IGNORE THE TAGS. Do n ’ t l e t n u m b e r s r u i n yo u r h a p p i n e ss. BY ALLISON OKUNEYE
Full transparency disclaimer. I have not worked out in 2 years. In those two years, I have gained at LEAST 30 unwanted but definitely hard-earned pounds. Do I regret the Oreos for breakfast? Possibly.
Did I fall into an unhealthy “eating my feelings” routine, CLEARLY. All of that changed 2 weeks ago when I finally joined a gym and have been working out 4 days a week. All week I kept hyping myself up saying, way to go self! You are here, you showed up, you are sweating, you are finally moving towards a healthier version of you.
To say I have been in a better place mentally would be a TOTAL understatement. I feel great! I will admit I was slightly confused when I didn’t drop 10 pounds in the first week, but hey, baby steps. So fast forward to a lovely Thursday, I worked out early, took a shower, and had on a super cute outfit. I was 10 May | June 2021
really loving myself for the first time in a LONG time. I will admit that getting comfortable for shopping the sizes that fit my current body has been hard to get used to but I had made peace with it. You can imagine my surprise when I went to try on a bridesmaid dress for a wedding in August. I give the woman a size range thinking to myself, “I have been working out for 2 weeks surely I have dropped a dress size!!” Here is what I know, not only did I NOT drop a dress size, the dress that fit me was 4 sizes bigger than the size that I usually fit in.
Any ounce of feeling cute, feeling good, feeling healthy, FLEW out of that dressing room. I went from feeling confident to feeling completely deflated…well deflated emotionally but obviously INFLATED physically! Once the shock wore off, I got dressed and didn’t even bother to look in the mirror as I left.
