Less than 2 weeks to day of departure

And guess what?

I haven't lost the 10 KG that I was planning on losing.. Or rather: hoping would magically disappear from my hips.. (who am I fooling, OBVIOUSLY I mean my tummy) ;-)

Let me back up here.. 36  years ago.. Just kidding (well, not really as the story really starts there).. Okay, so 3 years ago we started slowly making plans of going to the beautiful country Peru, back to the roots. After all, it has been 23 years (yep, you read right!) and finally it was time to return! So I told myself I should try to slim off some of the unnecessary "luggage". Especially seeing that the last time all my relatives saw me, I weighed 35 KG (I was 13 for crying out loud!)

SO. I decided that little me was going to lose some baby fat. Yes, baby fat, I had two babies and I got some blubber (that does sound so much nicer than fat doesn't it?? HA!) left behind. Even though, in all honesty, it most probably was not the babies (who by the way are 13 and 11 by now, so "babies" is rather stretching it), but rather it must have been the one summer, about 8 years ago, of ice-cream, crisps and chocolate. But no, surely it could not be THAT. And now, there's no more "sucking it all in".. No, coz when I do that now, it just gets all sqwooshed around the middle area of my body. Niiiice ;-)

Anyway it is now 2 weeks before departure, I shake my head and think "Yeah right! I am perfect the way I am." (Well, not having lost the weight I wanted to, I had to think that, right?) But WHY should I think that I am fat? I am confident.. and padded :-) But fat?? Now why, did it cross my mind that I was fat? Here is my answer: society (and so help me, even certain friends) pressures us into setting a "standard" for beauty. Girls and women all look at a trim person and wish they were like that.

Now I know it is important to exercise, this is healthy. But it is not good to stop enjoying life, coz hey, you can eat and enjoy, healthily and within measure! I will never forget hearing someone say how "charming" another person became because she lost "so much weight". Or another who told me "Ohhh I see you got nice and fat, not like so-and-so who also had two kids and stayed sooooo thin". Excuse me?!? It must be told that it was meant as a joke. But how many people get hurt at these kinds of jokes? I am the kind that replies "Yup, more of me to love". But it still stung!

I now have two beautiful babies (yes yes, we've discussed this already, yes even at 13 and 11) who I cherish and to whom I have to teach to love their bodies the way they are, not the way other people see them and comment on them. And just HOW can I teach them you may well ask?

It's easy actually.

By loving my own body.