Hello fellow citizens of fatlogic!
I've spent a while lurking, and this will be my first time posting. I live in the UK, which is definitely not as full of obese people or as much fatlogic as the US (simply because it's much, much smaller - we still have plenty of fat people and plenty of tumblr users…) Maybe just too many of the examples I've seen have been American!
Anyway! The main point of this post is to thank this subreddit for being the final push I needed to get myself off of my bed and start working out! Luckily, my family owns quite a few exercise machines, so I don't need to spend money for the gym or feel self conscious. Now, as you may see from the images I've posted - I am not fat. I'm, in fact, a "skinny bitch" with a healthy batch of delicious "thin privilege"! And an ACTUAL curvy girl at that! Joking aside, I want to say why I ultimately decided to post this in this sub.
Being thin, obviously, does not necessarily equal healthy, just as fat does not. However, I am a normal weight for my height, with a BMI of 21. This, I haven't understood for a long while. What I thought of myself must basically be the opposite of fat logic: "I eat way too much, why don't I get any bigger?" "Why do I lose pounds instead of gaining them?" Obviously I did not want to gain (much) weight, and I'm very glad I haven't. But thanks to this sub, I've realised something: I lead a fairly active lifestyle, lots of walking, lots of dance, lots of movement in general when I'm not glued to my laptop , phone or drawing pad. Especially in the past couple of years, since I joined my stage school, I've been exercising at least once a week with a few breaks for half terms/Christmas/summer. And now I've added university (Drama/Musical Theatre joint honours) into the mix, I'm exercising often during the weekdays too, mostly Tuesday and Thursday. So I've come to the conclusion that I honestly don't eat that many calories, and I burn them off relatively quickly. I definitely don't eat too healthily - I average around 1 meal a day, with lots of snacks or not-quite-meals, like a sandwich. This is plenty of food for me, and I honestly don't get that hungry - just bored, hence having lots of snacks! Though they're hardly ever too high in calories. See, I THOUGHT I ate a lot, enough that should result in me gaining weight - but I just don't! It feels like a lot when I'm actually eating, but looking at the meals I have, it's really quite normally portioned.
Because of my eating habits and occasional exercise, I manage to maintain a fairly healthy figure and I've gained a hell of a lot of energy/stamina/flexibility over the past couple of years - thanks to intense exercise and dance with stage school on Sundays, and both the commute to and warm ups we do at uni.
Despite all of this extra incentive to work hard and exercise, I just didn't have the motivation to. As a high-functioning autistic person who experiences depression frequently, it's still really difficult for me to gain the motivation to work. However, reading this sub has really made me think recently. I used to be absolutely all for body positivity and fat acceptance until I knew it meant literally ignoring your health and pretending you're okay. I don't want to do that to myself, even though I'm thin and my weight isn't a worry in the slightest. But I do have health issues (including the mental ones like depression) that can be helped through exercising and being more healthy in my eating habits - so I'm going to work for it. I'm going to succeed.
What I did for my first exercise session was: 20 minutes on the treadmill, alternating with 5 mins running and 5 mins walking throughout. 10 mins on the cross trainer, steadily increasing the resistance as I went. 10 mins working on arms with 1.1 kg dumbbells. 20 mins cooling down with stretches. I plan to do at least a minimum of 30 minutes every night, but 45 - 60 mins is what I'll aim for if I have the time, which I should! #noexcuse
Before I go, a couple of questions: any advice for a beginner? Should I keep going at it the same way, or are there some easier or better approaches to start working out?
Also, I hope that this isn't too long and that it's not in violation of any rules! It doesn't seem to be, but I can't help but be paranoid. Thanks for reading! :)
TL;DR: this "skinny bitch" has decided to get off her behind and get fit like she's always wanted, thanks to this sub's motivating subject matter.