it's Saturday!

I don't have anything particularly insightful to share with you today, just wanted to fill you in on how things have been going.

This past week has been a "heavy lifting" week for me. And I'm paying for it! I've been in pain ALL WEEK LONG! When I did legs, I could barely walk, stand or sit. Then I did arms and I could barely do anything at all! Turning over in bed - nearly impossible. Just feeding myself was a chore! It was that bad. I wouldn't even recover from being sore before having to hit it again. It's been rough.

On top of all that, I've had a migraine for the past couple of days. Yesterday I pretty much stayed in my pajamas all day. Eden made dinner (my sweet girl). I had to take Hanna to swimming at 5 in the morning and then pick her up again at 7. Driving with a blinding headache is not a good idea. I was swerving all over like a drunk! But I didn't want to ask my husband to do it. I would feel guilty making him get up so early on a work day. See what a good wife he has ;) I still have a headache. It sucks. Why am I on the computer then? Good question!

So, what's on my mind at the moment is - why the heck do I do this to myself? Why lift weights if it's just going to make me sore and miserable? I really can't answer that and not sound masochistic. I really don't like misery. But somehow the pain I get from lifting is good in a way. It is a sign that I've done something good for my body. All those tiny tears I've just caused are going to rebuild themselves and come out of it bigger and stronger than they were before. As long as I feed myself properly - that's the key. And I'm so sore because the load is different from what my body has been used to. That is also important. How can we expect to change if we do the same thing over and over all the time??

But I don't have to fear the heavy lifting again for awhile. Monday's workout is something different (again). Mostly bodyweight stuff. In all actuality, I'm really looking forward to it because it sounds easy compared to what I'm used to doing. Who knows? Maybe it's harder than it looks. We'll see.

I've been wanting to gain weight for a long time and I feel like I finally am. I'm not sure how much, because I always forget to weigh myself. But my pants feel so much tighter in the butt. In fact, I'm almost regretting getting rid of all of my bigger size jeans! Most girls would probably be freaking out right now..."OMG! My butt is getting BIGGER!! I need to diet!!" But to me, this is a welcome change. I haven't been in my skinny jeans in months because it's been too hot but now that it's cooling off, it will be interesting to see if they still fit me...LOL!

If you are going for skinny.....don't. Please don't. It makes me sad to hear already skinny girls say they'd like to lose 10 more pounds. Why on earth do you want to do that? Is it a competition to see who can get the smallest? If you asked the average man if he thought that was attractive, he'd say no. But I'm almost positive girls don't try to get skinny for guys. They do it for other girls. It's a competitive thing. I've never been a super competitive person no matter what the situation. And being on the skinny side my entire life, it doesn't really matter as much to me as it might to someone who has struggled with their weight.

We really need to put an end to the idea that you need to be skinny to be happy. Who cares what size your jeans are? Do you really think that other people will admire you more because you're smaller than they are? Because you can slide into those size 2 skinnies? No. I can tell you first hand that people will definitely wonder how you stay so skinny. They will think that you are not healthy. They will think you go to drastic measures to stay thin. And they will think that you have a problem that requires the attention of a medical professional. Is that you want to hear? Will that satisfy your desire to be skinny? Please don't diet and exercise to be thin. Do it to be healthy. Don't go to extremes. Too much of anything, no matter how good for you, can be a bad thing.

If you're going for skinny, ask yourself why you want it so badly. Really think about what it is you hope to gain from getting skinny. And just know that beauty and happiness does NOT come from being a size 00.

Aim for healthy, strong and fit. You will feel good. You will look good. And you will project an aura of overall well being. And THAT is what will make people admire you ;)