Love Your Body

 

At some points in my life I began to hate my body.  I am not to sure when it happened, as it was rather inconspicuous.  I just started to compare my body to others.  And my body was never good enough.  I just did not compare to those women with their "perfect" bodies.  I was always mentally beating myself up.  I kept on telling myself I was fat and that I would never lose enough weight.  I would go on crash diets, and exercise obsessively to the point of exhaustion.  I was developing all these injuries due to over exercising.  I was on a crash course towards disaster

I was always tired, and I would have tremendous sugar crashes.  And all these negative feelings just added to my low energy level. Then I became pregnant and I realized that I would soon not only be responsible for my health but for the health of my unborn child.  I realized I needed to take care of myself.    So I developed a new attitude towards my diet and body image.

Here are some of the steps I followed to feel better about myself:

1. I focused on my health 

I tried to stop focusing on external appearance and obtaining an ideal body.  Instead I tried to focus on what I needed to make myself health.  I started to feed my body with nourishing foods so I started to feel physically better.   I started to exercise to relieve my stress, to release endorphins, to fight anxiety, and feel good.  I no longer exercise till exhaustion.

2. I treated myself the way I would treat a love one.

I stopped that internal tape with all those negative thoughts.  Our subconscious mind hears our self talk and reacts to it.  So I started to create internal thoughts that were loving, supportive, nurturing, and forgiving.

3.  I tried to stay positive and grateful.  

I learned to release those negative internal thoughts about my body and focus on the good that it brings me everyday.  I started to make lists of my accomplishments and my gratitude.   When I focused on what was going right in my life I was motivated to accomplish more.  I become my own greatest cheerleader

4. I learned to love myself.

This may sound so simple, but this is often hard to do.  It is only after you learn to love your self that you can love someone else.