I was visiting a messageboard on a popular health and fitness site where I read someone's admonishment to the membership to love your body and the way you look, regardless. That may have been well intended, but it was in response to someone's post about how she felt depressed about her weight and body shape.
I think it's okay to believe you can love the way you look. But, I also think it could be a cop-out for someone trying to convince herself that it's okay to be overweight. It's okay to be a few pounds heavier than you were in your 20's, even 40's; but, when it's a matter of excessive weight, I think we need to draw our lines in the sand about what we will accept for ourselves.
My reaction was to say hang on, I'm not happy with being 20 lbs overweight and the extra tire around my waistline that came with age and menopause. I'm not going to give up trying to get this under control, and I won't accept the notion of loving my body the way it is - because I simply think it's not only unattractive and uncomfortable, but unhealthy.
How would you respond if someone told you to love your body, even if overweight?