Great post Rachel Walsh I was doubtful when I saw your title, but — this truly is the secret sauce! So now I’m following you.

I had an epiphany one day during my senior year of high school when I saw the lines of muscles along my quadriceps and down my IT band. I was getting prepared to leave central Pennsylvania to go to college in Los Angeles, and I was thinking about how I wanted to carry myself when I made the big transition.

At this particular moment, I remember being overwhelmed with gratitude for this strong body I was born into. The body that had earned me a black belt in TaeKwonDo, and then a spot on the wrestling team at my high school. The body that threw the discus and shotput, and carried a bass drum in the high-school marching band, and danced and sang on the theater stage. The body that nourished my brain and all of its geeky powers.

I made a promise to myself to (1) never get fake boobs, (2) never dye my hair blond, and (3) never join a sorority. To love my body for the strength and power it gave me, and to not hate myself because I didn’t match up with what the world might want to see. The only one of these 3 I’ve ever wavered on in the 20+ years since was the blonde hair.

As a 43-year-old mom of 2 little kids, currently 3 & 7 I’m in the best shape of my life. And it’s a combo of exactly what you put in your sauce — self-love, and love of movement.

Keep preaching mama. You’re speaking truth!