Bikini Confidence: Gabriela

The next installment in the Bikini Confidence Series comes from Gabriela of Une Vie Saine. After struggling with the burden of disordered eating, read how Gabriela was able to alter her relationship with food when she discovered how wonderful healthy eating made her feel.

Hi everyone! I’m Gabriela from Une Vie Saine. Thank you so much to Samantha for the opportunity to write a guest post! I love the premise of her blog. So many women (and men!) suffer from negative body image, especially when wearing a bathing suit.

Growing up, I was never a confident little girl. Though wasn’t really overweight, I wasn’t effortlessly thin like my athletic older brother, beautiful mother, and skinny classmates. Children can be cruel, but I was my toughest critic. I filled journals with words of self-hatred due to my little tummy and full cheeks.

When I reached high school, my preoccupation with my weight took a dangerous turn. Fed up with being bigger than most of my friends, I resolved to finally lose weight. I began counting calories obsessively, restricting more and more until I’d lost all the pudge that had bothered me, and then some. I was sickly, weak and unhealthy.

A few months before I headed off to college, I realized that I didn’t want to live my life around food anymore. My fear of fat had paralyzed me for too long. I was sick of skipping social events, eating alone and weighing myself every morning. I wanted to be a fun college student, not the emaciated and antisocial girl! Change didn’t come easily, but I sought help from a therapist and tried to surround myself with healthy, positive people. Over several years, I overhauled my entire way of thinking, valuing whole foods over low-calorie ones, enjoying exercise as a stress reliever instead of a fat-blasting session, and realizing that chasing a “perfect” body only takes time away from the things I love. There will always be something to tighten or tone, but I want to live my life- not spend it in search of an illusive ideal.

Changing the way you’ve felt about yourself for eighteen years isn’t easy. Learning to love my body has been a slow process, and I still work on it every day. But three years ago, I never could have imagined looking in the mirror and being happy with what I saw. And today, I really, really am.

• Heather (HEAB)
• Nicole (Prevention, RD)
• Meghan Telpner (Making Love in the Kitchen)
• Kenzie (A Healthy Purpose)
• Jasmine (Eat, Move, Write)
  

And don’t forget my own Bikini Birthday post!