Get real this year

OK, maybe it was the week of mincemeat pie, chocolate bark, fruit cake, shortbread and other assorted baked goods that did me in.

Or maybe it was the zero times I lumbered onto the treadmill.

Or the homemade truffles my (former) best friend delivered New Year's Day. (They were gone in a flash, trust me.)

Regardless, the scales tell me I had a heck of a good holiday. And I did—but alas, the party is over and the reckoning is here.

I look like the before shot in those diet aid ads and it's not a pretty sight.

What about you? Even if you didn't pig out over the holidays, it's January, and I bet you're on a diet or thinking about losing weight or talking about getting in shape. At our age, it's what we do, isn't it? Long for those pre-baby, pre-menopause, smokin' hot glory days. And don a figurative hair shirt—the one with the long sleeves to cover up what a friend of mine calls woman arms.

Too much time worrying and comparing

Believe it or not we—that would be women—spend 100 minutes a day thinking and talking about food, diets, fitness and the size and shape of our bodies, according to Courtney Martin in her eye-popping book Perfect Girls Starving Daughters (Free Press, 2007). 

Seems to me, that's too much time, too much energy—and when you add in the gym memberships, diet books and butt and tummy trimming underwear—way too much money.

Sure, we all want to look good—who doesn't? But you just have to ask, don't you—when are we thin enough, fit enough and ultimately, beautiful enough? When do we get to feel at home in our own skin? When we stand up and say, "Enough"?

I think it's time we started a get-real revolution.

Our movement dedicates itself to celebrating beauty in all its shapes and sizes. With a manifesto that starts, "Our bodies do not define who we are or who we can be. And if our bodies are healthy, we are happy." 

Instead of pointing the finger at the usual suspects—societal norms, media influence, celebrity role models—let's refuse to be manipulated. Let's go on strike.

For starters, let's ban the word "perfect" from daily usage (unless we're describing our daughter's math test score or our newborn nephew.)

Don't step on the scales for a month.

Order the chocolate mousse cake and savour every bite, without apology. (Maybe not every day, but you get my point.)

Don't compare your body to the new hire in the corner office.
Hug your sister even though she is two sizes smaller than you.
Step into your jeans, check out your butt and say loud and proud, "I look fabulous!"

To paraphrase Simone De Beauvoir, "To be confident in one's body is to be confident in oneself."

It won't be easy—but if we stick together, it will be possible. Are you with me?

This article is original content on More.ca