So, I'm having some serious problems with my body image lately. Most of it has to do with being "skinny fat", as they call it these days. I'm still a slender person, but I have low muscle mass, and therefore, high body fat percentage. This makes me self-conscious about little bulges I never used to have. Also, having a high body fat percentage (as well as borderline cholesterol) is not healthy. I know I appear healthy. But by now, we must realize that looks can be deceiving when it comes to health.
I don't eat very much or very often, so simply reducing calories won't help me. I'm adding more fruits and vegetables to my diet. I'm also continuing to eliminate hydrogenated oils. (Gross)
It also doesn't help that I take very high doses of salt, which causes the body to retain fluid...which makes me "squishier" than I would be otherwise.
I also often bloat after meals due to poor digestion, exacerbating the problem further.
So, my pants don't always fit, and it makes me hate my body even more.
So, in addition to diet, I've tried to add some exercise to my routine, although it is quite difficult to do this with my busy teaching and traveling schedule, especially if I don't want to cause a setback.
Walking in the MBT's definitely adds muscle and helps me burn more calories when I do walk. Unfortunately, I don't walk all that much.
The other thing I do is some general core exercises to strengthen all the way around my core. I do things like planks, side plank raises, leg raises, flutter kicks, and bicycles. (These exercises can all be found here: http://www.ab-core-and-stomach-exercises.com/ab_exercises.html) I also try to do push-ups, but they are beginning to hurt my wrists. I ordered those push-up handles that rotate to help you do the "perfect push-up".
So, maybe all of this will make my pants fit a bit better. I hope so, because having such a hatred for my body and an increasing obsession with my imperfections is not healthy. I know- I shouldn't care about this. I should just worry about my health. But my health sucks. And even if it shouldn't matter to me, it does matter. I have very high expectations for myself, and it's very frustrating to be able to do so little to improve myself. But I know I'm doing my best, so that's all I can do.
