Photo by Siora Photography on Unsplash
Stop scrolling through old pictures of yourself. Stop beating yourself up when you cannot fit into clothes from high school. You are so much more than a number on a scale.
I was you once. The freshman girl who told myself I would not be the person who gained weight in college. Being a three-sport athlete in high school, I knew I would not let myself go. I was not gonna be one of “those girls.”
Now, as I sit in my bed binge watching Grey’s Anatomy with a large pepperoni pizza in my lap, I realize how naive I was.
College is freaking hard. It’s stressful. It’s expensive. There are so many things going on, some days the last thing I cared about was making it to the gym. When I started to gain weight, I began to compare myself not only to other girls, but to my own body in high school.
If there is one thing I could tell my old self, it’s that the number you see on the scale means absolutely nothing. Your worth is not measured by it. Your beauty is not determined by it. It only means that you like to eat a cupcake every once in a while. WHO DOESN’T?!
Photo by Serrah Galos on Unsplash
I spent a lot of time worrying about what others would say behind my back, or what the girls from my high school would say when they looked at my Instagram pictures. I had no idea that now, two years later, I would not only be embracing the couple extra stomach rolls, but loving them.
Women’s bodies are not all built the same, but somewhere in history society taught us to believe that our uniqueness is a flaw. You do not have to look like the Instagram models to be beautiful. Girl, you are as fabulous now as you were 15 pounds ago.
This is not me condemning those who are naturally skinny or the impressive gym gurus. This is just me reminding you that all bodies are beautiful. You are so much more than a number.
So put on that crop top that you have been too nervous to wear. Rock what your momma and, if you are like me, Pizza Hut gave you! You owe it to yourself to love the body you are in.