Hubby is my Terry. He’s not quite caught up with my shift from Sparkpeople (and my own FoBT) to my new SP.

When I read this, I had an epiphany: All those times I’ve been told that only people who set and achieve GOALS can be truly happy. Now, I don’t have any goals other than doing whatever I feel like at the time. And I’m happy doing it. So all this time I thought I was missing out, or not normal for being happy without this happiness formula.

And then that’s when I realised it’s the same thing. I feel abnormal because I don’t count calories, or avoid ‘bad’ food, or feel guilty for eating a burger, or stress about my weight, or hate my body, or feel like my worth as a person is somehow connected to the way I look. I’ve never done any of that. And I thought that was what people did, that obsessive dieting and food-watching was what was NORMAL (from what I saw on TV, of course). And that I was not normal for feeling good about myself. It’s only recently that I’ve found out that a negative body image is not the ideal way to live, and that I am not abnormal.

And I have to say, this blog helped a lot with that :)

I have two Terrys. The first is my best friend, Ben. He is one of those naturally skinny people (like a beanpole) who can eat 18 meals a day and not gain an ounce. Throughout our friendship, he has made it clear that weight is the last thing he cares about. He is an amazing dancer and coreographer, and he asked me to dance (I’m also a dancer/actor) in a piece he did – in the front. I was shocked, but his attitude was “of COURSE I want you in it”.

My other Terry is my personal trainer, Karla. She’s from El Salvador, has two young children, and is a CRAZY athlete. Her body fat percentage is probably about 2%. She could kill people with her abs. And yet, she has NEVER mentioned losing weight to me. Her goal is always to make me stronger – and to be my biggest health cheerleader. HEALTH instead of WEIGHT. Who knew?

(This is also a woman who can take blood without me feeling a thing. She is an angel walking amongst us)

weight isn’t an issue for me (i am short and thin) but i am not the fastest runner in the world. i run with boys and i have a lot of trouble keeping up with them, and group runs sometimes turn miserable because they push me too hard. the frustrating part is that i can’t make up for it by practicing hard, because my body wears and tears faster than theirs.

however, my (male) best friend has never said a word about the fact that i’m slow and shrugs off his own speed. he sticks by me in practices (and even sometimes races!) just so that running is fun for me too.

He also never questions my motivation when I decide to get a salad on some days, nor tease me if I decide I was the triple layer chocolate mousse cake for desert.

In short, his attitude is your body, your business.

It’s starting to sound like I should do a post on belly dance! But since I’ve been at it for under a year, I’m not sure what I have to say that you old hands (old hips?) wouldn’t already have thought about a million times. Perhaps I should ask for pointers.

And I love that there are so many bellydancers around these parts! (I just got back from my first class in two months and OW OW OW are my obliques and glutes sore…but damn it feels good to get back in the game).

It’s interesting, when we think that it’s the exercise and activity that we LOVE that we’ll stay with, that at the same time we often don’t know what we love. Sometimes it feels really difficult to even know where to start to find something that feels good and gives a good workout and is awesome–especially if you’ve spent any time being ashamed of your body. Yay again for all the Terrys of the world who are committed to helping us with that.