"Am I beautiful, even though I am the only person looking at me?"
I saw this question on the blog of a lovely young writer named Barb Abel, a single mom of two who wrestles with self-esteem.
I think it sums up the space many of us occupy: Do we respect ourselves enough to consider ourselves beautiful?
And with the start of a new year, most of us are taking a critical gander at our abundant midsections and don't like what we see.
So with my February Weight Loss Challenge (3 lbs in 3 weeks) underway (scroll back to previous posts if you're clueless), I thought I'd share a few of the facts I dug up while doing research for my book,
More Beauty, Less Beast. These are from the "Flab is Drab" chapter on outer beauty (although most of the book focuses on inner beauty).
1. It costs big bucks to pack extra pounds. Researchers found that with all things considered (clothes, sick days, food costs, etc), the annual cost of being overweight for women is $524 and a whopping $4,879 if you're obese (40% or more over your ideal body weight based on height, gender, and age).
2. For every 2.2 pounds gained after age eighteen, women's odds of surviving past seventy drop 5%. Prevalent diseases are cancer, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.
3.Abdominal fat is scary. If your waist circumference is larger than 35 inches, regardless of your health or weight, you have twice the risk of dying prematurely.
4. Like me, many women add 2-3 pounds per year as they age. I call this "Boo Baggage." It sneaks up on you little by little over a decade or two, until one day, thirty rotten, stinking pounds jump out from behind you (or maybe even from your behind) and yell Boo!
5. If you spend eight or more hours per day sitting in front of a computer (or TV), the fat-burning chemicals in your body are diminished by 50%.
Now to be perfectly honest, dear BBFF (Best Blog Friend Forever), I'm hungry as I write this. And despite all these hard cold facts I've just written that should convince anyone to shed those extra pounds, I've got a jar of nuts on my desk that's missing a handful. I was about to say I don't know where they could be - I really don't remember eating a single one - but I just realized I have an odd salty taste in my mouth and a tiny piece of something decidedly nut-like between my front teeth.
Sigh.
Such is the conundrum. The spirit's willing but the flesh is weak. And the Godiva is far too handy.
For those of you who joined me in the January Wt Loss Challenge first leg of my Eating Stress-Free and Healthy in 2016 Contest, and reached the goal of losing 3 or more pounds, I applaud wholeheartedly.
Listen, I reached the goal after the deadline but IT STILL COUNTS. (Hey, it's my contest and I'm makin' up the rules!)
Still, I'm trying again in Feb. The can of nuts has hereby been banished from the house.
I hope you'll give it another go too (except the stinker who wrote that she's ten pounds UNDERweight and her doctor would shoot her if she lost any more), regardless of your results so far.
Sister, let's fight together against the ravages of PAH: Physiological Aging Hypothesis. That's my Coty Near-Fact of Science that states as a woman's age creeps northward, her body parts travel south, and hips expand to incredible new horizons east to west.
Pooh on PAH. I'm tired of being all over the map; how about you?
