How to Start Your Body Project

Ok, everyone is going to have her own approach and her own ideas as to what is going to work. I am no different, and my approach is laid back and slow because I like it that way and I am a lazy sod who is unwillingly to change every blessed thing AT THE SAME TIME! I don't have that kind of energy or power! But I have picked up some tidbits along the way.

1) Do NOT freak out!

Dry tears, relax, take bath, sing songs, paint, whatever you do to chill out. Realize no one is perfect, and we all have things to learn. This is JUST FINE! You are beautiful regardless of size or shape. Wanting to change your shape to become more fit is admirable and natural but don't feel you MUST change because of TV or society or pressure.

Change only for the right reasons, not dinky ones. There is no clothes police to check to see if your labels are under a size 10, OK?!

2) Think about your WHOLE health.

Whole being health is just that -- your whole being. You have to heal your mind, soul, heart, AND body. If the real problem is stress, eating food won't solve it. If the real problem is self-esteem, no matter how thin you become, it won't solve the problem. Recognize the REAL problems, and seek REAL solutions for them. You can do it

If you are battling an eating disorder, Something Fishy is a great stop.

3) Consider a journal.

Shop for cool binder, cool pen, index dividers and other cool supplies like clear plastic sleeves you can slip thing into. Look into software like DietWatch

In your cool binder, write down all the things that you want to change about yourself and why. Include physical things and emotional things and coping things. Write down any time you need to vent. Check into other people's on-line journal for motivation and/or knowledge you are not the only one.

A journal helps you keep track of problems, feelings, and can be a good tool in your journey. When you feel cranky you can look back at your stuff and be your own inspiration and motivation.

4) Take it to the professionals!

Make an appointment with a good dietitian. Shop around for one that you can talk to well.

The basics are not rocket science:

• Eat when hungry.
• Drink when thirsty.
• Move your body to exercise it.

The learning to make proper food choices and not grabbing any old thing handy is a little trickier. Everyone has bad habits! Dump the soda and candy. That much is obvious. But do see a dietitian to help with the "not obvious."

For 1-2 weeks, don't change a blessed thing, and just write down everything you eat and do. Or use software and print it out. Take this to the dietitian to help pinpoint the areas where you need work.

Don't mess with fads or gimmicks or goofy "doctors." These are lame, and some even masquerade as professionals so it is hard to tell. Basically, they are out to make a buck and don't give a good goddamn if their products or books work and it is even better that they don't work so you will come back and buy another! You don't win and they still get your money!

Go straight to your own dietitian and see if your health insurance covers it. Also get a physical done and plan to do this annually, sick or not. Also get your teeth cleaned while you are at it.

You wouldn't let the neighbor teenage punk kid fool with your car. Your would not try to do your own dentistry. So why are you going to try to diagnose your dietary needs all by yourself? And why would you trust just anyone who SAYS they are an expert or wrote a book? Get to a real live person you can talk to and give you individual attention!

5) Consider photos and ditch the scale!

Take a photo, and take more along your progress of yourself in your bathing suit or underwear. Yes, it is scary and all that jazz, but get a friend to do it with you or do your own.

Photos can help, mirrors can lie. Too shy to send the photos to a developing lab? Trust me, the lab technicians won't care -- they see all KINDS of photos during the day. Still too shy? Get a digital camera or a Polaroid camera. Take your own photo with a timer, or just hold the camera out and take body parts. Later on you can look at your photos for progress even if you feel you are in the pits! Yahoo Club 20 Somethings shows photos online. Tracey's photos inspired me to do mine.

While you are at it, ditch the scale or don't use it every day. It will make you paranoid. A large glass of water is a pound. You drink it. It is in you. You've "gained" a pound. Then you pee. Now you have "lost" a pound. Don't let yourself play games like that, it is wasted energy.

6) Get the kitchen in shape.

Clean the kitchen and invest in GOOD cookware. You can't cook crap, much less anything healthy AND tasty in grandma's cheap aluminum pots with holes in them. Plant a flower in them and put them in the yard, go to Target and invest in Reveres or Calphalons.

Start hunting up new recipes and "remaking" old favorites. Expect to burn a few things before you get it working right. This is a LEARNING process!

Throw away all the junk food and do not buy it anymore. Or if you must have some, buy it only in individual serving sizes from the 7-11, not mondo bags from Sam's or Costco.

Be adventurous and try new things.

7) Get Moving.

Find an activity from gym to kite flying to archery -- anything you like and can do. Pick several. Plan a garden. Anything remotely ACTIVE and plan to do it at least 3 times a week for 30 minutes. No need for grunt work, just something fun that gets you moving, you can improve or change the activity later. The gym scene is not for everyone.

8) Get Support!

Set up a support network, both local and in real life, and on-line. There are many resources like boards or mailing lists and things. The PinkPig List is only one of them Enlist a friend. Lend support to others. Check out my picks.

Here is a good start for emotional support on-line.

9) READ and think critically!

Look at books and magazines and websites. Subscribe to what makes sense, or print it out and stick it in your binder. Trash anything retarded, and DO learn to read critically. There is a lot of garbage out there, and you have to weed out the gems. Show anything you are confused about to your dietitian to set you straight.

Here's a nice general nutrition thingie. CyberDiet is a good start too -- look at all the links from the main page! I maintain my own book list.

10) Cultivate self-esteem, self-respect and a positive body image.

Check out this book -- Real Gorgeous : The Truth About Body and Beauty by Kaz Cooke ISBN: 0393313557 Price: $13 (US)

Work on self-esteem and confidence and resolve body image issues! Do not be afraid to seek professional help! You can change your body shape as much as you want but if you still see yourself as awful, you will feel awful.

Learn to express yourself. If you feel unloved or stressed, SAY you are unloved or stress, don't just say "I feel fat!" If the real emotion is feeling angry because your boss is a weenie, SAY you are angry and your boss is a weenie, not "I feel fat!" Don't punish yourself and your body for another emotion! Be clear, no muddled!

The Body Gallery is one of my pet projects for body image but there are many others on-line, and several books. Get to it!

Above all else, realize changing habits take time, cultivate patience, and keep your sense of humor in high gear. It is not a race to wear some dress for New Year's. There will always be another event, another New Year's. This is about a journey called LIFE, and trying to live it in a rewarding, enriching HEALTHY way.

So you CAN help yourself, it IS possible!

Hang in there!

~Astrophe

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