no pain, no gain

It takes a lot to be "beautiful". Not even beautiful, just simply being content with yourself and the way you look. Notice that it takes a lot of hard work and pain, literally, to achieve your desired look. I'm talking about the normal people out there though... not the ones that claim to do absolutely nothing, eat anything and everything they want, still maintain a perfect figure, and blame it all on genetics. What a load of crap...

For the first time in my life i'm actually "out of shape" (a safer and in denial way of saying, "i'm fat"). No offense to bigger people out there... i'm just simply stating that i'm not content with the way i look now. And i don't think the whole, "i just gave birth." or "i just had a baby..." is really an excuse anymore. Well, not to me, anyway. That excuse expires after a while, and in my opinion, i'm past the mark where it's considered to be a valid excuse. Why is it that Debrah Messing, Gwyneth Paltrow, & Kate Hudson all looked like they never even went through the whole pregnancy ordeal after their 4th month postpartum mark? Do they even have stretch marks?! How did Brooke Burke do to a bikini photo shoot only 2 months after giving birth?! How is that possible?! *bLaH*

So, i started going to the gym and doing the whole "trying to lose weight" and "get back into shape" bit. I never really used to have this problem and now that it's something i have to deal with, i'm having a really hard time. I slave on the treadmill and the bike for about an hour a day. I lift weights and do the oh-so-strenous crunches. I kill myself trying to do 3 sets of 15 leg lifts (with the kick thing at the end). I huff and puff trying to get through my sit-ups, and bear the pain that result from back extensions. All this trouble trying to get back into shape... *sigh* (again, i long for toblerone that make you lose weight with every triangle).

I've been trying to diet but i consider it torture. I just can't do it. How can i deprive myself of something that i love so much? It kills me!!! And it just so happens that most of my favorite food are all made up of Carbs... evil carbohydrates. It also doesn't help that when i was pregnant all i did was eat to my heart's content and enjoy sleeping it off after (haha! frikin' bum!). Basically, i just got used to it and it's so hard to give it up. I'm not even gonna start with sweets, pastries, and chocolate... *boo hoo*

Now, working out aside, there are other things to "being beautiful" that includes pain in order to achieve one's goal. Take shaping/cleaning your eye brows, for example. Holy cow, the first time i tried doing that, i cried for every strand i had to take out... what's worse, if you do it wrong, you have to bear the shame of going around with hideous mis-shapen eye brows til it grows back... or you can cover it up with a liner (but sometimes that looks so fake). And what about waxing? haha! There's something about being hairless in certain areas that add bonus points to being attractive. I've never tried this... but from what i hear... it's serious torture.

There are even some people out there who have to go through plastic surgery just to be content with their appearance. Can you imagine "going under the knife" (is that how the saying goes)? Just the thought of it scares me... but apparently, some people really need it to make them happy. Hey, if it works for them, then great. That's their thing. I've seen a few episodes of "The Swan" (it's that beauty pageant where the contestants have all gone through plastic surgery) and those women cry with joy when they see the outcome of what the surgery has done to them. They love it. They're so happy and feel so much better about themselves after the whole transformation.

Back to my point, it takes pain to be beautiful. Wouldn't it be so much easier if none of this mattered to anybody? There are some people who say, "It's what's in the inside that counts". My response to that--- they're lying. Everybody knows that, to an extent, looks really matter. Even if it's just a little tiny bit... it still does.

So be it working out, dieting, surgery, simple grooming tactics, or even drugs... it takes a lot of hard work and "pain" to achieve your desired appearance. Aint that a bitch? haha! =P Well, that's just the way it goes... no pain, no gain.

*BoW*