You're so vain

You're so vain, I bet you think this song is about you, you're so vain
(come on, I know we all know the words to this one, sing along in your head)
 
You walked into the pump class, like you were walking down a catwalk,
your hair strategically tied behind your head,
your clothes they were Lorna Jane,
You had both eyes in the mirror as
you watched yourself dead lift
And all the girls dreamed that we'd have your six pack, we'd have your six pack...


Do you ever feel that this constant striving for bodily perfection is nothing but vanity? That if we have managed to claw our way from an "overweight" BMI to "normal", we should just sit back and relax?
I have tried to make 'be the best me I can be' my mantra, and so I am not going to rest at my mid-range normal BMI. Deep down I know I will never look the way I want, but damn it, I am going to get as close as I can.

The flipside of my personal "I want to be thin"  vanity coin is the "I don't care that I am fat'' movement which fights for  societal acceptance of obesity.
An example is the group of "fat femme'' women from Melbourne who got together and challenged society's lack of acceptance of their body size by forming a synchronized swim team,  reclaiming their local pool for bigger people.
They describe their stories in the documentary Aquaporko!. I haven't been lucky enough to see the film, but that doesn't mean we can't talk about the issues it raises.

The crux of Aquaporko is the need for self-acceptance and in their words, 'embracing body positivity''. And as my comments above hint at, that need doesn't necessarily disappear once you are no longer officially fat.

I think in order to have a healthy relationship with your body, you need to regularly push it to certain limits, so you know it will be there for you when you need it.
 How can you claim to be best buds with your butt if you have trouble heaving yourself out of bed? But if your butt is simply a motor to power you up a couple of flights of stairs without having a heart attack, maybe self-acceptance is deserved.
We all have to live with ourselves. Some may do this by embracing their obesity. I think both the thin and the fat have to uncouple how we look from how we feel about ourselves, and make how our body feels the defining factor. If it feels like it is strong and fit and can meet our daily demands plus a bit more, it doesn't matter what our size is or or how we look.
But don't take acceptance of your size as a get out-of-jail card for life-long health. If you are not nurturing your body with good food and sensible exercise, it will eventually come back to bite you.
These are just some thoughts I am tossing around and putting out there in the hope of starting a discussion. I shall explore it some more in a later post if we get a discussion going.