I love every inch of it!

"Susan, thank you so much for all that you have done. I have lost all of this weight and gotten so toned. I finally have the body that I have always dreamed of and I love every inch of it!"

Someone said this to me the other day. Okay, that is a total lie. No one has ever said this to me and I am guessing that they never will.

What I really hear is this, "I know that I have hit my goal weight, but I still feel like I should lose 5 or 10 more pounds." Or, "I am fine with my weight, but I have these big thighs." Or, "If I could just get rid of the pooch..."

Every time I hear this, I cringe. Not because I don't relate...not because I don't feel the same way at times. I cringe because I rarely hear women pat themselves on the back for what they HAVE done. I rarely hear women find a time in their lives when they ARE satisfied with who they are.

One of my favorite bloggers, DRYWALL said it best, "We know. You’re not skinny enough. Or you’re too tall. Or short. Your butt sags. Your complexion is off. You have a belly. Your boobs aren’t big enough. Whatev. We don’t seriously care....What you don’t realize is that guys could give a f&!@ about any of it. We don’t let outside influences distort our view of hotness. We judge it the old fashioned way: we get wood. That’s it. Caveman shit."

It's a little crass, I know, but it is true. I don't think men are nearly as hard on us as we are on ourselves.

There is nothing wrong with having goals. We should all strive to better. But aiming to look like someone else or even aiming to look like our 18-year-old selves is a waste of time and energy. If I could give every woman a gift, it would be for them to shoot for and appreciate their physical accomplishments even if the pooch won't go away.

In other words, strive to do x-number of pull-ups. Strive to run 3 miles in a row. Strive to do a plank with 100 pounds on your back. And for god's sake, quit worrying about that tiny bit of fat that no one else even sees anyway!

If we only exercise to get skinny, we may never be happy. But if we exercise to hit milestones, to push ourselves and find what we are truly capable of, it is a much better experience.

This morning, I was telling a group of clients that I used to put pictures of Victoria's Secret supermodels up on my computer to motivate myself. It was my attempt to keep myself from eating too many calories. Instead, I just saw those supermodels every day and was reminded of what I would never be...a 5'11, 100 pounds woman.

Today, I try to ignore (and sometimes even appreciate) the way that I look. I focus on the numbers in the gym, the accomplishments at competition and the way that I feel on a daily basis. This is me. I am doing the best that I can with what I have. As Kurt Cobain put it, "Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are."