I've realized... skinny does not equal fit.

Let me just begin by saying, this week, I feel like I have turned over an entire new leaf! The past few months have been hard for me. I’ve been stuck in a deep rut, wondering how I was going to get out. This past weekend, I made some critical decisions on where I want to be in life… no matter what people say about me, or how stupid or crazy they think I am. This is my life - to hell with them if they don’t support or agree with me, I definitely do not need their approval - I am going to LIVE IT OUTLOUD!

Since making several decisions, I now realize I have a lot of AWESOME things about to happen in my life - which I am so excited about, but can't share just yet. I've had this sense of positive-calm-happiness come over me. I think this is finally myself telling me that, I've finally made up my mind that my life HAS to change. I have a plan in place, and, God willing, I am RUNNING IT DOWN!

The past couple of days I have been doing something thinking. Did I gain a few pounds over the holidays yes. Frustrating yes. Devastating, NO! I am still able to do everything I could before, and MORE, at the gym. Those pounds will come off, and I will feel skinny again. I am STILL FIT... I did not gain "un-fitness". Which brings me to an important point. The typical stigma is skinny = fit, "she is so skinny I wish I was her". But that is soooo far from the truth!!! 

Realize, before you read on, I know that not everyone cares about muscles, and being fit… and that’s totally cool. There are skinny people, that don’t care about muscle endurance… they don’t care about working out, or doing anything athletic. Again, that’s totally cool. To each his own. I am talking about the people at the gym who make everyone believe they are the way they are from hard work and dedication – not just their genes. For all of the people that “I go to the gym all the time” but don’t see any gains…

I have made that "wish" in the past. Until, one day, I realized, Skinny Suzy, while she looked good in her tight yoga pants and skin-tight tank top prancing around the gym, couldn't hold a candle to what I was doing in my workouts. What good is being skinny, if you can’t actually do anything? What satisfaction does that have? None- to me anyway.

I don’t want to be “skinny”… I want to be fit and jacked. I don’t want to look hot in a mini-skirt. I want to “don’t mess with me, these guns can kick your ass” in a mini skirt. I cannot tell you how many close friends I have who aren't total skinny mini's, but they'll out run, out lift, out cardio perform that "skinny bitch" any day of the week. (I sooo love all of the strong women I have as friends in my life right now – they’re such an inspiration!) They're FIT. There is a difference.

Most skinny people eat whatever they want. They don’t “have to” watch what they eat – or do they? Fun fact from a recent study at Mayo Clinic…

“After comparing various health markers with the weights and body mass index numbers of thousands of adults, they found that more than half of those with normal weights and BMIs actually had "high body-fat percentages as well as heart and metabolic disturbances." In other words, they had the same risks of coronary disease, diabetes, and other chronic illness as people who weighed much more.” - Active.com

So, Skinny Suzy, I don’t envy you being 100 lbs, going to BWW and eating a dozen wings, cheese fries and 3 beers, not gaining an ounce – while I stay home and eat healthy meals, skipping dessert to look like this.

Skinny Suzy, I don’t envy you in your size 4 jeans, when I put them on and have to get a bigger size because my thigh isn’t skin and bone – but instead defined muscle – so they don’t fit. You can have all that.

Skinny Suzy… meet me this weekend, 5am… let’s run a marathon. Let’s do an Ironman. NO? Yeah. That’s what I thought. You can cheer for me on the sidelines, looking pretty, wearing your size 4 mini-skirt, munching on some Doritos, not gaining an ounce... and not doing much else.