An Apology Letter to my Body

Dear Body,

First off, I'm sorry. It's taken me way too long to realize how awesome you are. You truly are appreciated. And I'm only just beggining to learn these things. I'm sorry for denying you food when you were hungry and overeating when you weren't hungry. I'm sorry for saying mean things about you and calling you names. I'm sorry for weighing you and letting that weight determine my feelings towards you and my attitude. I'm sorry for being obessive over things that don't really matter. I'm really going to start trying to be kinder to you. It's hard and I'm only beginning to learn please be patient with me.

I must make a special apology to my thighs. All the years I spend staring at you and measuring you and complaining about you. I was wrong, you were right. I need you strong so I can do and teach spinning classes. There's nothing like coming out of a spinning class feeling awesome and hearing people talk about how fast you went. I hope you appreciate the new spinning shoes I bought. There just for you.

I have to thank my stomach for keeping a small pooch to remind me that I'm a girl and that pooch is special and serves a purpose. Thank you arms for being able to do push ups and hug the people who matter most in my life. Thank you legs for letting me run and feel powerful. Thank you body. Your amazing. I want to treat you better.

Love,

Leah

-Post your letter of apology to your body!!!

Ooh Ooh, my turn!!

 

Dear Body,

 I would like to start by thanking you. You have been in general good health. You haven't given me any big problems. Regardless of how many times I have let you down - you have never let me down.

I am very sorry for all the years I have abused you. All the times that I ate and ate until you were sore and miserable. I am sorry that I haven't had any control when it came to food. I am sorry that I have let you go and neglected you. I have put gluttony in front of you and that was very wrong of me.

I am making a new start in life and I vow to start listening to you more. To watch more closely the stuff that I put into you. I will also try to start giving you the workouts that you so desperately need to get you back into shape. After all, round is a shape - but it isn't a good shape for you.

Love always!

Dianne

These letters are beautiful and really moving. Thank you everyone who wrote, and especially the original poster. This has really helped me change my perspective for the better. Keem 'em coming!

Definitely sticky-worthy.

Dear Body,

I don't know how you put up with me; how I'm still here after the way I have treated you since I was aware of my looks. But thank you. I am so sorry for starving you and throwing up when I did eat in high school. I'm sorry for eating junk in college and trying to make up for it by working out for 3 hours at a time, going way past what you were able to do. I'm sorry for taking diet pills that made you sick and not caring because I lost a pound or two. I'm sorry for binging because I felt lonely, picking at you and calling you names. Can you ever forgive me? I know that I can not say sorry enough to make up for what I've done to you.

I am starting to care for you the way you should be cared for. I'm drinking water, going to the gym (not over doing it though) and I'm finally eating right. I hope that this can start to make up for everything. I know you love me and it's taken a long time to learn to love you back. I don't want heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure or anything else that runs in my family....I hope it's not too late.

 

Love Melissa

Dear body,

First off, I apologize for being an insensitive brat and never listening to you. We never communicate.. Well, I should say, you try  to communicate and I never pay attention. I've come to learn from experience that a relationship needs communication, and I always was spoiled and selfish. I starved you when you were hungry. I gave you three times what you needed when you didn't want it. I'm sorry.

You're the most special thing that I'll ever own. Without you, I would not be here. I have so many things that I need to thank you for, and so many things I need to apologize about. So I will start now:

dear Skin, I'm sorry I've never taken care of you. I shower you and dry you, and keep you warm, but I never drink enough water to help you keep a good complexity, and I never was much into keeping you moisturized. I know you probably hate me by now by the compulsive picking at my arms when I was stressed, and going bicicling without proper gear and proper pants on. I know I've left so many scars on you. I'm also sorry for the stretch marks I've left on you as well, I know they will fade - like any other hurting emotion - but they will never truly dissappear. I'm sorry.

dear Eyes, I'm sorry I spent so much time in front of a computer. I know that by now without the aid of glasses or contacts, you cannot see the true beauty that there is in this world. You're my only window to the outside, and I've kept you in such horrible shape. Sorry for never eating the carrots I should have eaten to make you stay in good condition.

dear Lips, I'm so sorry I keep on forgetting to put on balm when it's -60F degrees outside here in MN. I know I've chapped you to hell and back, but you always come and stay beautiful just for me and my fiance. I love you so, I'll try to take better care of you.

dear  Arms, I'm really sorry I've never given you enough exercise, apart from never doing push ups to keep you in shape - it's my own fault that you're all chubby now and I feel really sorry for comparing you to tubes of jello. I know you're not Jello. And I know if I tried a bit better, you'd be the most beautiful arms in the world.

dear boobs, I'm so sorry. I just... there's nothing else to say. I always wanted other boobs, slightly bigger ones, without appreciating the fact that you're the only ones I have and it doesn't matter what, you'll be there with me. you'll feed my babies, you make me feel femenine, you keep my heart close to you. And I wanted other breasts. I'm so sorry. I will never ever think of you as "I wish I didn't have these."

dear belly, YOU, my friend, are the one I have to apologize to the most. I keep on poking you, pinching you, wishing you were GONE! But it took me a while to realize that all you have is layers of something undesiderable that could be gone if I put enough effort into it. You'll house my babies, keep them warm, and I always make fun of you or feel horrible about you. I'm really sorry. I'll try to keep you in better shape. Please keep a small pouch, though. I like you that way.

I also have always fed you horrible junk. crap you don't need. I'm sorry.

dear Thighs and     Legs, as much as I love you, I must admit as of lately I've been hating you silently. I thought you were getting too big for me, but I think it's just a matter of my taking responsibility for you. You're part of me, and I need to take more care of you. You carry me around when I want to be carried around, you take me places, you let me experience wonderful things.. yet I've never taken the time to make sure you're as strong as you can be. I'm sorry.

dear Brain, I'm so sorry I've underestimated you, especially before exams. Without you, I'd be a vegetable. You're what has given me the opportunity to get into college despite everything else, and I've still undermined you. I'm really, really sorry. I'll take better care of you by getting enough sleep, I promise.

Dear butt, .....I'm so sorry I sat on you so often throughout my life. I'm sure you don't like it, when you start telling me you ache. I'll try to be more active! just for you, baby.

Dear lungs and spinal cord. Spine, I'll try to sit straighter so you don't ache. Lungs, while I've taken good care of you and never in my life smoked, I feel that because of my lack of exercise, you're not as strong as you could be. you're the one that delivers oxygen to my body, and you should be in top condition. I'll try my best.

Dear heart, all I have to say is, I love you. You're what keep me alive, and I've been inconsiderate for eating huge amounts of food that contain cholesterol. I don't want to give you a blood clot, and cause you to have a sudden attack. I haven't been exercising enough to get you pumping, and I know you love the feeling. I'll do it more often, I promise. And I'm sorry for being such a jerk to you.


Body, I love you. You are me. I am you. It's time I started listening to you more often and taking care of you.

Love,

Jael

Haha.  I've got a couple of "Dear Body" letters in my journal on here.

I'm glad someone else is starting to appreciate the body!

Dear Body,

I'm sorry I made you so fat.

Cassandra

These are amazing...Thanks to everyone for sharing their story:)

Dear Body,

 I am sorry for putting you through all this bingeing and making you feel all sickly. I am sorry for comparing you to all of those super-skinny celeberities when their body caretakers abuse them. I never want to abuse you body! Keep the communication coming, your very good at it. I just suck at listening. I am sorry for pinching and poking at your inperfections body, that was very insensitive of me. I am sorry for pushing you past your physical limits to burn off some of the calories that I mindlessley intake when you have clearly told me your full! So I am doing this for you body, its not about me anymore. I owe this to you.

Ghawaiigirl47

Dear body, for all the years of wishing you were shaped differently, enduring  my periods of inactivity followed by bone jarring workouts, then more inactivity, sugar, too much food, alcohol and suntanning......I'm sorry!    Thanks for my easy pregnancies, easy labors and breastfeeding.  For my lack of disease(so far) and for allowing me to try all kinds of fun activities  I couldn't do if you weren't working properly.  I promise to take you for walks often, rub pretty lotions all over you and to appreciate you like never before.   Yipeeeeee!

Dear Body,

Thank you for not giving up on me. It's now my turn to not give up on you. Thank you for being strong, for giving me muscles that have led me on all the paths I've chosen in the last 26 years....Thank you for sticking with me when I pulled all nighters in college and now at work and understanding... I try to pay it back when I can (which is arguably not often enoguh) and spend days in bed resting.

Thank you for giving me strong legs that some girls envy. Even though I have yet to appreciate their full worth I've come to realize that strong is not bad. My strong quads and thighs have saved my knees from injury during soccer games.

Thank you to my stomach for dealing w past abuse- the excessive binge drinking, the smoking, the overeating, the advil for headaches. Thanks for sticking through it- we'll get through the ulcer in a healthy lifestyle. You deserve the pooch that I hate... it's your battle wound- I get that. And it reminds me that curves are wonderous and even in their softness-poweful.

Thank you for waking me up everyday and putting me to bed everynight. I'm looking fwd to the marriage we've just begun to make work.

* bump *

K gotta do this one too....

Dear Body,

First of all thank you very much for being how you are and supporting me all my life, enabling me to walk and go places.

Thank you also for telling me when I'm doing too many things and when I need to stop think and relax. My brain, while part of you, sometimes gets a littel too uppety about doing things and wants to push more and more and more but that's the driver in me. So thanks for forcing me into breaks and pointing out things I need to change.

Thank you to my legs and feet for carrying me all those miles through the park on the treadmill, to/from work and school and other places. Thank muscular system for being stronger and stronger every week, responding to the conditioning that I am trying to give and allowing me to swimm longer/stronger and do my Pilates and push ups better.

You are my most valuable posession in this world and I vouch to take better care of you for the rest of my life and get that extra fat mass off of you that keeps you from showing your true and full blown potential, agility and magic.

Thank you for being the way you are I love you.

Sabine

Dear Body,

Wow, we have certainly shared many years together, now haven’t we?  I can recall some pretty great times we’ve shared, and some downright terrifying moments too.  And yet through it all, you’ve come through for me.  I owe you a ‘thank you’ and an ‘I’m sorry’, which is why I’ve decided to write you this letter: to let you know just how much I appreciate you, even though I’ve not always shown it.

I solemnly promise to listen more to what signals you’re giving me and what you’re trying to ‘tell me’.  You’ve listed to me through all of these years, and I’ve tuned you out.  When my stomach growled, and even ached, I’ve ignored you.  When I felt exhausted and nauseated from lack of food, I pushed aside your warnings.  There were those times when I over-ate to the point where I could barely move, let alone breathe, and you tried to warn me, letting me know when I’d had ‘enough’, but still, - I didn’t listen.  This is not a one-sided relationship we have, though I’ve acted as such.  I can’t live without you, and you can’t without me.  I can see now that you and I can and will be so much stronger together, as a team.

I’m deeply sorry for the days, weeks, months, and yes, years of verbal abuse I have put you through.  All of these years, I chose to ignore what I found attractive in you, and instead, zero-in on the features I personally viewed as – shall we say less than attractive.  And you’ve done nothing to deserve that.  In fact, you’ve been nothing but there for me.  I called you fat.  I looked in the mirror and criticized you endlessly.  I pinched you and frowned at you, and called you hideous names that should never be uttered aloud, let alone silently considered.  I even starved you in this punishment, and nearly ended both of us once upon a time.  When I wised-up and allowed you to look healthy and not sunken and skeletal, you regained our strength, and for that I am grateful.  We now wear our battle scars, some faint stretch marks, on the very thighs I detested for so long.  But you are still beautiful despite that, and I know I never let you know this. 

To my legs, I especially owe you a debt of gratitude.  I’ve ridiculed you, called you stubby and unshapely…..you are strong and capable, please know that.  You’ve endured tremendous and strenuous daily beatings on the pavement.  I’ve demanded so much of you, and you’ve done nothing but give, give, give.  To my knees and shins, thanks for assisting my legs in all you do, and for no injuries in all of my countless miles I’ve run.  It’s because of you that I’ve been able to run in five races to date.  Not only did we run those races, we finished them, and continually increased both speed and endurance each and every time!  I’ve never thanked you enough.  But I’ll spend my lifetime trying to make-up for taking you for granted as I have.

To my teeny tiny breasts: Hey what can I say about that?  It really did stink that I couldn’t have at least been born a little more proportionate.  You can’t blame me for going under-the-knife a few years back.  I’m really much more satisfied now with the enhanced ‘me’.  But hey, it was great for you and me while it lasted. 

Looking forward to many years of health and happiness,

Yours,

Susan   

Amazing posts.  Brilliant Idea.

Dear Body,

You've been good to me, although I haven't kept up the same standard the whole time.  I give you the exercise you need, but I can also stuff you beyond belief.  I'm sure you don't appreciate feeling like a roley poley blimp! 

To my legs, you are awesome.  My dear calves, you won me admiration even when I was at my heaviest last year.  And my thighs...you devilish things.  So large you make me go crazy trying pants on...but at least you are large with muscle, albeit some of that muscle is covered by fat.  You move me to and from classes everyday, and you keep me mobile and make my life exciting.

To my waist: thank you for remaining relatively tiny and proportionate!  You like to stick out in the front a bit, but I appreciate the fact that you give me a nice frontal sillouette :)  As for my boobs, thank you for staying in place.  And thank you for providing a perfect handful.

To my arms: you're large.  you'll always be large.  But hey, you provide a mighty good bowling swing.  At least, like my legs, you're mostly muscle...and I thank you for occasionally letting the rest of the world know that too.

To my whole body: thank you for building muscle incredibly easily.  You suck for making me love peanut butter though; I suppose you'll have to continue fighting that one out with the brain.  Overall, you're pretty cool.  After all, I wouldn't be much without ya

Love.

Thanks for a great thread idea, phat_leah_kay!

It's been beautiful

Dear body,

I'm sorry you're such a lard butt. Maybe if you tried blocking the carbs once in a while, we wouldn't be sporting a pair of moobs. You know, they'd probably be pretty nice, if it weren't for all the hair.

And that baby latching on to my nipple at the water park wasn't funny, not in the least.

I'm warning you, if you don't start shaping up soon, I'm going to start the whackings, and I'm hell at whacking.

-Swoop

Dear body,

I am sorry I have tread you so badly.

Sorry for all the times I binged and purged.

Sorry for looking at the mirror and hating you, sorry for all those times I have compared you with others.

Thanks to you I can walk, dance, hug, make love and live.  Thanks to you I will become a mother one day. 

You are a great body.  You are healthy, strong and beautiful.  I' ve treated you so badly, but you are still here, allowing me to enjoy life. 

I will try not to let you down again.  I will stick to my diet, not because I want to be thin, but for you to be healthy.  I will workout so that you can be strong.  I will listen to you and eat whenever you are hungry; I will listen to you and indulge to the things you crave;  It is not your fault when I overeat...you get happy with just a little bite, it is me who can't stop. 

I hereby declare that from now on, I will never be hostile against you.

Lots of love,

Chrisavgi.

Dear Body,

When first I came into this world, we understood each other perfectly.  You asked for what you needed, I made a fuss, and you got it.

Somewhere in my youth, we started to speak slightly different languages.  You still asked for what you needed - but I didn't always understand you.  I fed you when you were tired; I starved you when you were hungry; I sat around when you wanted to move; I worked you hard when you needed rest; I kept you awake by artificial means when you just needed to sleep.  In time, I forgot the secret language that we shared by allowing outside influences to drown out our private conversations.

Well, a few months ago I picked up the "emergency" Berlitz body-speak course, and I can already tell that we are communicating better once again.  Just know that I am listening! When you're hungry, I'll eat.  When you're tired, I'll rest.  I'll keep you as active as you want to be, and build your muscles, bones and organs as strong as they should be.

I still misunderstand you sometimes ... but I think very soon we will no longer need a translator to get across even the most complex communications. 

I am recommitting to doing it your way, and I know, this time, it will be "until death do us part."

Much love

-Z

Dear Body,

   Let me start off by saying I am sorry for not respecting you more. I always give you a hard time and occassionaly deprive you of things you need, and most of the time I have overfed you with junk that you can not deal with. I am sorry. I am also sorry for not realizing all you are capable of and all you can do. I doubted you during my pregnancy, but we brought baby Cyrus into this world and you didn't even ask me to stop the pain. You dealt with the pain in order to allow me to be awake and "with it" for the arrival of my beautiful son. I am sorry I give you grief over the extra weight you have put on and the extra skin I just can't seem to get rid of. Thank you for staying strong through the years. Although we have spina bifida you have been strong and only once was I forced to bedrest, and even then it was my fault for pushing you too hard when you were hurt in highschool. I am trying to have a healthier lifestyle on order to make you strong and healthy again. I am sorry for depriving you of the exercise and healthy foods you want and need, but I am getting better. I am sorry that I try to force you into a mold you clearly were not made from. I am sorry for filling you with alcohol until you couldn't handle it anymore and shut down when I was in highschool. I am sorry for not letting you rest when you needed it, making you rest when you didn't want to, not feeding you when you wanted food and stuffing you full of junk when you were not hungry. Please forgive me, and come with me on this journey I am setting forth on to become a healthier, haopier, us. I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. -A peppermint tea toast to us-

Love, me, you, me...lol...you know who it is

Hey body,

I just want to let you know that i really appreciate everythng you allow me to do. It means the world to me, with out you i wouldn't exixt. So that's why i am here to say i"m sorry. I'm sorry for always being angry at you and saying horrible things about you. I'm sorry for constantly comparing you to other bodies and making you feel inadequate and ugly. I'm sorry for abusing you with binging and purging for years, i know it was bad for you and very un-healthy and i know i hurt you alot. I knew all along that you were telling me to stop and I'm sorry for never listening.

But now I'm listening. Im hearing everything you are telling me and I am making sure that I am taking better care of you because without you, there is no me. So thats my apology to you body, lets patch things up, maybe take a brisk romantic walk in the park? A heart healthy meal by candle light? Either way I'm glad you forgive me so lets get healthy together!

-Me