I am built for famine. My body takes every single extra calorie and stores it away “just in case.” Take the first (and only) cruise I went on: I was gone for a week and came home nine pounds heavier. Yes, you read that correctly: 9 pounds. In a week.
I kept that cruise “with me” for 9 months. Long enough to gestate a baby but all I gave birth to was a lot of self-loathing. Finally, after months of effort, I was down to pre-cruise weight.
But here’s the secret…I had not only lost pounds, I had gained a girdle. So when a colleague said admiringly one week, “You’ve lost weight!” my sheepish-I’ve-been-working-at-it head nod felt a bit like a lie…because I have been working at it, yes, but perhaps working just as hard were my Spanx (well ok, my Target knock-off slimming tank top) that was helping to cinch me in and smooth me all over.
Ladies: let me tell you, aside from having to be an acrobat to get into them, girdles are the best thing since sliced bread. They are like being given a big, tight hug all day. And they may instill you with magical powers! Ancient folklore is full of stories where someone puts on a girdle and they gain strength or protection.
Even so, despite my magical confidence and expanded wardrobe, I worry, as I now just don’t “feel like myself” unless my muffin top is muffled. Is it a lie? Is it the equivalent of using a 5-year old photo on a dating website? Am I lying to the world? And perhaps more pertinent: since I won’t go back, does slimming the truth matter?
Hmmm...I don't think it's lying. As someone with an eternal muffin top, even at my lowest weight, I'd say its all about fit and feel. Having clothing that fits nicely feels good. Being able to breath also feels good. Unfortunately, I've never been able to do both while wearing spanks. If you can have your cake and eat it too, more power to you!
ReplyDeleteEvery woman I talk with struggles with the body image thing. The media (and people we care about who are influenced by the media) have done and continue to do a "number" on us and on those who have learned to compare us to an impossible LIE! There are so many more important things to be thinking about and to put our energy into than making our outside look like others (we project) want it to. The whole concept that a little fat or a less-than "model" body makes us inferior people is actually pretty scarey. How shallow have we all become? Isn't it more important to be focused on how we can be useful to those we meet and live with - how we can make at least someone's world a happier, more relaxed place for them to live and grow in - in other words, to be beautiful inside?
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