sides of the story. Some think the images portray dangerously thin and overly sexualized women with bodies that are impossible to achieve. Some say that the images promote the same obsessive tendencies as an eating disorder. There are some in the middle who think that there are horrible images that can sabotage a woman's self-esteem, and make you end up comparing yourself to other women, but they believe that the goal is realistically your own milestone to achieve. Team "Fitspo" feels that when you're trying to develop an active and healthy lifestyle inspiring pictures can be great motivators, not detractors.
From the time I was 6 until today I have been active. I started doing martial arts when I was 6 and it has been a WAY OF LIFE for the last 22 years. I consider myself to be in good shape, but I'm honestly tired of the people a.k.a. the "haters" who look at you and say, "It must be nice to be able to eat whatever you want", "Geez, you're so skinny!" Well guess what I don't eat whatever I want, and I'm fit because I work damn hard at it! My body is a reflection of the hard work that I put into it. I don't think I should be judged by how much dedication I have to that vision.
Do I think society has an askew vision of what beauty or fit is? Yes, absolutely! I don't like using the words thin, or skinny, I like the words healthy, fit, active! Do pictures of fit women inspire me? ABSOLUTELY! Do I have illusions that I'm going to be a female body builder? NO! I'm a smart enough female to know that if "you put good in, you get good out!" There will always be people who take it to the extreme, but I have no problem with seeing pictures of fit women or men for that matter. It's motivation, and it inspires me! If something that I do in my everyday life can inspire someone else to make a change, or to continue with a certain lifestyle, then I have succeeded!
I'm not here to preach that my way is the only way, I'm just here to live a healthy, fit lifestyle filled with workouts that make me feel healthy, and with food that I enjoy! Yes, I juice almost everyday! Yes I workout everyday, sometimes twice a day! But I do have days where I take a break, and I do have days where I pig out! That's life! I just want to be a healthy, strong, confident woman! And to me I'm succeeding with the goals I've set for myself because I set them, and I'm not living someone else's ideals!
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