Thick Skin

It's sad, but being healthy and fit seems to be the 'abnormal' thing, not the norm. If you are in shape and are meticulously watching what you put in your body and working out, people always ask, 'Why are you trying to lose weight, you're so thin already?'...or 'you should eat something, you're so skinny!'.

Now I am well aware of what I look like.  I am neither bulimic nor anorexic.  I am not 'too thin'.  I have lean muscle and am in good shape.  I follow a diet made by a trainer and nutritionist to ensure I am getting all the nutrients and vitamins I need to feed my body and do my workouts.

If you want to compete in fitness competitions, or even just be in great shape, you are going to have to get thick skin.  I've been on competition preparation diets and gone to many parties where I did not eat the party food.  I would take my clean meal that was part of my plan and eat that instead.  Everyone scrunched up their noses and gave me a hard time.  It got to the point where it annoyed my husband and he proclaimed, 'she DOES eat...she eats SIX meals a day, she just doesn't eat this stuff'.

I just let it roll off my back.  Because I know that I am not starving myself.  I know that if I have a brownie as a treat and everyone freaks out that I am finally eating what they consider 'normal' food, it'll be ok.  In the end, I am doing what I can to make myself the best me I can be, and with that comes the occasional indulgence.  And I have good days as well as bad days.  But if I worried about what others thought I would never be happy, because I would be eating the food at parties and everything people think is 'normal' and I wouldn't be the lean, mean, muscle machine that I am. :)

So don't let it get to you when your change of lifestyle is questioned by others.  Their comments usually come from either jealousy that they could NEVER have the discipline to do what you do or jealousy that they don't look like you do.

On that note, people took pictures of me eating a brownie tonight, because they thought it was AMAZING that  I was eating NORMAL food.  That food isn't normal, it's actually just pure sugar, but I wanted to indulge tonight.  I'll be back in the gym in the morning for some killer cardio and will be back to eating 100% clean starting with Meal # 1 after my cardio. :)  People can make comments and take all the pictures they want, but they are just sensationalizing something that simply makes me more like them - eating crap.  But don't get used to it, because I am in it for the long haul, and slip ups and indulgences are just that.  Being fit and healthy is MY LIFE, not a stage.