I Gained Twenty Pounds and I've Never Been Healthier and Happier
I’ve gained twenty pounds this year from taking better care of myself. It sounds counter intuitive, considering the world we live in tells us “to be healthier, you must lose weight.”
Our health care system fails to recognize we can’t assume people’s health status based off the size of their body.
Moreover, the notion insisting weight gain equates to health decrement and losing weight equates to health improvement is flawed. Aside from the data proven repeatedly to confirm that as fact, I have a personal experience with it:
In the fall of 2018, it was an incredibly toxic time in my life that resulted in self-abandonment. Always showing up for everyone else, but never for myself.
I was running on caffeine and anxiety. I didn’t have the energy to workout...well, honestly, I didn’t have the energy to show up for most things. I barely ate, and was up most nights contemplating why I continued to stay with someone who actively chose to disrespect me.
I lost a noticeable amount of weight, the smallest I’ve been in a very long time.
And to top it all off, I received DM’s daily being praised for it, “Devon, you look amazing! You’ve lost so much weight. What are you doing?!”
Disheartening, to say the least.
Things didn’t turn around until I left the toxic place I was in and started my new life in California toward the end of that year.
My habits now reflect utter self-respect: I spend most mornings reading, meditating, journaling—essentially, plugging into my needs before anyone else. I live an active lifestyle, sometimes that takes place in a gym and sometimes it doesn’t. I eat nutritiously and mindfully, which includes dessert every night. I practice stress-management, and have a healthy relationship with my emotions. I prioritize sleep, give myself rest. And, have a rich social life full of friends who elevate me and make me giggle.
My body put on twenty pounds, and I’ve never been happier and healthier.
Weight tells us nothing about our health. And frankly, making health assumptions based off body fluctuations and body size is pure laziness.
Stop glorifying weight loss, okay? You can be healthy AND be beautiful at any size, and that is fact.