A dream 20 years in the making

Growing up, I remember my mom going to exercise classes that she dreaded, then not going, then feeling bad about herself for not going. She would diet and lose some weight, then not diet, then feel bad. I could see the pain in her relationship with her body and I definitely did not think that exercise looked like something you could enjoy. It seemed like something we should do to “fix” our body, as if there is one right way for a body to be. It wasn’t only my mom, I saw a lot of this same approach from friend’s moms and women in my family. The magazines I read advertised “10 minutes to flatter abs,” 3 day cleanse diets that promised a thinner “after” body with a women smiling a lot brighter than the women with the “before” body.