Mirror Mirror on the Wall

Who's the fittest girl of all? Almost every girl I know will say..oh not me! I'm not fit at all. I need to lose weight, or I need to tone this, or my ass is too big, you get it. I admit I do the same. I stand in front of the mirror and criticize. Oh my stomach should be flatter, my arms should be more toned, my legs are okay but I could firm up. Why do we all do this to ourselves? Did you know that only 12 percent of women think they look good in a swimsuit? 12 percent? That's pretty ridiculous. And as I say this, I don't think I look good in a swimsuit. To be honest, I have never felt comfortable in a bikini or regular bathing suit for that matter.

If I had a daughter, I would tell her to ignore the media and the focus on skinny and just be herself. But would she listen to me? I doubt it. We see magazines everywhere where this celebrity had a baby 6 weeks ago and is already back to her pre-pregnancy weight. Considering it takes 6 weeks for your uterus to go back down to size, I have no clue how going back to pre-pregnancy weight and being fit is in possible in 6 weeks but what do I know? I'm not a celebrity.

Forget thin. We switched the focus to being fit, remember? But being consumed by being fit isn't good either.  Exercise should be for you and you should have fun doing it. I know I enjoy hot yoga in the winter and I really enjoy CrossFit and working out with my Trainer now. But if someone told me to do something I didn't enjoy doing a couple days a week, I wouldn't be able to do it. I recently read about a disease called Exercise Bulimia. Apparently people with that disease feel they have to exercise every day to work off every calorie they have eaten and on the days they don't exercise, they feel guilty about it all day and don't eat much because of not working out. In fact, they burn an excessive level of fat and it negatively affects their health. Why would people do this to themselves?

So what am I getting at? Sometimes you just have to listen to your body and get the rest you need. Today is day 6 of Paleo and aside from eating a little rice with lunch yesterday, I have pretty much stuck to it. And yes, I felt guilty about the rice until I read this article. Instead of giving myself credit for sticking to Paleo and turning down ice cream yesterday (yes I actually did!), I felt guilty about eating a little rice. I realized how ridiculous I was and got over it. Last night, I PR'd on my squats - 105 lbs baby!

I felt proud and accomplished after that and knew I'd probably need a rest day today. I was right. I am exhausted. The original plan was to go to CrossFit but I am going to take a rest day instead. And guess what? I don't feel guilty about it. Not one bit. Part of being smart when it comes to fitness is knowing your limits and knowing when your body needs rest. Well tonight, I need rest. I need my pajamas. I need the couch. And I need the TV. And I am perfectly happy with it.