Yourself

WORK OUT BECAUSE YOU LOVE YOURSELF

NOT BECAUSE YOU HATE YOURSELF

By Suzanne Purton

I saw this statement recently which really made me think, this is exactly the opposite of why many people come to me for fitness sessions and nutritional advice.

Most people’s goals are to lose weight … they look at themselves in the mirror and they don’t like what they see. They take all the necessary steps to change this image in the form of punishing workouts in the gym and restrictive eating regimes. However, this method of change can only last so long until a point comes that the punishment is too much to bear, they get sick of looking at their body and hating it, the willpower fades and they fall off the wagon and binge on all their favourite foods and stop all the exercising.

And after doing this for a while, one day they find themselves staring at the mirror and once again hating the body they see before them, so back on that cycle, starting at the beginning again, and making those drastic, punishing changes which are not sustainable.

So how about we change the scenario, and they looked at their body and said to themselves, “I love this body that I am in, but I feel that I could tidy it up a bit, I could nourish it from the inside out and

look after this body in a calmer and more sustainable way”.

The decisions that they would make would be very different. Rather than the punishing gym workouts, pushing on days when really a lighter load would have been a better decision due to tiredness or possibly a stressful day, the choice of a walk out in the fresh air, surrounded by nature, would be the more appropriate workout for that particular day. And they would still feel fulfilled knowing that they had exercised their body but in a way that made them feel much happier.

Hating what we see can be a big motivator to make changes to our fitness and eating regimes. But wouldn’t it be a much nicer approach to learn to love ourselves, and because we love ourselves, make healthy changes, one small goal at a time. Changes that we can adhere to rather than changes we are always chasing and feeling exhausted and a failure when we don’t achieve them.

Remember fitness sessions can be in the form of any exercise that you enjoy, it doesn’t have to always mean going to the gym or taking part in a fitness class. Learn to love this lifestyle and you might just find that the motivation will always be there.

Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t feel like training and you miss a gym session, maybe that was the best thing for your body today. Don’t punish yourself for eating that indulgent chocolate bar, maybe your mind needed those feelings of temporary pleasure today. Change the process, make good eating and fitness sessions part of your ongoing lifestyle.

Just learn to love yourself and you will surely end up taking care of yourself.