Yes! I think we wrap all our bad feelings up in a ball and call it “fat” because we think that’s the problem. It’s easier to call ourselves fat than to feel other uncomfortable feelings. It’s more familiar.

To take it a step further, I also think we have uncomfortable feelings about our feelings. For example, if you are excited to go back to work, you might also feel guilty for being excited. Or maybe mixed feelings (which is a big problem for me) like wanting to go back to work because it sounds exciting but also not wanting to go back because you really love the time with the toddler. So all those feelings are mixed up and it’s hard to tolerate the confusion. Plus it stops us from full excitement or from being able to mourn the upcoming change.

I hope you are feeling better after this weekend! Once again, thank you for being so willing to share your thoughts and feelings. I know it helps me to identify and think about similar feelings for myself.

Just a friendly reminder that the word “irregardless” is actually a double negative. I believe you really meant to say “regardless”

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/irregardless.aspx

I know everyone says this, but I don’t think it hurts to say it again and it happens to be true. I absolutely love your sight and thank you for sharing yourself with us. I’m also soo terribly excited about the zuchinni pizza bites. I am allergic to bread and I miss pizza unbelievably so hopefully those will help me fill my pizza void.

In your post of “can you let it go” you mention that maybe it is just part of your genetic makeup to be insecure about your body. That made me think of one of the other blogs I read daily http://www.ordinarycourage.com and some of her books she uses in her classroom (she is a graduate professor). One of the books is The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women by Naomi Wolf and one of the other books is Eve Ensler’s The Good Body.

I bring up these books because I think it is part of our society and culture that all women end up feeling insecure about their bodies. We are shown daily all over the place what we “should” look like. We are told how to take care of ourselves but with the underlying implication that if we take care of ourselves we will look like we “should.”

We are not told daily how to love ourselves for who we are and yes we should definitley take care of ourselves but because like you said it will help handle stress better when we take care of ourselves. Taking care of ourselves will help us feel stronger and to know that we can overcome our challenges and help us to meet our goals.

I don’t know if this is exactly the right response to this particular post (it seems to fit better with the can you let it go question), but I thought I would share those two books with you. I know you have moved beyond constricting yourself to what the media defines as “thin” for the sake of being thin and have become healthy, but I think when those feeling “less than” thoughts come in our heads it helps to be able to fight them back with love and appreciation for ourselves and our bodies.

So bacially I would like to say “Thanks” for sharing you feelings and helping me out.

I hope you feel much better after writing this too, cuz I feel so much better after reading it!

SO I have a post idea for you. Have everyone give links or somehow share their before and afters! Would be a fun and positive thing! After looking at your pic yesterday I thought of it. Anywho, thanks again for sharing!