Controversial Opinion: Moving To Israel Is The New Ozempic

First things first: you look good at any size.

Now that that's out of the way, let's dive into the weird side effect moving to a country at war has on your body.

When I came to Israel, I weighed around 62 kilos. Which is perfectly healthy, by the way. I looked cute, in a Rennaissance painting kind of way.

I wore bikini bottoms with full 🍑 coverage, and a sky-high waist. Which practically made me look and feel like an Orthodox woman at every beach in Tel Aviv.

And though I didn't have any real issues with my body at the time, I did start to feel a familiar pang of insecurity come over me that every formerly-anorexic girl knows. "Was I rejected or ignored by that (very average-looking) guy because I'm too big?"

Yes, I was a 27-year-old woman who was supposed to know that her worth isn't defined by her appearance. But, being in a country that seemingly has no clue that anything other than the 90's heroin-chic trend has ever been "in" has a way of getting to you.

I looked back at my travel diary today (basically a google doc titled "my thoughts" - how original), and felt so bad for 27-year-old me. I wrote a lot about how insecure I felt in my body.

Fast forward to: today.

After a year of living in Israel, I have lost more than 10 kilos.

I don't know what to call it. A transformation? The side effects of constant, crippling stress? A diet of war, long days at the beach, and nights where I drink instead of eat, because you can't do both when you live in such an expensive city?

Whatever it is, it has completely changed my life.

In a way that makes me both sad, and exhilarated.

The only way I could describe is this: I'm like that nerdy girl in a Disney movie, who takes off her glasses and suddenly becomes hot.

I get approached a lot. I get compliments. People see me, like, really SEE me. And it's all because I'm smaller.

I call it, ✨Nature's Ozempic. ✨

Side effects include:

1. Guys chasing after you on the Tayelet because they desperately want to know "where you from?"

2. Your Israeli family complimenting you on your bony shoulder blades

3. A feeling of constant fear that you will one day gain all the weight back...

4. The question that pops up in your head, in the middle of the night: "Do I love myself now?"

I'm still in the middle of my confusing body transformation. I'm still figuring out how I really feel about it. How to look back at old photos of myself, and not cringe. How to look at myself today, and not see my body as something that dictates my worth.

If you can relate, I'm here for you. ♥