HEALTH AND KIDS.

My formative years were spent overweight/obese. Most of the people in my life don’t remember me that way but it’s such a huge part of my story, it’s hard for me to believe. I got married at 21, and with the support of my new husband, I lost 80 lbs and got really into holistic nutrition. Then I got pregnant with twins. It was rough. After I had them, I was overwhelmed and exhausted. Then I found Beachbody. If you know me at all, you know how much it changed my life. So that’s the very short version of how we got here today.

My girls are 6 and we’re working towards being a healthy family. I try to teach them the importance of health and empower them to make good decisions. Through old pictures, my girls have figured out that mommy used to be different than she is today. They see how big I was. They ask questions. I’ve been very open about how mommy was unhealthy and about the decisions and habits that led me there. As kids do, they bring up the same questions all the time. My Autumn is especially inquisitive about everything ever. She is her father’s daughter.

Yesterday, she asked me “Mommy, are you still losing weight because you’re still a liiiiiiiittle big?”

My heart just kind of dropped. Had I let her down? Can she not see how hard I work to be healthy? What did she mean? I just brushed it off and tried to process how I was feeling. Was I crushed? Was I disappointed? Was it not a big deal because kids say weird stuff all the time?

A bit later, as we were headed down the mountain to check the mail, I asked her what she meant when she said that. I assured her that she wasn’t in trouble, I just wanted to talk. I kept asking questions trying to dig down and find her heart on the matter and see how to handle it. Her answers surprised me. I thought for sure she would mention my stomach or my softness. She said that she was referring to my legs. My legs?

My legs are tree trunks. Always have been, always will be. I have giant quads. They’re naturally strong. So we talked about how God makes bodies differently and my legs were very strong and big but they were healthy. I had her feel the muscles in my leg and told her if I work hard, they’re probably going to get EVEN STRONGER. She was impressed. And we took something that could have been depressing or about body image and turned it into a talk about loving ourselves and being strong. I never want them to feel like there is one way that healthy looks.

Now I can already tell that they are going to be long, lean goddesses so after we lock down body image, we’re moving on to “how to beat the crap out of a creepy dude.”