{"id":3113,"date":"2015-05-05T14:26:56","date_gmt":"2015-05-05T19:26:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/?p=3113"},"modified":"2015-05-05T14:29:53","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T19:29:53","slug":"body-image-issues-and-race-pics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/?p=3113","title":{"rendered":"Body Image Issues and Race Pics"},"content":{"rendered":"

All of us, in some way or another, struggle with body image issues. \u00a0Those of us who have lost a lot of weight (170 lbs for me) may be more prone to this than others? \u00a0I dunno.<\/p>\n

As my weight began to come off, I would visualize in my mind how I would look with say, 5 more pound off. \u00a0Five pounds would reduce my poochy tummy or something to that nature.<\/p>\n

The fact is, I am no spring chicken and the sand has shifted! \u00a0HA! \u00a0Even with all the weight I have lost, I am NOT going to have the nice firm body of somebody in the 30’s. \u00a0I accept that.<\/p>\n

I should say I accept that UNTIL I see a race pic of myself.<\/p>\n

UGH!<\/p>\n

My legs are the spot at the moment that make me cringe. \u00a0If I have a race pic in just a sports bra and shorts, my tummy holds a close second.<\/p>\n

Why are we are own worst critic?<\/p>\n

My legs ripple when I run. \u00a0There is no other way to put it. \u00a0They are like a dimply dish of jello. \u00a0If somebody takes a race pic of me from the side, you don’t notice it. \u00a0It they take a race pic of me from straight ahead…boy, oh boy, ripples everywhere!<\/p>\n

This causes me great consternation.<\/p>\n

This past week, the race pics from the Coke 10K became available. \u00a0I opened the link, keeping my fingers crossed that they had taken the finish line pics from the side.<\/p>\n

No such luck. \u00a0They were taken from straight ahead. \u00a0*groan*<\/p>\n

What I did this time was different from what I usually do. In most instances, those pics get buried as far as I possibly can online. \u00a0I don’t want them to see the light of day. \u00a0This time, though, I shared this particular pic on my FB personal page.<\/p>\n

Why did I do that!?! \u00a0Was I nuts!?! \u00a0(probably! \u00a0HA!)<\/p>\n

No.<\/p>\n

This is the deal…<\/p>\n

I’ve worked too hard for too long to not accept myself for who and what I am. \u00a0This includes ripply legs. \u00a0Those short, stubby legs are powerful. \u00a0They have helped me cover many, many miles. \u00a0By burying those pics, I was insulting this powerful part of my body. \u00a0Without these legs, I wouldn’t be the runner I am!<\/p>\n

Nope. \u00a0It was time to embrace those legs.<\/p>\n

So, I did.<\/p>\n

I posted the pic. \u00a0I am learning to love all of me, not just the parts of me that meet with the current social acceptable ideal of “perfect” (not that I have any parts that do that).<\/p>\n

So, here is the pic. \u00a0 Ripples and all.<\/p>\n

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All of us, in some way or another, struggle with body image issues. \u00a0Those of us who have lost a lot of weight (170 lbs for me) may be more prone to this than others? \u00a0I dunno. As my weight began to come off, I would visualize in my mind how I would look with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6,8,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3113"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3113"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3116,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3113\/revisions\/3116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}