Exercise will always make you feel better than you do right now.
Making time for yourself is the key to success as well as putting yourself first sometimes and understanding why you feel the way you do can help you maybe make healthier choices.
Let me be honest...
Not feeling happy about your body is a mindset that I relate to every day believe it or not. I used to wish to be a certain way, to fit into a certain dress or pair of jeans I sometimes feel this way still despite the progress I have made. It used to make me feel so depressed that I couldnt maybe be the size 10 ideal. I grew up in an Italian family where food was and still is the centre of our universe! I remember at the age of 9 getting a bout of gastric flu when I was on holiday with my grandparents in Italy and being so "happy" that I had lost weight and that comments were made about it like "oh look how slim you are, you lost weight etc". It started a cycle of dieting and wishing I was thinner for the rest of my life if I am honest. I used food as a way to comfort myself as well as trying not to eat anything. Believe me - I did it all. I tried every diet. For a long time I restricted food so I could go out and party with my friends and not feel bad which often lead me to feel so ill after nights out! It was fun but I was always the one to get everyone drunk and buy shots etc. It helped mask how I really felt about myself which was that I was unhappy with my body and looks. My self esteem has always been low and not feeling good enough is something that I still work on daily. The misconception that we choose to feel this way is so wrong - no-one chooses to hate their body or themselves. What I have learnt though is to challenge these thoughts I have had since I was young - as someone said to me recently "I already know you have all the answers to what you have to do you -you just have to believe it and focus on the good inside of you".
Focusing on the positive things about yourself can just literally pick u up when nothing else is working.
I will give you an example - look for the features and the best parts of yourself and how pretty and beautiful they are. We all have beauty within us and outside of us that we can think about rather than my "awful stomach" or my "big legs". You are more than that.
Focus only on the best of you! it really can help you feel motivated to change your lifestyle maybe to make positive changes to fitness goals, your food choices and just generally how you choose to live your life. You can reset this at ANY time.. not tomorrow not next week, do it now. If you fail, start again. Never give up on yourself you are worth the effort, the sweat, the constant worrying about your body....you can change things if you really believe it.
There are days that literally we all feel we cannot do a workout or want to make bad food choices. That is a part of life - everyone feels like you! are not alone in that. Its thinking and focusing on the positive parts that movement and good food choices will give you during these times.
When I feel this way - my go to thoughts to get me into the zone for exercise are not negative they are always positive:
You always feel better after a warm up
You have felt like this before and managed it
Think of those happy endorphins you will feel at the end
You are able to do this and if you cant you can just take it easy and do what you can
Start with a walk see how you feel (this works also if you have literally no motivation and are in the gym...walk on a treadmill/cycle/listen to some music really helps me
Acknowledge that these thoughts might not be real at all...and are simply that - annoying gremlin thoughts there to side track you and your goals
YOU CAN DO IT - always a good one!
And lastly I cant tell you how many times as I have lost count of starting a workout or run to the point I want to cry and hating it to then finishing and thinking - "WOW I LOVED THAT!!!" proof that these feelings do go away and are NOT going to always be negative!
Keep pushing forward...
Love Francesca x
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