Image via Hollywood Life
“Take care of your health. Mental, physical, and spiritual. Like your life depends on it.” ~ Mo’Nique
Many people believe weight loss is about 80% diet and 20% exercise. It’s not. Weight loss is incredibly personal and 100% mental.
Weight loss is not about attracting a man or looking good in a dress. It’s about taking responsibility for and loving ourselves. Worrying about attracting a partner or putting on that hot outfit clothing is kind of like putting the cart before the horse and the hay too. Until we get to the reasons why so many of us gain weight everything else is meaningless. I am not just talking eating. Let’s focus on what is eating you
Eating is a coping mechanism that camouflages the real problem. The problem is that Black Women deal with stressors other groups don’t. For example, in the United States 70% of all Black families are headed by a single mother, throw in unequal pay, racism, misogyny, emotional, physical and sexual abuse, parental abandonment, violence in the homes and in the community, lack of time, economic and emotional stressors, having to care for sick and fully functional adults and other things and we have our reasons why.
I cannot speak for others but I can speak for myself. I am an emotional eater. When I am happy I eat junk. When I am sad I eat junk. Heck, when I am bored I eat junk. For me it was a learned behavior from a traumatic childhood. What was really eating me was my poor coping skills and hella stress. I used food as my comfort. It couldn’t put me down or reject me. And honestly there are times that I still do. But food could not love me the way I needed to love myself. It’s not until I made the mental choice to lose the heavy burdens in my life the weight came off too. Now I ask myself am I eating junk because I am hungry or because I am sad, happy or bored.
Everyone knows ostracizing and criticizing doesn’t work. Neither does self pity or defeatist attitudes. What does work is accepting that we are human. Learning to forgive ourselves and others. Learning to accept ourselves and getting rid of the dysfunctional martyrdom strong Black woman mentality. Accepting that we are the only one responsible for our lives. Once we do those things, we will take the first step towards physical, emotional, and mental self actualization and freedom. And with all of that, comes optimum health.
So if you are a fit sister encourage your sister if she wants it. Let her know why you decided to get fit and how you did it. And if you are a sister who wants some encouragement reach out to a sister who is fit. Ask her how she did it and why she continues to do so. If you can’t find someone join a support group or take walks with friends. “Effort big or small is always rewarded.” It can be done. Let’s get healthy together. We can do this.
Check out some my favorite blogs and websites that offer wonderful advice for those who want a healthy mind, body and soul.
Black Girls Guide to Weight Loss
Black Women Losing Weight
Black Girls Run
Firefitnesscoach
Get Tight Get Right
Remember a revolution always begins between two ears. Start your revolution today. ~ BBG
To write some sort of brief review, sign in Facebook or myspace after which “Add” a person’s brief review. To be able to record junk or maybe maltreatment, click on the “X” inside the second correct area with the brief review container.
This is an excellent article. I too, have weight problem. I’m not fat in my legs hips thighs or arms, but I am very rounded in the stomach area. I’ve tried many different exercises eating right, and when I d on’t see results after a year, I get very depressed and start with the “emotional eating” Many people make the mistake in thinking that weight is ALWAYS something you can control. Yes, you can control your weight, but sometimes you’re body doesn’t respond to conventional and traditional forms of methods and exercises. Even ood can be a problem or my stomach. Everyone who looks at me says, you are not “Fat” you have a big belly. All I have is a belly, it’s not a tumor so I know that’s not the problem. I had 3 c-sections that totally destroyed the fascia muscle in my stomach, which is like a network of webbed muscle that is the top layer of the same muscle network that sits on top of your actual abdomen. Trust me I’ve tried everything and when your stomach is “fat” you just tend to look like a “fat” I totally agree, that we should never make it about, getting into that outfit or attracting a sexy mate. There are so many fit women, who I have seen do this and end the end they end up with eating disorders as well. They become bulimic,don’t want to eat anything and are anorexic even. So an eating disorder is an eating disorder, whether you are skinny or fat. And I agree, people need to stay up out of black women’s hair and our waist lines! IN fact studies show that the heaviest group for females is actually Mexican. Black women also aren’t conditioned to join sports, like black men do. We are conditioned to cook, clean, be mammies among other things. We are conditioned eat and cook at the church and to take care of everyone, so o course sports is not endorsed towards black girls, the way it’s encouraged towards black males. That’s why I love people like FLo Jo and many other black female athletes who have been paving the way. I do think many black women athletes should get together and form an organization for black girls and their health, encouraging them to b e active and join sports. You see it all the time, with black male athletes, where they constantly look for the strongest of the strong in the high schools and colleges. I very rarely hear black young women talking about joining a sport of being a part of a team. Mostly it’s THEM telling US to shut up and smile at the Church and support the people. I still say more black women should get into playing sports and we should always encourage them to do so.