How would we feel if we let love and growth drive change rather than fear and negative self talk?

Often fear holds us back but when it comes to weight loss. We hear time and time again from members, friends, and even ourselves that we want to change because we are unhappy with our bodies, that we do not love our bodies, and if we could only look a certain way, lose a certain amount of weight that we would be happy. We convince ourselves that criticism causes change rather than choosing to invest in ourselves every step of the way.

We treat moments where we stumble or slip up as reminders that ‘we can’t’, we are not enough, and we are not worthy of our goals.

But, what if we looked at these days, weekends, weeks as opportunities to learn and to grow- rather than feel scared to try for the risk of failure.

Trying to drive change from a place of negativity will drain you. Not only is it a gloomy vacuum for your energy, but it makes each day a fight with yourself.

There is no fault in wanting to grow, challenge our bodies and to continually be the best version of ourselves but when we find a way to change the approach, this change is where the real transformation happens. When we find joy in where we are, right now in our journey and choose to approach our efforts in a way that is rooted in self-love, our physical change will only be a fraction of what we gain.

It’s not easy to mute the tape that takes inventory of our flaws, our own voices, the hurtful things that have been said to us in the past, or the idea that only certain bodies are ‘right’.

We challenge you to flip the script for yourself. The next time you feel the urge to speak negatively about your body, or have a bad day and feel like you need to punish yourself for your perceived failure- take a step back and approach the situation with kindness. Think about how you would speak if the person was a friend.

“My legs are too big and I can’t fit into anything”

Vs.

“My legs are muscular from training hard in the gym- they are powerful. Some clothes may not fit them because most clothes are designed for a specific body type. That does not make my body wrong.”

“I ate too much over the weekend, I have no self control and I am never going to make progress”

Vs.

“I made some choices that did not align with my current goals but I now have a better understanding of how I might approach that in the future. It’s my responsibility to use this as a learning opportunity and I know I can work on this”

“If I lose 20 lbs I’ll finally be able to feel comfortable with myself”

Vs.

“One of my goals is to lose some body fat and I’m making positive changes to my habits in order to work towards that. I’m proud that I’m taking steps towards achieving this.”

Proclaiming self love in the face of a world that tells us that we are not enough is a brave thing to do, but the more often we practice these kind words the easier it is for us to truly believe them. We’ve spent years, perhaps decades enforcing these negative thoughts so they won’t vanish overnight but now is as good of a time as any to commit to making friends with our body.