A WOMAN IS OFTEN MEASURED by the things she cannot control. She is measured by the way her body curves or doesn’t curve, by where she is flat or straight or round. She is measured by 36-24-26 and inches and ages and numbers, by all the outside things that don’t ever add up to who she is on the inside.
And so if a woman is to be measured, let her be measured by the things she can control, by who she is and who she is trying to become.
Because every woman knows, measurements are only statistics and STATISTICS LIE." - Nike Women, 1990s ad campaign.
I am a 33 year old sugar addict. My hips and my attitude are major key, and my first love is food. I’ve spent the majority of my life hating my body and whatever form it’s in at the moment. I’ve yo-yo’d between 115-145lbs, and currently wear any size from an XS to a L depending on WTF I’m wearing and how masochistic these clothing labels want to be. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve slowlylearned to be comfortable in my own skin, stretch marks, thigh dimples and all.
One of the areas I’ve really began to make time for is my fitness and overall health and wellness. I am food obsessed and I used to only workout when I “had the time”, which meant 1-2x a week, the minimum amount of effort I need to make to not become obese. I don’t believe in New Year’s Resolutions, but I do set intentions for myself each year. I asked my partner early in the year what his intentions were for me, how he’d like to see me grow and what he’d like to see me accomplish.
One of his responses was this: “I’d like to see you stop complaining about the way you look. You are not fat, but you obviously think your body needs improvement….You schedule everything, and make time for what’s important to you. You even schedule the things on your to do list. Why don’t you schedule your workouts?”
JEEZ WITH THE TRUTHS ALREADY! Now that my bull****'s been called out to front street, I didn’t have a choice but to do better.
Ok. Challenge accepted. Calendaring is king and I had to schedule time to take care of myself, because if its not on my calendar, it doesn’t exist.
I made a workout part of my day, sandwiched between meetings and items off my checklist. Thursday morning Bikram Yoga before the day begins, and late night sweat sessions after a really long day. Some days it means not making it home early enough to cook. Other days, it means bringing lunch to take a lunchtime spin class. What surprised me the most was how easy it was to accommodate… Scheduling a 30 min workout at home, or 2 hours at 6am for yoga was in one word, simple. I didn’t have to commit to doing an intense workout everyday, but I did have to commit to whatever was on my calendar, which became easy because I only scheduled what fit my life that day.
I now workout 4-5 times a week, I’ve lost a little bit of weight, and my body has changed in ways that my clothes fit better. My confidence and my energy levels are way up along with my resemblance to Beyonce.
I am not fat. I am not fit. I am somewhere in between and I am ok with that.
So I guess you could say this little exercise in exercise was a success for me. But its not how I define my life, or my success.
I’m the sum of all the passions in my life, and that isn’t limited to what I do for work, how many times I work out or what I post on Instagram. It’s finding balance in all the ways I care about my life, and that includes doing what I can to be a happy and healthy me. It means creating my own statistics and always trying to be better, whatever that means for me at the moment.
I’m inviting all of you to schedule some time with me this month to do a little sweating. I’ll be working out with The Movement SF and Christine throughout the month. Let me know when you can make the time and I’ll send a calendar invitation your way!
-Rachel Tan www.raaachem.com
Reserve your spot to this FREE 45 minute fitness event led by Jay The Movement, SF (click here)