Feel good naked...

I've been intending to blog all weekend but I've just been so distracted lately. I figured if I can barely concentrate on a phone call there is no way in hell I could come up with a coherent, informative blog entry. I'll get to my weekly progress report soon, but I'd rather start this blog entry by discussing an article I read on CNN this morning. I was checking in on my morning headlines when the title Why women should feel good naked caught my attention. With a title like that of course I was going to click on the link, however, I almost closed the article straight away when I saw it was from Oprah.com (no offense if you like her, most do, but I just can't get into it). Although my initial response was to flee immediately, I went against my better judgement and started reading the article, regardless of where it came from they were still talking about nakedness...I was hooked! Anywhoo, I've linked the article at the end of this page but I thought I'd share some of the highlights with you because some of the concepts in this article really spoke to me. As a plus sized woman in today's society it's really hard to love myself some times. Don't get me wrong, I know I'm a fabulous person (she says so modestly), but even knowing that doesn't keep me from wishing that I was what society expects a woman to be in the physical sense. I have no desire to be a 'stick-insect' but I'd obviously like to be closer to the norm.

Now, this article is not advocating that women of all shapes and sizes walk around naked all the time and everywhere...that would be wrong and illegal...instead it focuses on women loving themselves, as they are, so much in fact that they feel good when naked. Now, I'm making a generalization here but I think that a lot of heavy woman feel like the clothes they wear cover up the fat. Yeah, I may have a big ass, wobbly arms or that conveniently, unattractive spare tire thing going on, but if I wear the right clothes I can bind it in and cover it up. When you're naked, you can't. It's all you lady! This is a very vulnerable position to be in when you're alone, not to mention when there's someone else there with you. While it can be really scary to face yourself naked, especially when you're not a perfect physical specimen, I'm starting to realize that it can be quite empowering. Since we've started this adventure I've been trying to change my thinking as well as my actions and I'm trying to stay on the positive end of the spectrum. I've been doing really well with the positive thinking right up until I start to assess my 'assets.' Maybe I'm the odd duck in this group but I will openly admit to assessing myself in the buff...especially now that I'm losing weight. I always come up with the same conclusions when I do these inspections...nice legs, good boobs, nice eyes...that's where the positive feelings stop. After I finish the short list, I continue on to negatively appraise the rest of my body (I won't go into the details but it's a much longer list). While it seems right to me to notice the areas of my body that I'm not happy with, the areas that I want to change, apparently it's wrong. In the back of my head I knew that it was wrong but sometimes it's easy to ignore those things stuffed way in the back. Instead of never being happy with what you have, right here in this very moment, try loving it. Even if you're overweight, or conversely you're too thin and can't gain weight and look like a prepubescent boy you have to love yourself! Even standing there naked as the day you were born, if you don't love what you see, nobody else will either.

Our whole lives we've been told that we have to love ourselves before someone else will love us. In my experience that's always been in regards to my emotional self but it makes sense that it should carry out into my physical self as well. If I'm not happy with how I look, others will pick up on the negativity and have the same negative feeling...it's kind of back to the laws of attraction that I talked about after watching The Secret. I don't think negative thoughts necessarily draw other negative thoughts to me, but if I'm putting something negative out to those around me, I will be swaying their thoughts and judgments. It's very normal for those around you to influence your feelings. Have you ever been having an amazing day and then you get around pissy people and things go downhill? Well, that's really the same concept. We are influenced by our surroundings.

Now, the one issue that I had with this article is that it sort of makes it seem like you should be happy with who you are and just deal with it. However, I don't think being happy with myself in my current state neccessarily means that I can't continue striving to improve myself. I don't think the two concpets are mutually exclusive. To be honest, I think that they HAVE to go together. If I love who I am right now, and have a very positive image of myself, it will help me to be stronger, have more confidence, more discipline and ultimately help me reach my goals as far as this lifestyle change is concerned. By loving myself everystep of the way, I am not only improving the physical Nicole but also the emotional Nicole...that's got to be a good thing! Anyway, I've jabbered on about this enough for today but I think it's really something to think about. Feel free to take a look at the article that I linked. It's a quick read if you're interested.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/personal/01/23/o.nude.attitude/index.html

Also, I wanted to really find something to demonstrate truly loving yourself just as you are. I found this on youtube and I have to say, beyond a shadow of a doubt that these ladies most definitely feel good naked!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uit9LQC6FCg&feature=related




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Stepped on the scale yesterday, down to 297.5! I've been doing really well with the exception of last night I had the munchies but I'm back on track today! Keep up the good work ladies and have an excellent week! Be strong and love yourselves!!!!