We all know those advertisements advocating for weight loss. We see them everywhere. They seem unavoidable. We see them in airports, drugstores, waiting rooms, and especially at the grocery store. "10 Pounds in 10 Days," "Shrink your Waist," "Fight Flab," and "Get Your Happy Weight." It seems like our society revolves around one concept of what the body should look like. Either we begin to believe that we are only healthy if we look like the person on the magazine cover or we simply value having a certain look more than our own personal health.

A lot of the problem consists in listening to the voices that tell us our bodies aren’t good enough as they are, but we don't have to listen to them. Imagine a you who accepts who you are, a you who is not concerned about fitting some mold but is only concerned about being healthy. Healthy does not mean skinny. Healthy means vitality and energy. It's more about the inside than it is about the outside, more about the metabolic processes of your heart and your organs than the exterior.

There is so much comparison within our culture. The magazines provoke it by placing the image of someone else's body before your eyes to tell you that you can become like them. They try to convince you that you can have the same body they have, but it's not true. No matter how hard you may try, no two bodies are the same. We wonder why we don’t look like the image or the person we compare ourselves to, but we have to realize that every body is different because we all have different body types, metabolisms, daily activities and schedules, life situations, health conditions, or mental states. When will we realize that there is no one body type that defines healthy?

Make your endeavors less about the number on the scale, less about losing that 5-10 pounds, even though you are a healthy weight, and less about mirroring yourself off of someone else. Make it more about your health, about being strong, having a healthy heart, AND having a healthy mind. Your health includes your whole person, so don’t neglect your mind and the love of yourself for the sake of attaining a possibly unrealistic body. Be who you are. Accept who you are. Be confident in the unique body which is your own and no one else’s.