February 8 - God hates fangs.

This time a year ago, I got a gym membership and started tracking my calories. I worked out for 90 minutes at the gym every other day, did strength training and yoga every night before I went to bed, and didn’t eat more than 1400 calories a day. By summer I felt hot in a bikini and had shrunk a dress size or two. It was awesome.

Hi. That shit doesn’t last.

I’m back at the weight I was before I started. I watch my food intake, but I’m too fucking lazy to track my calories. Forget yoga. I don’t have the space in my room to do so much as roll out a yoga mat and I don’t care. I don’t want to put in the effort. I’m tired of working so hard to have that body. It’s just a hassle.

If I had anything to say to anyone starting a diet or exercise regimen, it would be this:

Are you prepared to keep this up indefinitely? Are you prepared to exercise the way you are now, if not harder, forever? Are you prepared to diet like you are now, if not more intensely, forever?

Because if you’re not, your results are going to wear off. You’re going to get right back to your start weight, and your body is going to align itself up with its natural figure. If you slack, you will lose your results quicker than you can blink.

So here’s my advise. Give that shit up. Forget the no carb, no sugar, no fat, no gluten, no wheat, no saturated, no trans, no flavor diets and forget the grueling gym routines. Devote the time, sweat, blood, and tears you’re willing to put into your body changing workouts to a life-changing way of thinking. Accept the body you have now. I mean fucking accept it. Accept it the way you accept that the sky is blue. Accept your body as a fact of yourself.

And then embrace it. Embrace your body the way you embrace the neighborhood pool opening the first week of summer and your high-school graduation and the birthday money your parents sent you. Don’t grudgingly accept it and learn to live with it. That’s not good enough. Your body is a temple with stained glass windows and cherry-blossom littered aisles, and I can guarantee you it is beautiful.

Throw away your magazines. Cut out your favorite makeup tips and thoughtful articles, and throw the rest away. Get rid of every source of negative body imagery in your life. And I mean that. If it means deleting your tumblr, facebook, twitter, whatever, so be it. What’s more important? You are. You are more important that the sum of your social networking sites, and your perception of yourself is more important than your blog. Get rid of the things that make you feel like you are less than. Because you’re not.

Love other bodies the way you love your own. Don’t ever body shame. Don’t insult or criticize other bodies. See beauty everywhere and you will see beauty in yourself.