Fresh Start Fitness

About ten years ago, Khloe Kardashian went through a break-up and got really into fitness. Her body changed visually and dramatically and I remember seeing magazines at the checkout counter with bylines about her “revenge body”.

I have been (mostly) happily married for fifteen years, I don’t care about the Kardashians, but something about that headline has stuck with me a decade later. Why does our fitness ever have anything to do with a man? Why do we overeat to cope with a broken heart, “let ourselves go” once we lock in the wedding ring, or use a break-up as fuel to get ripped (presumably to evoke feelings of jealousy from someone else)?

Now I see bylines about “Hot Girl Summer”, which seems to be something along the lines of being single, having unrestricted sex, wearing bikinis, and drinking cocktails. Apparently you should prepare for your hot girl summer by rapidly losing weight and “detoxing”.

When Megan Fox broke up with MGK, she offered this advice to women going into summer with a broken heart: “I don’t know if I’m the best person to give advice, because my advice is just to learn a skill or develop a hobby. The only thing they’re going to do is wear you down. Keep going. Invest in yourself.”

Whether you are single, married, broken-hearted, young, old, thin, or fat: an investment in yourself is the most valuable you can make. If you want to lose weight, do it for you: for your health and your enjoyment, not for any man. Instead of binge-eating or purging, take a cooking class and learn how to nourish your body. Take professional development classes and level up at work. Train for a marathon. Hire a mental health professional. Spend a weekend working hard on home repairs or landscaping so that you can enjoy the place you live.

My “Hot Girl Summer” is actually a lifelong mission to invest in myself. I plan to continue to pursue exercise, nutrition, mental health, and healthy boundaries in relationships for the duration of my life. I plan to practice self-love and continue to serve and love my family and people close to me. My investment in myself is not fleeting, temporary, short-sighted, or dependent on a man’s affection or attention. I treat myself the way I want to be treated. I talk positively to myself in my own inner dialogue, and cheer for myself like I would for a friend. I am worth the investment in myself.