Comparison is seriously stealing my joy right now
I thought for years (ok, I'm gonna be honest here and say this thought still creeps in from time to time) that to be truly healthy and fit you had to have abs. That if you ate clean, never touched sugar or a carb and worked out enough then you would be guaranteed those coveted abs.
I don't know where this notion came from. If I had to take a guess, it's probably from the years of constant marketing and ads directed at me, a woman, full of lean, trim, gorgeous models selling me everything from toothpaste to a Bora Bora vacation. Not to mention every workout video I have bought or program streamed online has the instructor in a sports bra, short shorts and chiseled abs.
Boy did I try to get those abs. I tried all different ways of eating: vegan, vegetarian, paleo, grain-free, dairy-free, just cutting out processed food, sugar-free, keto. Mostly because I was interested in what eating like that entails and partly because I wanted to find out how each would effect my health. But deep down I really was hoping this would be the thing that gave me those abs! FINALLY!
When all of this testing didn't work I recommitted and got serious, just to see if I could finally make this weird goal of mine happen. I went super keto. I worked out everyday. I made sure I was lifting weights AND doing cardio. I was at my lowest since graduating high school.
Still no abs!
And oh was I miserable! I felt heavy and weird from eating a ton of processed, high fat food. I was irritable all the time from not being able to enjoy a treat. My poor husband! I have no idea how he put up with me!
So I started to dig into this "ab" mystery to find out what the heck was going on. And do you know what I found out? Not everyone is supposed to have abs!
But honestly, I don't know why it had never dawned on me earlier. Everyone's body is different! My husband has the insanely rock hard, chiseled quads of some Greek mythological god and he doesn't work out! That is just his genetics (some guys are so lucky). I am able to build muscle easily on my upper body but I struggle to get definition on my abs and lower body even with strength training 4 times a week. That is just how my body is.
So instead of focusing on how I am different from other people I choose to focus on what I love about my body and work to make those areas even more amazing. And the areas where I want to see improvement, I will love those areas too while I work on them.
I will choose to stop comparing myself to others. It won't be easy. It will always be a work in progress. I will slip up from time to time when I see a photo of some lady with perfect abs. But I'm learning to appreciate what the good Lord gave me. And I will be that much happier for it.
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