Day 181: Exposed!
This morning when you looked in the mirror what were the thoughts running through your mind? Did you look yourself up and down and shake your head in disgust, or did you have a feeling of approval and pride. Hopefully it was the latter! I’ll be the first to admit that I want to lose some weight. I’m not totally pleased with my body, but the truth is that our bodies are miraculous. They do so many amazing things for us and I wanted to use this blog to voice my gratitude and appreciation for my body.
My eyes were opened after discovering the Exposed Movement that started at Eating Journey. I found an exposed blog post from another blogger (MrsFatAss, check her site out) at MizFitOnline. After some deliberation and a little convincing from Mary at A Merry Life and MrsFatAss from Did I Just Eat That Out Loud, I decided that it was time for me to expose. Today is the day that I show the world why I love my body as it is, not as it may someday be. Recognizing the positive things about my body today will improve my perception of myself and will give me more confidence to succeed in every aspect of my life.
Take a few minutes to watch the video (I don’t think you’ll be disappointed), and check out my photo below. After you’re done with this blog post please leave something about your body that you love in the comments area. I’m going to make sure I reply to EVERY comment on this thread so rest assured your comment won’t go unnoticed. Have an awesome day and give your body a great big hug, it deserves it!
Click Me for High Res Image
There are no words for how impressed I am by you.
your spirit
your humor
your tenacity
the path you are creating for yourself
and (waitforit) your balls (I mean chutzpah. gumption.)
I tried to NO AVAIL to get my husband to EXPOSE and many many other male bloggers too.
They declined.
you
rock.
Carla
Thank you thank you thank you. The whole time I was creating the video and photoshopping I was feeling pretty brave. Then I hit the publish button and my heart kind of dropped. I NEVER get anxious about stuff like this but I was anxious! Your comment makes me feel good about doing it
As for the chutzpah, I seem to be more brave behind a keyboard!
Wow. I am LOVING your self-love vibe. You’ve got balls, literally AND figuratively. This post is important and I am soooo glad you took my request seriously. Good work.
I’m gonna go love on myself now. *wink* AND I’m gonna retweet this post ALL DAY.
In my opinion building self confidence (without being cocky of course) is one of the key elements of being successful in anything. If we don’t love ourselves we’ll never be self confident. Thanks for the support and the Retweet love!
1. Thank you….
2. I am pissed we don’t get to talk about the big black bar…jk
3. You made me say thank you
4. I am so proud of you
5. Your kids are very lucky
You rule my world. You are such an inspiration.
~M
Thanks for the compliments, I sincerely appreciate it. I didn’t get nervous at all until it was actually out there. The comments help suppress some of the fears. As far as my kids are concerned, I am the lucky one. Thanks for starting this and inspiring people to improve their perception of themselves!
Rock on man!!
This is awesome, and fun the way you presented yourself!
Be brave (you ARE!!)!
Thanks for the good words, it means a lot! I’m going to keep rocking until I can’t rock anymore!
ohh and….
I am happy that I am 100lbs thinner. That I ran an impromtu 10km tonight cause I got lost. That I am still alive after health scares. That my body has never betrayed me when I have betrayed it.
Well said, what great things to be grateful for! You’re the best!
[...] @ No More Bacon ‘exposed himself’ and included an awesome video. It inspired me to thank my body. To take a picture to remember this [...]
ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!!!! Ryan….I LOVE YOU MORE AND MORE EACH DAY!!! You WALK THE WALK!!! You are so a HANDSOME INSPIRATION!!!! Well Done, My Friend!!! I, too, Will be Retweeting this post all day!!! BTW…my 1 thing that I Love My Hands…They help me take care of others…giving caring touches…and they’re cute too!!! *giggles*
Love Ya Lots!!
Monique
I admire the service you give to other people, it’s such an example for all of us. Thanks for passing the word along! Without those cute hands how could you keep typing on that BlackBerry? That would be said indeed! Thanks for the great comment!
Thats so awesome. I’m glad you decided to do it!
I’m glad I did too! It was seriously unnerving, but I did it. I’m glad you had a hand in pushing me over the edge
LOL you are hilarious and awesome! What a great reminder to make us stop and appreciate what we have. All in all we have awesome bodies that do so much.
I am certain you will inspire others to do the exposed movement. Way to go Ryan!!!
I still do not quite understand how a big black bar contributes to reproduction but whatever.
I’m a total dork in the video. I get so nervous in front of the camera for some reason. I can literally give a presentation to 500 people and not break a sweat, when I am alone talking to my camera I get all flustered. Thanks for all your kind words today and in the past! As for the big black bar, I’ll tell you when you’re older
Welcome to the exposed club! LOVED your post!!
Here’s mine… http://ronisweigh.com/2009/10/why-do-you-love-your-body-ronis-exposed-post.html
That is sooo great! Just added you to my GReader! Do we get a badge or certificate for being in the club? Or do they just give us some clothes to put on?
I should get a badge for people…hurm
Or a free beverage might work
Ryan! Congratulations! I just found your link on Mish’s site, and clicked through to your story. Amazing. Inspiring. And so happy to see you exposing yourself at what is really the start of an amazing journey.
I look forward to following you on twitter!
And in case you are interested, here is my Exposed post:
http://blog.myfitnessyear.com/2010/01/07/thursday-thought-exposed.aspx
I’m definitely interested. I love to see other people doing this! Thanks for coming by. This is definitely going to be a fun awesome journey!
What an awesome post – you rock!!! I love your notes and how positive and fun you are about this!
Is there any other way? I love to laugh at myself and have fun with this. Heck, with the amount of time I put into this blog and the lack of money coming from it, I have to love doing it right? Thanks for the comment Jenn!
Awesome…awesome…awesome. I’m so proud to be part of the Exposed community!
Here was my post: http://sillytatertot.com/2009/12/27/exposed-journey-selfacceptance/
I love it! One of these days I’m going to be a triathlete. I don’t like running that much but I really like swimming and biking. I hope that by November I’m ready for a sprint Tri…WE WILL SEE!
Is there a secret handshake that I need to learn to be part of the exposed community?
Honestly Ryan I could listen to your advice all day! You are such a excellent webcaster!! Thanks for all the advice and keep up the video, you are hilarious! Thanks again,
Summer
Summer thanks for the awesome compliment! I’m still pretty new at this so I get kind of nervous in front of the camera for some reason, but I’m sure I’ll get better at it. As for the advice, I’m just glad all the thoughts in my brain have somewhere to go now. Thanks!
Way to go Ryan! I’m in awe! You are a braver man than me for sure.
Thanks Andrew, the whole exercise really made me appreciate myself more. You should try it some day
You are awesome. My favorite is “two beautiful sons”. Whenever I’m down about my weight, my health, whatever it is re-affirming to think about how successfully I’ve grown and delivered three gorgeous girls.
My kids are my life so I totally understand what you mean. How is it that I ended up with all boys and you got all girls?
I was lucky? (Just kidding!)
Being too busy not liking my body, I have never taken the time to thank it. So thank you for reminding me to do so! And thank you for being so brave!
so important. good on you ryan for inspiring us all to do this.
Ultimately the inspiration came from you…now a few more people know about and hopefully it will inspire them to do the same! It’s such a great concept!
Glad I could help. We all need reminders from time to time.
Never thought you would do something like this. The hard working, extremely focused personal training client. Turns into an exhibitionist. JK
The truth is I really think that this concept of being grateful for our bodies is essential to getting fit and staying fit. Our bodies are our vehicles in this life and the question is do we want a clunker or a sports car to get around in?
Thanks for this post. I think the Exposed movement is right on!!!
Exhibitionist? You haven’t seen exhibitionist yet buddy
Everything else you said is true!
You GO guy
Seriously though, I haven’t put myself out there graphically, but I have put stuff out there and then thought, “oh shit” and then the feedback was wonderful and I realized I did the right thing. All of it helps the global psyche
Yo Ryan. You are looking HOT. Way to be brave and post your nekkidness on the interwebs. That really takes guts. You are definitely inspiring people, including me. Just wanted to let you know I’ve hit my goal for the 100 day challenge, and am still dropping the lbs. (finally). My weight went up at first, since getting back into our house was delayed, but once we got settled back in i turned it up a notch. I’m back on track to losing the baby weight now – all because of the challenge. Thanks for helping me set that goal, and giving me the motivation I needed to get er done.
Kristen that’s awesome! I’m going to be sending out a mass mailer on Wednesday to get the final results of everyone’s goals, so you can expect that (and a fun prize for meeting the goal). I’m excited to find out how people did. Hopefully this post doesn’t have a negative impact when I run for President. We will see
This post is so great. I love the love and humor that you inject into this website. Its really great to come by here and see somebody so happy to be on this journey.
As far as my body I love that despite poor nutrition, high stress, and little sleep…I still turn heads in a skirt and heels. Wowza! Can’t wait to see what happens when I get back to my normal size.
Thanks for the comment Laura, I try to have fun with it. Hope you come back again soon!
Just found you through @MrsFatAss and though I’m a bit late to the party, I wanted to welcome you to the Exposed community. This is a brave, awesome post.
I get the fear you felt after publishing it – I felt the same way, but the whole process opened my eyes to how amazing our bodies are and how we take so much for granted.
My Exposed post is here: http://stayingoncourse.wordpress.com/2009/12/13/exposed-bearing-all-for-better-body-image/
[...] Sullivan of NoMoreBacon.com wrote a blog post not long ago called “Exposed.” “This morning when you looked in the mirror,” he asked, “what were the thoughts running [...]
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