“What’s wrong with my body?”

 

Mindset.

This is one of the most important tools when it comes to accomplishing our goals and taking care of ourself.

“Mindset. It’s the driver of our choices and is responsible for our progress and lack of progress. Every decision we make is coming from our state of mind in that moment, whether it be a positive or negative state of mind. ” -Elizabeth Benton

(true) Story: A women lost 50 Ibs! However, she was still not feeling comfortable to go to the beach and wear a swimming suit. She said, “I want to be able to walk on the beach with confidence and feel positive.”

My purpose in this blog is to explain how this has nothing to do with weight loss and everything to do with the WAY you’re viewing your body. Your mindset.

Some things are bianary. They’re either black or white. One of the things that are bianary is the way we think about our bodies. You either come from a place of..

1) Seeing what is wrong with your body

2) Seeing what is RIGHT with your body.

When someone says, “I can’t wear a swimming suit because of my thighs.” or “I can’t dress cute because I’m gaining to much weight.” Your mind is coming from a place of “what is wrong with my body.” 

TRUTH: You could lose as much weight as you want, but still be unhappy with the way you look.

Why?

Because your mindset is still a mindset of “what is wrong with my body.” Your mindset is negative. Your mindset is still in a comparing state of mind.

This isn’t a “body love” or “love and accept yourself” message. Improvement is always good. We should always be striving for improvement of course- BUT with the right motive.

Get rid of the stubborn perspective of, “I just need to lose 10 pounds. Then I’ll be happy.”

Reason being, is that isn’t really what you need. If you REALLY NEEDED to lose 10 Ib, if it was a matter of life or death. You could and would do it in heart beat. Anyone could.

So why are so many of us still, “trying to lose weight?”

1)We don’t really know what we want, and why.

2)We aren’t bringing our attention enough to it.

What did I want?

I wanted to stop worrying about, “needing to be fit. ” However, I thought the only way to improve my physical appearance, was to 1) workout 2) eat healthy.

Wrong.

My favorite quote from General Conference Spring 2017 was, “Spritual, mental, and physcial health have much in common.” This STRUCK me. I now live by this daily.

I imagine a triangle. Picture in your a head a triangle. One corner is spiritual, one corner mental, and another corner physical. In order to keep this triangle a perfect triangle, we must balance all 3 corners. If my focus is only on my physcial health, my triangle is going to look obtuse. Our goal in life is to get our triangle equilateral.

That was my answer.  I needed to stop putting so much focus and emphasis on my fitness, and physical health. As I did this, I found that naturally my body was getting fit.

Focus more on your over all life and wellbeing, and less on your weight and your appearance.

 

There are women who are a size 0 and a size 2 who are just as self concious of their bodies as women who are a size 12 or size 18. Having confidence in our bodies, is a state of mind, not a state of body.

It’s summer time. Pool parties, shorts, short sleeves, tank tops, swimming suits etc.. are on the rise! Ha ha. Don’t let your, “what’s wrong with my body” state of mind stop you from focusing on life. Literally start telling yourself out loud all the things that your body CAN do. Bring energy and positivity into your life. Train your brain.

“You can see, walk, smell, eat, breathe, hear…”

When you get your mind right, it will naturally improve your choices.

When the choice comes, “Should I eat this or should I not?” “Should I work out today, or should I not?” You will grab the apple happily over the donut when your mind is right. You might not like sugar anymore (see previous blog.) You will crave exercise, and get excited about the gym. All this happens when your mind is right. 

What do you really want and why?

If it’s to lose weight, you’ll never get what your really want. Because with this state of mind,  you will forever be trying to lose weight. If you want confidence, and to be happier and feel healthier. Try honing in on your spiritual, and mental health a little bit more. When you focus on this, you’ll find improvement with another corner of the triangle.

Stop the voices of, “What’s wrong with my body. I look fat. I look ugly. I need to change to feel happy. I’ll be happy when I lose weight.”

Focus on, “What’s right with my body. Look what I can do. I want to lift weights because that’s so awesome that I can. Wow I have muscles now. I am beautiful. Keep going. I feel great. Look at my blessings. I am so grateful.” Improvement comes in this state of mind. I promise.

It’s all about that state of mind. The size of your body isn’t inhibiting what you want, it’s your mindset.

Ask yourself, “How can I make myself feel good today?” Train you mind to focus on today, on the next 30 minutes, on the NOW.

Whether it be in meditation, prayer, or journaling. Find a place to focus on how you want to feel today. (Spiritual health)

Focus on what you want, fix your mindset, and your choices will follow your needs.

Focus on life, less on food and weight.

No, You Don’t Need To “Lose Weight” To “Be Healthy.”

HI y’all! WOW it sure has been a while since I have been on here! A lot has been going on lately, and I’m finally having time to sit and write. School, moving, finals, packing, family time, more moving, car issues, more moving, new jobs, etc. has been on the agenda as of late. However, I am happy to say that we are finally settled for the summer!

And yes, my Intuitive Eating journey continues.

Finding peace with food has been something that I can honestly say has changed my life. Interesting, huh? Who knew.

Intuitive Eating helped me realize a problem that I didn’t even know that I had before. It was a puzzle peice I needed in my life, that I didn’t even know what missing.

There is so much I can write on Intutive Eating, but I constantly am reminding myself, as I blog to keep things S I M P L E. Because that’s really what Intuitive Eating is all about. The more I get into it, the more I realize how simple it is.

Take a step back. Go back to the basics. The basics of basic.

Lately I have taken a new approach on eating. My diet (as in what I’m eating daily) has consisted of REAL food. Organic when possible. I don’t eat out. And I can not remember the last time I had sugar. (jk- Halo top ice cream FTW on Friday) Strawberries, blueberries, zucchini, sweet-potatos, mangoes, greek yogurt, eggs, avocado, honey… etc. Point is- I really haven’t had much of an “urgency” or “craving” when it comes to anything processed.

Think- fresh produce section of Walmart. My life yo.

However- the question popped into my head the other day. How did I get to the point of me craving  veggies?  How did I get to the point of wanting to eat real food? How is it that I don’t like the candy bars and sweets that I used too anymore? This isn’t part of Intuitive Eating last time I checked?

Then it dawned on me. I am simply doing it because I want to.

Through Intuitive Eating, I have been able to go back to basics. It has been a long journey! Almost 10 months now, and I have finally reached Step 10- Honor Health. Literally, when I realized this I said, “WOAH!” out loud. Because I’m amazed. My journey, really and truly worked. I made it to the last step! It really works.

However lets take it back to Step 1. I have accomplished step 1: “Rejecting the Dieting Mentality.” This includes, cutting off any outside voices from the media, friends, and family. I have ignored the phrases such as, “you should be doing this because…….” or “this is the best way to eat because……” or “this is what works because……”

One of my favorite quotes,

“It is not ethical to help someone into dieting. No matter the cause.” Evelyn Tribole.

I believe this whole heartedly now. Dieting messes with your mind. It’s as simple as that. It just does.

Through years and years of “trying” to be healthy, I realized that being healthy isn’t a “future event.”

You see, I don’t need to lose the 5 Ibs. I gained this weekend in Mexican food to be healthy. And you dont need to lose your “pregnancy baby weight” —-> to be healthy. You also dont need to lose 50 Ibs. to be healthy. AND you certainly dont need to go on a diet to be healthy. No, you don’t need to lose weight to be healthy. Being healthy is right now.

I believe, our mindset has become so distorted in this way because of the Media. The Dieting Industry wants us to believe that NONE of us are ever there. None of us “are” (present tense) healthy. The Media would like us to believe that NONE of us are good enough right now. Our teeth need to be whiter, our skin isn’t glowy enough, cellulite is bad and you definitely have too much, you’re a normal human aging, but nope you have too many wrinkles, we have too much fat in a certain areas better ‘zap’ that away, our thighs are too big.. etc.

The thing is, I can be healthy today, in this moment, right now.

I can be healthy tomorrow.  I don’t need to wait until “Monday” to be healthy. And I certainly dont need to lose weight to be healthy. You see, when we decide to be healthy now, all of that will come naturally. When you make the decision, everyday “to be healthy today” because you want health today… You find that your health actually improves with the mindset of “now.”

(Sorry if I’m totally confusing you.)

For example, what if someone told you – “all you need to do, is add a salad to you dinner tonight, and BAM you will lose 30 Ibs.” I’m pretty sure everyone would be doing this! Why? Because it’s a short-term mindset. It’s making you think, “you’ll have health tomorrow.” It’s doable. It’s realistic….

The truth is, if you add a salad to you dinner tonight, you probably wont loose 30 Ibs. (I’m sorry) However you just made a change to become a more healthier you. You are being healthy now.

Make sense?

I hope so!

I TESTIFY Y’ALL- Going on a diet wont help you reach your health goal. Maybe it will. But remember for almost 97% of people it doesn’t. Reason being, health is so much more than just food, restrictions, weight, and numbers.

Health is all encompassing. Spiritual. Mental. Physical. 

I believe my loss of appetite for processed foods, and my cravings for vegetables and REAL whole foods, comes from a craving to be healthy right now for me. Not for a big event coming up, and not to look like “her”, and not to one day “be healthy”, but for me right now. 

Remember: although I have gone through the steps and made it to number 10 on Intuitive Eating. DOES NOT mean I am finally healthy. It’s an easy, and daily choice I make everyday. 

Love you guys so much! Thanks for all the feedback! Hope you all have an amazing second week of June 2017! Happy Summer y’all!