Road Trippin With Rachael

There are always topics that will come up in conversation that make everyone have viseral reactions. That topic could be politics, religion, homeschool, public school, inflation, social media, or even the world of image. As someone who writes a blog, and has a YouTube channel, and works in sales postion as a day job, I happen to be very aware of how appearance (for better or worse) is a a major factor in how people are perceived. This is a loaded topic, and I am not an expert by any means. However, I think that I am at a point now where I am wanting to chime into the conversation and share my thoughts on the issue. By no means are these completed thoughts, as I think that the topics of Body Image, Body Positivity, and Weight Loss are all tied up together, and cannot be cleanly separated into nice neat categories.

Disclaimer before you continue to read: These are going to be MY thoughts. I am not a doctor, I do not have a background in the medical field, or in nutrition. I am simply a person who has a platform to share an opinion and you may do what you wish with it. My hope is that if you struggle with any of the things that I am going to be writing about, you will use this as an insentive to go seek help from your doctors – whatever those need to be.

Body Image

The way that we percieve ourselves and other people is going to play a major part in how we interact with other people. If we believe that we are God’s gift to mankind, then we are led to have an attitude of entitlement because we have graced the world with our presence. If we see ourselves as being a burden on other people, then we will end up struggling with self-loathing and will not be able to use the gifts and talents that God has give us. Even more important, when we have these two extreames we will treat others poorly because we will either disregard them, or we will hold them up/tear them down because of our own poor image.

All of mankind has been created in the image of God. We, as humans are the Imago Dei. Let’s consider for a moment Genesis 1:27 – “So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God” (Christian Standard Bible). We we become Christian, Ephesians 4:24 explains that we are new creations, “created according to God’s likeness in righteousness.” Does this mean that we look like God or that we are little Gods? No. What it does mean is that we are made to reflect his character, and all of the different bodies, body types, and skin tones are meant to be a kaleidoscope, as the pinnacle of God’s creation. Because off this we should have a health view of our bodies. God even gave us the means to take care ooof our bodies. in Genesis 1:29 God tells the man and woman that food was provided for us so that we could take care of our bodies.

Because each body is uniquely crafted, even with what we would consider to be flaws, there are no bodies that are ugly. There are most definitely ugly people – being hateful, cruel, and treating others poorly do not make for an attractive person. But each person looks different, yes even identical twins, and each body deserves to be taken care of because of the individual’s personhood.

Body Positivity

Body Positivity and Body Image, in my opinion, are very intermixed and can’t always be separated. If I were to give my definition, I would say that Body Image is how the individual views themselves, and Body Positivity is how each person views the human body collectively.

That being said, in being Body Positive, that also means that each person has to recognize that each body is going to be different. One the surface this should be obvious. People have different hair colors, eye colors, skin tones, eights, body structures, and of course weights. And yet, we tend to think that when it comes to health, we like to take a one size fits all approach.

One area where we see this play out is going to be when it comes to how we are defining “healthy.” What is going to be “healthy” for one person is not going to be the same for someone else. I like to use the example of myself and my younger sister. The two of us are very different when it comes to our physical health. If someone never saw us, and only knew what we each ate and how much we exercise you would probably make some assumptions about us and our health. I tend towards a more whole foods diet, I limit my sugar intake (the exception being my coffee), and do yoga and walking on an average day. My sister has cut soda out completely, is on her feet moving all day (she’s a teacher), and doesn’t necessarily have a specific diet that she follows. We’re different. For my part, despite my relatively healthy lifestyle, I’m prediabetic and have high blood pressure. Many of my lifestyle choices have been with these two things in mind, but what is healthy for me looks very different from my sister. My sister and I have talked before about how based on what I eat and what I do, I’m not the one who anyone would expect to be diabetic – but here we are.

This leads to our second point about Body Positivity: outward appearence isn’t always indicative of health. As I said previously, I’m prediabetic, and most people who see me wouldn’t be surprised, but they would be surprised if they saw my sister to find out that she isn’t, and has no indicators that she will be. I also think that it is important to recognize that there are always going to be different approaches and different choices that each individual can make. There are also different areas of focus. Cardiovascular, gut health, brain health, there are many different areas where people can choose to focus on when it comes to health. What it comes down to, is what is each person gets to choose how they are going to approach health for them and their family, and how they are going to be handling what is good health. As a side note, I would really think about having a doctor be a part of the conversation.

Weight Loss – My Thoughts and Where I’m at Personally

Weight loss is going to be one of those topics that is going to be very personal. There are many ways to approach it, and it is probably the biggest of the topics I’ve tackled in this blog – mainly because it is the one thing that we can actually see, and therefore judge someone one. When it comes to weight there are going to be a variety of different opinions, a variety of options for people to take, and hundreds of different discussions that can be had about the topic. If I were to be asked for my opinion, I would always say that a doctor should be a part of the conversation (whatever that means to you), and they should be helping you determine what does it look like for you to be healthy. Do you need to loose or gain weight? Why am I loosing – health or aestetics? Either is fine, just don’t take it too far on the aestetics. What are my options available to me? At this point, I will share where I am at with my personal journey and the decisions that I have made for my own health.

I have always struggled with my weight, and I come from a family that also struggles with problems involving weight. Of course, I can give you the song and dance about how I’m a child of the 90’s and 2000’s, so I was exposed to a fast food, large portion sizes, lots of carbs, and diet culture. All true, but not all that different from what anyone else is dealing with. Fast forward to 2022, and I found a doctor that I reallly like, who is body positive, who has a encouraged me to have a healthy image of myself, and I was diagnosted with high blood pressure and was labled as prediabetic. Both conditions run in my family, so it is not surprising that I would have them. What was surprising was that I had made some significant changes to my life style to help me loose weight and be healthier, and I wasn’t loosing. Now, I consulted my docotor about what was healthy going to look like for me, and we mutually decided that loosing weight was going to be the best option to help me become more healthy.

So, I made a decison to go to a weight loss clinic.

I ended up an awesome doctor, who listened to what was important to me, why I was there and what were some of the things that I really thought I was struggling with. Ultimatley, we decided to count calories, keep me accountable for my portion sizes, adn then we would adjust as we went or when there was a need. Some people don’t like to count calories, my sister is one of them, but it’s helpful for me. I did really well, and lost 11 pounds in the first month. I losst another 11 pounds over the next three months – which the weight loss slowing down being expected thanks to homeostasis. And then the struggle really began. I tracking my calories, working to get active, and when I returned in June 2023, I had gained back 10 of the pounds that I had lost. It was the most frustrating thing for me to have been watching my calories, making myself get out and get active, and have financially invested in sources of protein (I had previously been eating a more plant based diet) – because meat is expensive and there was the whole egg thing this summer -, and I had gained back half of what I lost. The depressing part was that I had really begun to feel better, have more energy, and had just begun to see the changes taking place physically.

When I initially went to the weight loss clinic, we had the full discussion involving life style, medication, surgery. I chose to go for the lifestyle first to fix habits and see what changes could be made through that, and when I gained weight back, I revisited the discussion of medication. After going over my options again I made the decision to go on medication. As I am typing tis, I have been on medication for three months, and I am currently down 33 pounds from my original starting weight. I am feeling better, I’m seeing the changes in my face and in how my clothes are fitting – and it was actually because of a photo I took of myself for my YouTube channel that made me decide to write this blog and film the video this blog goes along with.

I’m fully aware that not everyone is going to agree with the decisions that I have made about my health. But it is my health, and I had some in depth conversatioons about it with my doctors. This isn’t a topic that I’m going to bring up all the time, but since I am Road Trippin with Rachael: Traveling through the Bible, Life, and the Road, and this is a part of my life that might be helpful for someone else, and if you can take anything from this, I hope it is that you need to be in the driver’s seat when it comes to your health.