What does it even mean to “Love Your Body” or Live a Body Positive Life? I used to wonder, and it took me YEARS of struggling with an eating disorder in my late teens & early twenties to figure it out.
As someone that chased an “ideal body” image, but carried around negative self talk, I can tell you that moving “beyond” that mindset is no easy task. It’s something that took me years to do, and STILL I unexpectedly get caught off guard by it when it creeps up.
However, the 7 Steps I share below helped me learn to appreciate the body I have, WHILE also being committed to view the work I put in as an act of love, not a punishment.
The behaviors & habits I now have allow me to keep discovering what real health looks and feels like for me in each chapter of my life.
Whether I’ve been pregnant, postpartum, or just dealing with the changes in my body and metabolism as I age, the changes I made internally have brought about the “external transformation” I had chased after for years.
These 7 ways of learning to LOVE your body & improve your health are what I use daily, and are also what I use as a coach to help hundreds of other women find their way to live a more body positive life.
“It is of practical value to learn to like and take care of yourself. Since you must spend so much time with yourself you might as well get some satisfaction out of the relationship.”
These are my 7 Tried and True Steps to L-O-V-I-N-G your Body & YOURSELF:
1. EAT like you LOVE YOUR BODY!!
It really does start with food. Our bodies are LIVING things and are capable of AMAZING things, and if you want to tap into all that amazingness you need to be fueling it with quality food! You wouldn’t put crap fuel into a luxury car and expect it to run at peak performance levels, same goes for your body. This doesn’t mean give up the occasional splurge.
I mean….Chocolate, Hello?!? ;), but as a standard of living you will feel LOADS better (energy, confidence, etc.) if you become mindful of how your body responds to certain foods and eliminate C.R.A.P. (carbonated beverages, refined sugars, artificial colors and flavors, and PROCESSED JUNK) . CHOOSE wisely what you put in your body. If you want to FEEL differently EAT differently. If you need a non-restrictive and LIVABLE plan where you eat REAL food let’s chat about my Mindful Nourishment Program.
2. Workout & MOVE like you LOVE YOUR BODY!!
I often hear “I need to workout because I hate or want to change my body”, but what has far more power is working out to show your body LOVE.
What we think and say has POWER, and if you endeavor to start a workout routine and exercise because you “hate” some part of you, then your efforts will assuredly be temporary.
Exercising is an incredible way to actively love on your body, because it’s an investment into your overall health.
EXPERIMENT with different ways that you like moving your body just to get started. It could be stretching, walking, running, yoga, or dance. Just do it with the intent to move like your LOVE your Body. Just knowing that you’re making an effort to use your body can make you feel 200% better about yourself.
If you want help finding a workout you enjoy doing or want to try some of my sample streaming workouts that you can try at home. Fill out my FREE Health Assessment and I’ll send you the link to try a weeks worth of workouts!!
Meditate & learn to THINK like you LOVE YOUR BODY!!
A healthy mindset is the MOST vital piece of your journey. I didn’t realize how much I was sabotaging myself, until I learned to observe the thoughts that were holding me back. To do this I had to learn to quiet the extra chatter and really hear my own thoughts. (Scary stuff, Ha!)
Because I’m such a “busy body”, meditation seemed so elusive to me at first. I fidgeted, made to-do lists in my head, got frustrated and easily distracted, but little by little using guided meditations like those on the Headspace App, I started noticing my thoughts, which allowed me to do something about changing them.
It’s wild to start to recognize what we habitually think to ourselves without even realizing it. Often it goes unnoticed until it manifests as depression, anxiety, or as a physical health scare.
“If your thinking is stinking then your ship is sinking”
I’ve learned to notice when negative self talk creeps in, and now take a time out to call it out. Sometimes I meditate, sometimes I tell my husband what ridiculous thought I had, but I GET IT OUT, clear my head, and gain a new perspective.
3. SURROUND yourself & fuel your mind with positivity:
“The mind is everything. What you think you become.”
If you reflect on that for a moment, you gain perspective on why it’s IMPERATIVE that we take extreme care what we feed our minds.
Being surrounded by negative people, reading and listening to the “News”, taking part in gossip, all zaps any chance you have at positive energy.
So, TURN OFF the news and negative banter. Instead listen to an uplifting podcast, read positive affirmations or a self love book before bed and for a few minutes during the day, or another form of Personal Development.
One of my favorites is You are a Badass by Jen Sincero. I love it so much I used it as a giveaway in my Love Your Body Challenge each February. The author also has a book, You Are a Badass EVERYDAY that is equally awesome. I have an entire Self Love Reading List linked HERE if you want to see some of my other recommendations.
Point is…. be mindful about what you allow into your BRAIN. There are so many incredible, uplifting, inspirational people in the world, audios to listen to, books to read. Open your ears, hearts, and minds to them and spend time each day to fuel yourself with abundance, light, love, and acceptance.
4. Try Tapping:
What the heck is that, you ask?!?! Tapping is an energetic healing technique, similar to acupuncture or acupressure in that it makes use of pressure points and meridians in the body to help clear emotional blockages. You can learn more about it, and how to do it HERE I know it might sound bizarre, but TRUST ME, IT WORKS!!!
It’s extremely therapeutic and something you can do for yourself anytime, anywhere. The best thing is once you’ve used it to clear out major issues and remove your bigger blocks, you can use it to keep tweaking and improving your quality of life, happiness, positivity and productivity. TRY IT and let me know how it goes!!!
5. Have PEOPLE IN YOUR CORNER that “get it”:
This was really big for me! When you struggle with confidence or have an eating disorder or body image issues, it can be VERY alienating. Not loving or believing in yourself can cause you to isolate yourself because of feeling ashamed.
Once I had people that I could open up to and share the intimate details of my struggles without judgement, the healing process began to take hold as a new lifestyle. Opening up, made it more real, and something I HAD to deal with.
I learned I wasn’t alone, and that if I really wanted it, change was possible. I leaned on and listened to those who had achieved what I was after.
Having someone share the tools that worked for them, guided you through, provided an uplifting word when you needed it was the key. We all need a helping hand sometimes, and someone to believe in us.
If you are looking for a supportive non-judgmental, health forward community to lean on CONNECT WITH ME and fill out my FREE HEALTH ASSESSMENT and we can chat about joining my Virtual Wellness Studio
6. STOP QUITTING on Yourself!
One of the best ways to boost your confidence is to STOP QUITTING ON YOURSELF. I used to be the queen of going into things with the BEST of intentions, doing great for a few weeks or a few months, but the eventually I’d revert back to my more “comfortable” ways.
Can you relate to that? When I changed my motivation for wanting to be healthy and really take care of myself eating healthy, working out, self care was something I LOOKED FORWARD to, and the more consistently I did it the more confidence I built.
This video on the Cycle of Success is AMAZING at depicting why taking action, keeping promises to yourself, setting goals, and seeing things through gives us the “juice” we need to transform ourselves and our lives. I also LOVE this one about How to Become More Disciplined
7. PAMPER Yourself
When your body FEELS good it’s easier to love it!
So Love your body by taking hot baths, get a massage, a pedicure, take a walk/hike in nature taking deep breaths, snuggle with your loved ones, a big hug from a friend, take time to slow down and enjoy making love to your spouse.
Learn what really FEELS good to you? Take time to DO more of that! Your body will respond to the LOVE you are giving it.
Above all, please remember….. There is no “perfect size”, “perfect body”, “perfect health”.
What is perfect to you may not be the same for someone else, and societies standards are JACKED!!!
I am a coach because I love helping people embrace and take ownership of THEIR health, fitness, confidence, and lives.
I specialize in transformations of the Body AND Mind, and love sharing how what was once a huge struggle of mine, is now a way that I can relate and understand others that are going through what I did, and help them bring their struggle to an end.
February is my Love Your Body Challenge Month and I’d love to have you join us on your wellness journey. If you’re interested in the support I provide and would like to learn more CLICK HERE.