Luke’s Story

Dear Myominds

I've been doing exercise most of my life really with starting rugby at 11 and then after always being 'the fat friend' I decided to try going to the gym and getting myself in better shape. I noticed from when I first walked in people would always stare at me and  I was getting what I perceived to be dirty looks or people laughing at me. I think it's only recently that I've realised that people aren't laughing or staring it was just a bit of anxiety that built up quite fast. For that reason I wouldn't be in the gym long and thus I didn't see a difference in myself for a long time. This obviously got me down and with the growing number of people on Instagram always looking ripped and toned got me down more and more until I almost just gave up on the gym completely. 

Then as I got older I started changing naturally and actually started noticing differences in myself. I was putting on size in the places I wanted to but wasn't losing fat. Started running and dieting better And since then I noticed more and more I was going in the right direction until I'm where I am today. Which isn't completely where I want to be but I'm a lot more comfortable with my body. A big part was realising that the 'ideal' body was really a myth and that loving myself was much more important. 

I think there is way to much pressure on people for feeling like they have to be like someone else and look a certain way for them to be happy but just waking up in the morning and instead of noticing the things that you perceive as 'bad', looking at yourself and being happy with who you are. Since I realised this I've been so much happier when it comes to the gym and sports in general. I've stopped going to the gym because I felt I needed to and instead going because I want to. 

The biggest thing though is realising you aren't alone and there are so many people who are in the same boat and speaking up about it takes a huge weight off your shoulders.

Seeing this page especially and seeing the posts from other Myominds people has really helped this and I think so many other people can benefit from it.