Clavicles are sooooo last year. This year all the girls/women want to show off their thigh gap. (Insert valley high girl accent) Did you, like, know that? {Watch this.} Did you see that? I rolled my eyes, twice.
Let's get real ladies. Some of us will never have a TG and guess what?!? That is perfectly fantastic! Now listen to the flip-side, I do have some very good friends with beautiful thigh gaps of their own because their bodies are made. that. way. It's called genetics. I've been born into a genetic pool that does not promote thigh gaps, and I'm fairly certain my thighs have touched since I was born. I've always had an athletic build after I lose my excess weight and get fit, showcasing fuller legs and hips and muscular arms; therefore, I've never been a string bean. I want to be an example to my children of what it looks like to take good care of my body, mind and spirit. I don't want my daughter or my nieces to see me obsessing about looking like the cover of Cosmo or some ridiculous reality star. {Although some days those things do distract me from my ultimate goal to be healthy and fit. That is when I have a talk with myself or my husband that usually begins as a pitty party and ends as a pep talk.} I DO want my daughter and nieces to see me working hard to take good care of myself, not being sedentary and feeding myself junk {although I still occasionally enjoy tex-mex, red wine, champagne, jelly beans, chocolate, Sonic tater tots, vanilla coke, donuts...y'all I could go on and on} the key is I don't fuel my body with these foods all day and night.
I was always an active kid/teenager and spent my time playing with friends as much as possible. We rollerbladed, road bikes, climbed everything, ran track, wakeboarded...lots of fun things that kept me in shape as I chowed down on chips and soda and my young metabolism did its job. But then I graduated from college, got married and got a desk job. Working in downtown Houston I literally had a world of fast food beneath my feet. I sat all day and indulged on Ninfa's breakfast tacos, delicious Italian pastas at lunch, Fritos and a root beer for a snack in the afternoon...and who knows what Mr. GQ and I ate for dinner back then. I was consistent, meaning I consistently gained seven pounds each year for several years in a row. Then with my first pregnancy I kept my sedentary lifestyle, ate a lot of PB&J sandwiches followed by a chocolate shake and gained another 52 pounds in 40 weeks. You see, there have been times in my life when I definitely made a habit of doing nothing but sitting on the sofa, eating processed food and watching too much TV. A lot of women can live this way and on the outside they stay slim and sexy. Sometimes genetics take good care of you aesthetically, {but not internally}. My doctor was worried about my weight gain before my first pregnancy as I was on a road toward obesity and related illness because my lifestyle was affecting ME. It made me extra sluggish, fatigued, grouchy and I didn't feel like myself. In 2009 after my second child was born I wanted to feel like myself again so I made a big change. I adopted a lifestyle wherein I enjoyed pushing my body to see what it was capable of doing in the gym or on the track and I ate good, healthy food everyday. It was amazing! I became a personal trainer and coached other women to change their lives through healthy eating and daily exercise. I ran a half marathon and wore a bikini proudly with a baby on my hip and stretch marks on my thighs.
You see... I will never have a thigh gap BUT I can keep pushing my body to be the fastest, strongest, most fit version of me, because The Lord only blessed me with one body and He asked me to take good care of it. Thigh gaps can kiss it.