Strong v. Skinny: and the winner is...
"I am my own experiment. I am my own work of art."
-Madonna
I grew up in the Kate Moss era with ultra-low-rise jeans and the saying nothing tastes as good as being thin feels.
Bonus: I'm third generation disordered eating. Here's an example of how this affected me. When I was about 5, I cheerfully announced I was on a diet. My family stopped, shocked, and asked what I was going to eat. I told them green beans. Because that was my favorite food. And dieting is only eating your favorite foods... right?
Unfortunately, this did not alarm anyone or change much, so they went on, and I went on. My eating and body image getting more and more convoluted until the healing odyssey of my 20s.
I imagine you have your own story of cultural conditioning (brainwashing?) and your body.
To begin strength building, I had to counter the skinny-at-all-costs conditioning. And I did it with cold hard facts and squeeky-clean-lab-coat science.
I learned that the things I got away with in my 20s and 30s (like not eating breakfast and exercising on an empty stomach) were leading to a hormonal dumpster-fire as I approached 40 (hellloooooo adrenal fatigue!).
If I didn't have the data, the decades-long bad habits would have won. Because it was what I had always done. And it worked. Until it didn't.
If data, science, and studies, inspire and motivate you too, I've collected my favorite podcasts on women's health, nutrition, and exercise here.
May your practice be an experiment,
Alison
