Things I've Overheard

I’ve been really busy lately.

So much so that I haven’t obsessed about food or weight in a bit (a secret blessing). But to be honest, being on social media can definitely play a part in my body image issues.

In the past few weeks I’ve seen:

  • Women getting engaged to and “starting the prep for their wedding with intense workouts to lose a ton of weight in a short amount of time”

  • People starting a fad diet and bragging about it

  • Athlete’s ask me how to get fit, skinny, toned, ripped.

  • People avoiding eating food past a certain time of night

I mean, this isn’t a rare thing to experience. This is everyday life .

Weddings

Ladies. Let me start with saying that the DRESS should fit YOU, YOU do not need to fit the DRESS. Read that again. You don’t need to kill yourself in the gym force feed yourself broccoli and unseasoned meat to look a certain way on your wedding night. It’s quite obvious that every bride is beautiful no matter the size… heck… you could wear a gigantic trash bag and STILL be glowing. It hurts me to see so many women say “wedding prep begins now” with really bland food and updates on workouts that they absolutely dreaded. 

I’m not sure where weddings became a superficial and social media driven experience. Enjoy every step of the way, you’ll look back and regret it if you don’t. 

Fad Diets

Ahh lovely. More fad diets appear as the days go by. I feel like a broken record when I explain why diets are evil (lol). I’ll list a few reasons:

  • You’ll one day go back to normal eating and your body will have to adjust to foods you limited (bloating, weight gain, digestive issues)

  • ALL DIETS are not sustainable - you cannot live the rest of your life on the keto diet

  • Binge eating shows itself OFTEN when diets take place

  • Limiting foods hurt you long term - it may be minor but this is disordered eating and can turn into an eating disorder quickly

  • You’re supposed to ENJOY YOUR FOOD! Not suffer and force feed yourself

Athlete Questions

Athletes, I don’t do anything special food wise. I literally am eating a muffin as I’m typing this. I love carbs, I love fat, and I don’t really like protein if I’m being honest. Of course I avoid eating tons and tons of sugar in large amounts but I still eat ice cream and things you don’t think professional athletes eat. I work very hard on the court and I do lift often. But there’s nothing I will do to hurt my body or go overboard. I am mindful of soreness and I am mindful of needing off days. This is something that you will learn slowly as you continue to play your sport. It’s not something you will read in a book or find on tik tok. This is very specific to yourself and your body.

Eating at Certain Times

OHHHHHHHHH BOY. I saw this one a few days ago and this angered me a bit. This is another form of disordered eating. “You can’t eat food past 7pm”. WHY? Why is this a rule? Why can’t I? Unless a doctor specifically said not to, because it will hurt my health or because I have specific needs, why does there need to be a time limit on hunger? If it’s 8pm and your stomach is growling… EAT!!! One night while I was playing in Italy I couldn’t fall asleep. It was about 10pm and my stomach was growling like crazy. Old me would have forced myself to go to bed. THE NEW ME ate a snack and I fell right to sleep. Your body is smarter than you think, people.

Thanks for reading my rant, I hope you were able to relate/learn something new from it. :)

Molly TurnerM+J Awaydieting, time restricted eating, weddings, social mediaComment