Honor Your Body
One of the hardest things to do when working towards new goals can be learning how to speak to yourself lovingly.
Remember; the biggest problem often isn’t your body itself; it’s what you think of your body.
We tend to believe having the “perfect” body is the solution to all of our problems.
Speaking from experience, this is not true. But when all you see on social media are highlight reels of women with very slim, toned bodies looking happy and healthy, it can be very deceiving and easily lead us down toxic and vicious cycles.
What if this time, the deep appreciation for yourself and your body, was the driving force and fuel to get you results in your health and fitness goals instead of hatred and negative self-talk?
Here are 6 tips on how to re-wire your brain so that you can finally start your health and fitness journey from a place of honoring your body through self-love and appreciation.
Tip #1: Forgive Yourself
We all make mistakes, but learning to forgive yourself is crucial for your mental health and well-being.
Forgiving yourself doesn’t mean you’re weak or letting yourself off the hook.
Instead, it means you’ve accepted the behavior or accepted what has happened, and you are willing to move forward.
The first step in taking action after you have forgiven yourself is to create and establish positive habits and reinforcement into your lifestyle .
Instead of punishing your body with less food and exercising more because you “slipped up” on your eating plan.
Why not try focusing on fueling your body correctly with the proper nutrients it needs to feel satisfied and look at movement as the “opportunity” to honor your body.
Simple changes in how and why you do things is where the real magic happens.
Research shows that you’ll experience lower depression and anxiety levels when you’re able to forgive yourself.
It leads to self-compassion, which connects to higher levels of focus, productivity, and concentration leading to success long-term!
So take some time to ask yourself what areas of your life that is un-forgiveness and take the steps necessary to forgive yourself for those things.
Tip #2: Protect Your Self-Worth
Sometimes, we undermine our self-worth without realizing it; however, we can protect it further without letting it get destroyed by others.
Here are 3 habits you can do to grow your self-worth.
One of the first steps to honoring your body is learning how to respect it.
First, in order to respect your body, you have to recognize your needs and values. When you learn to meet them, you’ll naturally create boundaries, and people will respect you for that, too.
Second, it is vital for you not to try and be like everyone else (e.g., comparing yourself to others).
When you do that, you are only cheating yourself. Remember that you will live happily and harmoniously in your own skin when you learn to love and accept yourself!
Be keen on the things you say to yourself.
Although self-criticism is not entirely wrong, it is something you’ll want to be mindful of when it comes to self-talk because it can quickly become very unhealthy.
Negative self-criticism and self-talk will hinder you from making progress.
The more you are aware of it, the easier it will be to stop you from it.
Lastly, quit relying on external validation or approval!
Instead of striving to meet others’ standards and expectations, learn to create your expectations for how you want to live and be, and be firm with them.
At the end of the day, if you lived true to who you are and want to be, that is the only thing that should matter.
Tip #3: Learn to Love Dressing Your Body
Stop waiting until you’re 5, 10, 15, 20 pounds lighter to wear clothes that fit you.
Instead, try finding clothes that fit and celebrate your body right where it is at and watch at how much more confident you’ll become!
It can be very discouraging to open your closet only to find the clothes that you wore 2, 4, 6 years ago staring back at you.
It can easily trigger you to compare where you are now to where you were then.
But the fact of the reality is, our life is ever evolving and changing, so our wardrobe should be too.
Stop holding on to clothes that you “hope to fit into again.”
It doesn’t do any good for your mental health and can easily trigger you into making yourself guilty about where you’re at, which won’t serve you or your new health and fitness goals.
Here’s a challenge to you: go through your closet and clean out all of the clothes no longer serve you and only allow clothes into your wardrobe that accentuate the body that you are building and make you feel good in!
When you stop dreading trying on jeans that you know are 5 sizes too small and instead find clothes that celebrate and fit your current body, you will are more likely to feel motivated and optimistic about your goals.
The secret to success towards your future health and fitness goals is learning to appreciate and embrace the now!
Tip #4: Embrace Your Discomfort
Whenever you start something new, you will often find yourself feeling uncomfortable.
This response is normal because our minds and bodies are always trying to create some sort of homeostasis (aka comfort zone) to ensure that we stay alive.
To break this pattern, you have to consistently remind your mind and body that outside your comfort zone is where the growth happens.
John Assaraf said it best: “A comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing ever grows there.”
It is not about if but when you feel discomfort along this journey towards your health and fitness goals.
Instead of fearing or dreading it, learn to embrace the discomfort that you are feeling.
Choosing to honor your body with movement instead of lying on the couch all day will feel uncomfortable some days.
Choosing to eat nutrient-dense food that nourishes your body is going to feel uncomfortable some days.
Choosing to remind yourself that you are worthy and beautiful right where you are, but striving to pursue your goals because you love yourself that much is going to feel uncomfortable some days.
Remember this: the key to success is embracing the discomfort and doing it anyways.
On the days that you don’t feel like doing it, remind yourself that staying in your comfort zone will not get you to your goals.
Tip #5: Avoid Micromanaging Your Progress
Keeping track of your progress is excellent, but it can quickly turn into an unhealthy obsession that can hinder you from reaching your goals.
This behavior will subconsciously tell your mind to focus on every negative detail, which will lead to constant unhappiness and dissatisfaction.
Keeping track of your progress is something good that can inherently turn bad very quickly if not properly managed.
There are so many ways to monitor your progress.
Stop thinking that the weight scale is the only way to measure your progress because it is not; the scale can be very misleading.
If the scale triggers you to feel frustrated, defeated, you need to throw it out.
A few ways to monitor your progress are; how much energy you have, how you’re feeling mentally, how you’re feeling physically, progress photos, body measurements, how your workouts are feeling, etc.
The key is to find different ways to monitor your progress, along with a reasonable timeframe in which you measure these things that make you feel good, motivated, and remind you to keep going.
Just like Rome is not built in a day. Your goals are not going to be achieved in a day, either. Lasting progress takes time.
Instead of checking in daily, try to document weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly to help you see progress in a more realistic manner.
Tip #6: Learn To Prioritize Yourself (and not feel guilty about it)
For us to be our best, we have first to become our best.
Often though, "becoming our best” makes us feel guilty for prioritizing ourselves.
You want to be a better wife, mom, co-worker, sister, or whatever the roles you play in your day-to-day, right?
If you said yes, you have to remember that you cannot pour from an empty cup.
It’s time that you learn to stop feeling guilty for prioritizing yourself.
You are worthy of feeling good!
If you perpetually feel rundown, tired, stressed, overwhelmed and that you can’t get everything done that you’d like or show up as the best version of yourself, you have to remember this:
It would be best if you always weren’t bending over backward for others’ well-being without taking care of yourself.
You are just as important as them because they NEED you in your best version of yourself.
You deserve to bend over backward for your well-being; it’s not selfish.
You are worthy of feeling energized; you are worthy of feeling happy and worthy of feeling your best.
If you’re continually sacrificing everything that makes you feel your best, it’s time you start standing up for yourself.
This means:
Allow things to get down AFTER you serve yourself first.
Do something for yourself as much, if not MORE, than you do for others.
Start saying NO to all the things that don’t make you feel good.
Do ALL these things without hesitation, guilt, and regret.
If you don’t learn to prioritize yourself, it will eventually catch up to you.
You will get 1, 2, 10, or 20 years down the road and not be able to serve those people or do those things you love so much because you prolonged YOUR health and well-being.
Remember this: prioritizing yourself to become the best possible version of yourself to serve others in your best capacity is NOT selfish.
Bonus Tip: Move, Not Out Of Obligation But As A Celebration
When you look at movement only burn calories, lose weight, or change your body composition, you’re only looking at it as a way to change your body (aka telling yourself that it’s not good enough).
What if, instead of looking at movement as an obligation. You looked at it as an opportunity to celebrate all that your body IS instead of punishing it for all that it is not?
This simple mindset shift will fundamentally change how you look at movement and how to speak to yourself.
Movement is a blessing. If you’re reading this, that means you have air in your lungs, and you are receiving the gift of TODAY.
Tomorrow, next week, or next month is not guaranteed.
Stop wasting that precious gift by guilting yourself into moving to change everything you are not.
Instead, try reminding yourself that:
You are worthy of moving your body.
When you move your body, you can change your mind.
Moving your body is a blessing, and by moving it, you are honoring it.
When you look at movement as an opportunity to consistently SHOW UP for yourself, the opportunity for growth and improvement is endless!
xx,
Julie
