“Lauren, I read all your stuff but I’m still scared of gaining weight.”
Letting go of putting our self-worth into what our body looks like is HARD. There’s no way around that and there’s no quick and easy fix. The long-term solution is a whole lot of mindset work and introspection and rewiring ourselves to think differently which can take a lot of time. That being said there are a few things you can start doing NOW to get yourself on the road to loving and appreciating your body ASAP even if you feel like there’s nothing to love about it in the first place.
1. Focus on what your body can do. One of the single most important mindset shifts we can make is beginning to focus on what our body can do as opposed to how it looks. What I want you to do is set a timer for 3 minutes and just write down everything your body does for you on a daily basis. It can be anything from breathing to running to having a baby to recovering from illness. Don’t think, just write. When you’re done, you’ll have a huge list of all things to be thankful to your body for. Keep this list somewhere that you can grab it when you’re having an “I hate my thighs” moment to squash those thoughts immediately
2. Unfollow people on social media and unsubscribe from the magazines. We seem to forget that for models and celebrities, their bodies are their job. The vast majority of these women diet down for their photoshoot, have perfect lighting set up, a have hair and makeup team making them look flawless and not to mention Photoshop! We are constantly exposed to these unrealistic images and they only intensify our sense of dissatisfaction with our bodies. I want to urge you to unfollow/unsubscribe from anything that makes you feel bad about your body. Scroll through your Facebook and Instagram feeds and your emails and unsubscribe from anything that makes you feel less than or unhappy with yourself. It’s not worth your time and energy.
3. Show your body some TLC even if you don’t love it yet. It can be tough to put full effort into something we aren’t loving and passionate about. For example, let’s say you don’t love your job. Wouldn’t it be tough to go in and give 100% every day when you’re not passionate about the work? Of course it would. And the same goes for our body. The worse we feel about our body the less likely we are to treat it with the care it needs. We could totally neglect nutritious foods and exercise OR we could overdo it and run ourselves into the ground. So even if you feel like you hate the way your body looks, what can you do to show it a little TLC? Take some action. Move your body, eat a vegetable, drink some water, breathe deep for 2 minutes, do anything that helps you feel empowered. strong and capable.
4. Write a mantra down and read it every day, several times a day. Something like “I am strong. I am beautiful. I am enough” is simple but extremely powerful. Even if you don’t believe it yet, tell yourself anyway and suddenly you’ll wake up one day like “Woah! I really am strong, beautiful and enough!” Sounds woo-woo, I know, but it’s true. Think about it…we aren’t born hating our bodies, we are conditioned that way. Our first 5 or 6 years we just used our body to grow and run and play. We start believing that we aren’t good enough once we get exposed to media and diets. So in the same way we can be convinced we aren’t good enough, we can convince ourselves of the opposite. Mantras are a great way to begin. You can carry it around in your wallet, put it on the background of your phone, keep it in your notes app, whatever works. Again, you don’t have to believe it right away and you probably won’t! But the more you tell yourself that you’re good just as you are and you love your body for everything it is now, you’ll really start to believe it.
Beginning on February 12 I am running a FREE Mindset Reset Challenge. Within this challenge you are going to get 5 days of all my best info to help you get your mind right around food and your body and start showing it a little TLC plus 5 free workouts. Check out the 5-day Mindset Reset Challenge by clicking HERE and grab your free spot!