body positivity!!

hello, good people. i hope every body is having a good day!

you should take a little time to do something nice for your body today. take a walk outside. or do some stretches. or try something more vigorous, if you're up to it! or maybe just a bath would be nice.

i went to my bikram yoga class this morning and i was able to do most of the postures pretty well. once in a while i think of the progress i've made since last november and it makes me feel proud of what my body can do.

i just took a walk of my lunch break and it was a nice opportunity to listen to some music and get some sun on my face.

this evening i am going roller skating (!!) which i have not tried in years. i'm excited. it's an active day. hopefully i will be very tired by the time I get home.

also hello this is my new naive-sounding posting style where i am grateful and positive and all that good junk! have a great day!!

y'are a treasure elmz <3

i did stretches, danced, and did my weights today
it was fun and very satisfying even if talking about exercise makes me feel pretty embarrassed

doing not-nice things to my body is actually not that fun and i don't really ~relish~ self-destruction (anymore)
cheers to progress!

roller skating is like flying while dancing
the funnest!!!!!

i hope i don't fall down! but it's definitely okay if that happens

entering my seventh week of running three times a week no matter what, and it's making me feel pretty good! my heart is strong again.

and roller skating is a blast! the plastic parts of my old skates finally crumbled into bits so now I am going to buy a fancy new pair.

i want so badly to do nice things to my body but i have to sit for 9 hours a day. i need more time off.

I recently added a little timer app to my work computer to remind me to get up and walk around every 45 minutes. Just a lap around the building is enough to make you feel much better.

that sucks crut. even if you make sure to take breaks, like to stand up and stretch once in a while, and drink plenty of water, you're still doing something for your body! even if you just adjust your chair to improve your work posture. even that!

you should take a little time to do something nice for your body today. take a walk outside. or do some stretches. or try something more vigorous, if you're up to it! or maybe just a bath would be nice.

― patron sailor, Wednesday, August 20, 2014 11:06 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

gr8 post, wb!

otm

I've been feeling more bod pos these days. I've taken up jogging as a semiregular thing this year. A little bit of a disappointment because I had jokingly titled my new years resolution as "Swim Body by September" and it became clear around June that that just want going to happen. Weight and trouser size have stayed pretty much the same.

But I've been feeling more body positive anyway. It started one day when I had my arms spread out in front v of v the mirror at the gym (little workplace gym, kinda a glum little closet with a treadmill and some weights) and I kinda realized for the first time how goddamned big I am. All of my mirrors at home are very small, so I haven't actually checked myself out in a while. And I felt like a fuckin condor in that moment and have decided to try to own this giant body. To try to carry myself bigger instead of being all meek and shy because I'm in the way. To wear clothes that are my size instead of squeezing into the things I wish I could fit into. Stuff like that.

Anyway, feeling decent these days.

On the topic of patrons pay though, I wish I could fit comfortably into my tub to enjoy a bath. It's like I have the smallest possible tub in the world. I used to take baths every day. Great way to relax.

Patrons post

f. hazel, which app do you use?

There's a free one for OS X called Apimac Timer that does everything I need it to, i.e. a stopwatch function that dings every 45 minutes using a sound file I can choose!

Nice, thanks! This is an excellent idea. Now I just need to find some exercises I can do in my normal clothes, in 5 mins, against a wall.

i hadn't seen stevie's last revive, v nice post and v strong look. i find it hard not to judge myself by comparison to some generic version of 'handsome', but telling myself how blatantly ridiculous it is goes some way towards it - those generic ideas have no impact on how i view other people so it's clearly really dumb to apply them to myself.

not dumb just interesting

Roller skating was fun and today my hips were sore.

The best. Yesterday two ppl asked me if I had lost weight and I was like no, I've been lifting lotsa weights though and then one person called me a lean machine :D

Much better than "I hate you"

How have you approached weights, LL? I need to hear about sane ways of getting started, and I bet you were very sane about it. I keep saying I want to do weights but I'm rebelling against a 'program' of some kind. I just wanna start really, really small, just 20 mins 3 times a week or something like that, plus 5 mins of, I dunno, squats or something at work in an empty room.

dunno how sane this is, but it works for me bc it's fun. do you have any songs you like to listen to that could bear many repeated listens that are roughly 10 min long? i just lift the weights in time with the song (i've had 2 different ones in about 8 months) while i pace back and forth across the basement. kinda like dancing but much slower and more deliberate/controlled? sometimes i pretend i am part of a machine :-/ i don't think about reps or anything. between that and some pushups, i have really improved my upper body strength!

i'd start with little weights, like 2-3 lbs and then if you wanna move up bc it's too easy, move up. but getting into a routine was the hardest part for me.

if you add that to like 15 min of aerobic dancing, that's a fun do-able workout afaic
also there's no "you're doing it wrong" or ppl shouting at me about work and pain or ppl looking at me.

I do only four lifts: squats, deadlifts, overhead presses, bench presses. All at the max weight I can manage in good form for 3 sets of 5 reps except for deadlifts where I only do 1 set. Very simple, very in-and-out-of-the-gym-quickly. Sane and manageable for me. You need a power rack, bar (40 lb) and weights. Starting Strength is a way way way nerdy and dense weightlifter book that would be totally overwhelming to most, including me, but it emphasizes these four lifts and makes a good case that these are really all a normal person needs.

I only get to the gym twice a week to lift. That is twice more than would be the case were I to have a more complicated regimen. I'm no lean machine and never will be because I refuse to change what I eat and drink, but it has done wonders for my problematic lower back.

Oh wait I also do some back exercises that a physical therapist assigned, but they are easy and I just bang them out between sets.

Also I go to what is considered an old lady gym but I love it because it is owned by two older women and the old ladies in there are super cool and no one is ever in the weight room except for me.

I love the song idea, LL! I'm not a dancer at all so that part doesn't appeal, but timing lifting to a song does. Q, I've decided that for now I have to work out at home because it's the surest way to get me into a routine - just like LL, that's the hardest part for me. I do like the idea of picking four basic movements and sticking with those for now (and maybe forever), though. I'm sure I can find a way to work them all in without the bar. I've heard good things about Starting Strength so will check it out.

I am looking forward to feeling more stretched and lithe!

i mean you can dance however you want! just bounce around if that's fun -- do the Muppet, write your name with your butt in the air, anything! anyone who can move can dance afaic

just do whatever routine makes you happy X times per week without pressure and eventually you'll want to add more and i think it'll be good for you!

Right, that is exactly what I'm going for! dancing and bouncing will not do that, sadly, (yet?) but other things will!

AY so i teach a speech and debate elective and we did persuasive speeches on a topic of the speakers choosing and one of my students chose body positivity and it was so rad and so well researched and she quoted gabby sidobe at the end i was doin little backflips in my mind.

awesome!

Tomorrow I'm getting a "real" haircut for the first time in years

what sort of place are you going to?

a salon. they do good work afaik. I trust them to not make me look like a republican or macklemore.

getting a real haircut can be the best even if you think you don't give a shit about your hair or you don't want people to think you give a shit about your hair

m bise I <3 that kid and their speech
getting a real haircut is always worth the $$$ to me
I need to find a new stylist bcz the last one called me "mousy" and that is a no-go even if she is perfect at the great chrissie hynde hair

I have a fitness buddy for the first time in lyfe and it feels cool
we both love bicycles and kitties
we both work with people with autism and we both love movies so we have good conversations
and most impt we think ppl should not be judged by their weight
so awesome

the good news is i am keeping it positive

Uh oh
Did you get a crazy haircut?

it's just really short! i think it will be ok. it just takes some getting used to.

give it a day, i bet it looks great.

Srsly, you have top notch hair and a face to match, you'll be ok!

hooray we can see more of yr lovely face crut <3

that happens to me literally every time i get a haircut

Haircuts are like soups, better the day after you make them

I felt p alarmed the first time I broke the ten yearish period of DIY haircuts but I warmed to it. have had the most success getting my hair cut by the newest&cheapest person in a swanky place, much better than going to a decent place & cost about the same

I finally feel some positivity towards my body and want to post in this thread now. Over the past two months I have drastically reduced my (formerly insane) sugar intake, and I feel so so awesome. Some days, the only refined sugar I have in an entire day is the two sugars I take in my coffee. This is a gigantic change, and thus a really important health step for me. My weight hasn't changed as far as I know, but I am trying not to focus on outward things. My terrible diet has been a source of a lot of anxiety for me, so to finally make a concrete, lasting change is a big deal. Go moderation!

yall, my legs are strong as F
lupus aint mean shit to them

tell me your secrets!