I was watching the Today show yesterday morning and a segment came on about a woman who wrote a blog on her weight loss and weight gain roller-coaster. The blog titled Being Thin Didn't Make Me Happy, But Being "Fat" Does goes into details about this woman and her busy life and tragedies that she overcame during her years that ultimately lead to her current weight. She writes about her life as a thin women and how obsessive and time consuming it was…. “The other body you see there, the body of "physical hotness," I attained by eating a "plentiful" 1,000 calories a day; by running 35 miles a week (10 on Sunday); by sleeping an average of three hours a day; by counting every bit of food I ate, down to a single cherry tomato; by writing and tracking my weight every day for a year; by running the stairs of the hospital during my 12-hour shifts; by losing my period; by denying myself food when I was hungry; by denying myself sleep.” I will start off by saying this blog post is going to be based off my emotional response and personal opinion to that segment and blog written, and second HAPPINESS IS A CHOICE you can be anything and be happy if you choose. Now I’m not a medical professional but I know that everything about the way this woman maintained her “physical hotness” to stay thin was very very very unhealthy. 1,000 calories a day alone has a huge NO NO NO written all over it. What was disappointing to me is that she is painting a picture for those reading her blog and to the nation (as she spoke on the Today show) about what life for someone who has to fight to be thin looks like. I am a woman who has to fight to be thin and my health and fitness journey looks NOTHING like this! I actually enjoy the challenge of maintaining my “physical hotness” as she likes to call it. I like to call it maintaining my HEALTH! Don’t get me wrong some of the things she talks about I did experience like logging every morsel that went into my mouth, and obsessing about my workouts. I went through those stages but it was just a stepping stone to learning what foods I needed to stop eating and what foods I needed to start eating more of. I learned that workouts missed are not the end of the world. It’s okay if I can only fit in 4 days one week or if I miss an entire week while on vacation. Those are all things I think many go through before they find their balance. You can’t just become a pro at living a healthy lifestyle if you haven’t lived it before. All the things she talks about how much of a struggle her life was while being thin is a short phase that a lot of people go through before they find their happy balance. To me she gave up. She let the struggles of the journey win and she simply gave up. I will add in some facts from the American Heart Association Go Red for Women on why I will never give up and why no woman should ever give up.

• Heart disease is the No. 1 killer in women. Yet, only 1 in 5 American women believe that heart disease is her greatest health threat. Heart disease causes 1 in 3 women’s deaths each year, killing approximately one woman every minute.

Studies show that healthy choices have resulted in 330 fewer women dying from heart disease per day. Here are a few lifestyle changes you should make:

• Don’t smoke
• Manage your blood sugar
• Get your blood pressureunder control
• Lower your cholesterol
• Know your family history
• Stay active
• Lose weight
• Eat healthy

Do I need to list more reasons on why it's so important to STAY ACTIVE, LOSE WEIGHT, and EAT HEALTHY.  This is WHY it's so important to NEVER GIVE UP?!

I too have been on both sides of thick and thin and I was very HAPPY at both sizes! Was I very HEALTHY at both sizes? NO! I was over weight my entire life and I can tell you that HAPPINESS comes from within, it never came at a certain size. If you don’t love yourself THICK you will never love yourself THIN. You must start your journey because you love your body, you appreciate your body, and you want to take care of your body. That is loving your body. Saying that you love cake and you’re happy with being overweight so you can just continue to eat cake does not really translate to loving your body no matter how much you tell yourself that. Now do not get me wrong this girl LOVES cake and I do not deprive myself from it, I will eat cake at every wedding, baby shower, birthday party, and bake sale I attend. However, it’s not something I will make at home just because I love cake and I love my body so I can keep eating cake. Your health is all about balance and I balance all my treats and cheats. I enjoy wine, I enjoy ice cream with my children on a hot day, and I eat pizza every Friday night for our weekly pizza night. I work out for 1 hour daily and get up at 5am before my children wake up in order to not interfere with that precious time with them. I do not obsess or worry about how many hours I train at the gym. I get at least 7 hours of sleep every night, I attend all my children’s school functions, and co-own/operate my own company, I cook for my family every night and sit down to have dinner with them every evening. I have gone through many tragedies throughout my own life and moved 10 times in 10 years. I along with countless of other women can list all the reasons and excuses that have made them gain weight or not “have time” to exercise. No matter how you say or write it they are all still excuses. For every excuse there is, there is a woman out there who has overcome all of that and so much more. Ultimately you choose your time and you choose what is important to you. “I'm happy. I'm fat and I'm happy. You want to really blow people's minds? Try this at home: Be fat and happy. Be unapologetically fat. Wear a bikini, and mean it. Eat pizza and ice cream and enjoy it. Drink up your life and a bottle of wine, and make no apologies.” For me someone who has been overweight my entire life, I can tell you that the word FAT is very hurtful. It doesn't matter how long it’s been for me it’s hurtful, and to call myself fat would mean that I am unhappy with my body. I could never call myself fat and then put on a bikini and own it.  One can easily pretend and to and put on a smile with it, but there are wounds deep that will always be there with the word fat. The title of that blog and the statements she writes do not go together. The word FAT 99% of the time is not used as a positive, it’s always used in a negative manner. How can you love your body and call yourself fat at the same time? For her to tell the world “Try this at home: Be Fat and Happy” is really disappointing. How about try this at home BE HAPPY and LOVE YOUR BODY enough to take care of it. Fat: Adjective             1.(of a person or animal) having a large amount of excess flesh. "the driver was a fat, wheezing man" synonyms:            plump, stout, overweight, large, chubby, portly, flabby, paunchy,potbellied, beer-bellied, meaty, of ample proportions, heavyset; More Saying that you are happy with your body and you love your body but not living a healthy lifestyle does not translate into loving your body you can be happy with the appearance of it, but you are not loving the insides. It just means the temporary joy and happiness that comes with eating pizza and cake, and the freedom of eating whatever you want daily, without regularly exercising, all trumps your health.  If you love your body you will want to take care of it, fuel it with healthy nutritious foods, exercise it, take care of it for taking care of you, so that your body will be healthy long enough to see your children have children, and God willing your grandchildren have children. What really needs to stop is BODY and LIFESTYLE SHAMING. The only thing she did was put down those who are working on their health daily, and fighting the struggles trying to find the balance of making it all work.  Many women may be going through those same struggles she mentions in thin unhappy life, but those are all just a bumps in the road. DON’T LET THAT STOP YOU! I’m here to tell you that you will grow from it, you will learn from those struggles, and you will ultimately come out happier than ever. You must fight to find that that balance with living a healthy lifestyle. You don’t fight to stay thin you fight to stay healthy because in the world we live in today it will always be a fight for everyone. NEVER GIVE UP!!!

 It's a journey, it will never be easy, you will go through very hard times, it will take trial and error and time to find your balance, but being healthy and happy is all worth the struggle. If there is no struggle there is no progress. Where there is no struggle there is no strength. Fight for it! HEALTHY IS HAPPINESS! BEAUTIFUL is a Women SMILING!