But this post is not about my results.
Rather, how carefully I must talk about my body and how I feel around my kids.
You see, in my house the f-word isn't the regular old f-word. The f-word that I personally find highly hurtful is FAT. I've hated it since I was a kid. And I used to use it to describe myself when my self esteem was low as a teenager (and I battled a minor eating disorder in high school, in retrospect). There is a reason the scale and I don't get along. I become obsessed with the number and my entire life revolves around decreasing it. Yes, I have a lot of emotions tied to the word FAT. And I won't use it to describe any person's appearance.
I guess I was conscious about how I spoke about myself when I had my first kid, a boy. I wanted him to think of his mother in a way that didn't revolve around her obsession with her size. But when I had my second kid, a girl, I became super aware of what I was doing. The pressure for girls especially to have a perfect body, is appalling. I realize that now as I'm on the other side of childhood.
Luckily I worked to lose the baby weight when they were very small. I got to a very healthy size when they weren't very old and maintained it for awhile.
However I did gain a bit of weight a year ago due to a medication, and as I've been working to take it off (and I will say that it's gone - thank goodness) I've had to be super careful about how I approach talking about it. My daughter is now 5 and she notices things like how big her thighs are already (and they are perfect). I can't believe how early that body perfection desire kicks in.
So it's been a little trickier this time around. I focus on using words like "strong" and "healthy". We all drink our daily Shakeolgy and we focus on the fact that it is nutrient dense and is good for your body. I get them involved in my workouts. We make it fun. They understand what foods are better choices than others (although my daughter is a Nutella addict - she gets that from me). But I don't scold them or make a big deal about choosing one food over another. They end up eating their fruits and veggies one way or another.
I just don't want them to become stressed or obsessed about calories and numbers on the scale. I want them to focus on how they feel and how healthy food gives them energy and junk food makes them tired. I want them to grow up living this healthy life. But I want it to come naturally and because they want to feel good. My daughter is into ballet and my son runs track and plays basketball. They know how good it feels to move their body and they enjoy it.
So no, the f-word is not allowed in our house. And I think we are all healthier and happier because of it.
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