Written by Kelly Higgins
“I’m too fat”
“I’m too skinny”
“I’m not pretty enough”
“I’m not fit enough”
“I want muscles here”
“I want my butt to look like hers”
Sound familiar? You are not alone; in fact, Brown University’s Health Education website did a study on college students which reported “74.4% of the normal-weight women stated that they thought about their weight or appearance “all the time” or “frequently.” But the women weren’t alone; the study also found that 46% of the normal-weight men surveyed responded the same way.”
How often do you think about your weight/appearance throughout your day? I know for myself, I think about my weight and reaching my goals countless times throughout my day. I wake up thinking that I didn’t eat enough calories yesterday and promise myself I will eat more today. At night I go to bed disappointed that I didn’t eat enough calories as I promised myself I would and the cycle continues. (I’m actually one of the small percentages of woman that are struggling with weight gain. To those that are living with my battle, you know exactly how hard this is).
We spend way too much time focusing on what is wrong with our bodies and not enough time focusing on how beautiful we really are. You are so much more amazingly beautiful, sexy and hot than you give yourself credit for!!
Here are few tips that I can offer to help bring some self love into your lives:
Add positive self love into your goals!
I keep a record in my journal of reaching my ideal weight in order to track my progress. When I don’t make any progress or fall back a step, I become so frustrated with myself almost to the point where I want to give up. So, I decided to add an extra highly attainable goal to my daily routine; some self love!
Along with your goal to reach your ideal weight, maintaining the right calories and your exercise schedule, add an extra bonus in there to tell yourself “I am beautiful” EVERY time you look in the mirror throughout the day. Write it down right next your goal for your day, week or month. This daily positive affirmation will help you begin to see how beautiful you are right now!
Say “thank you” and truly appreciate compliments you receive!
When your loved ones give you a compliment, listen to them and appreciate it. They love you and are telling you the truth. I woke up this morning feeling so aggravated with that number on the scale. As I was getting dressed for work my boyfriend looked at me and said, “I think you are beautiful just the way you are”. My response was “Thank you, but I would be happier if I just could put on 10 or 15 more pounds”. I totally disregarded his genuine statement and blew it off because I was too concerned about the thoughts in my head. Later in the morning, I really thought about what he said and sent him a text message thanking him for telling me I was beautiful that morning and always. I also added in a hot compliment about him!!
When a loved one gives you a compliment, stop for a moment, and really think about it. This person is being genuine and coming from their heart when they say things to you. They most likely have heard about your struggles and have seen the progress you have been making with your goals. Appreciate and listen to their compliments, smile, say thank you and realize that others are noticing the beauty YOU are creating!
Reward yourself with some pampering!
You’ve reached your goal for the week of working out 4 times at the gym or at the yoga studio (I’m a yoga nut so at least 15 minutes a day of yoga is my goal!), go reward yourself. You totally deserve it. Go get a massage, a mani/pedi, or a facial. Maybe a nice long relaxing bath with soothing oils and a good book…(yummy). For the men out there, treat yourself to game of golf or do something that you enjoy to relax!
If you know a yummy relaxing reward is all yours at the end of the week or month, pushing yourself to that goal will be so much more attainable!
Loving yourself is sometimes harder than the actually goal of reaching your ideal weight or seeing results of the muscles you want. Throughout your day, every time a negative thought of your body comes into your mind, remind yourself how beautiful you are just the way you are right now; the shedding or gaining of those pounds will come in time!
YOGA.HEALING.LIFE 