Principle 8: Respect Your Body

An important principle is Respect Your Body because it makes you feel seen, heard, and validated.

Your body is worth respect no matter what it looks like or is capable of.

It’s important for you to learn this principle because as moms we often don’t believe our needs and comfort are important.

How can you parent effectively and wholeheartedly if all you can think about is how small your jeans are? Perhaps you don’t want to buy new pants because you want to lose weight first? Maybe you are wearing them as “goal” jeans?

How can you parent effectively if you spend the day scrolling social media and comparing yourself to other bodies? Bookmarking “goal” body photos. Following influences who make you feel terrible about yourself.

How can you meal plan for you and your family (if that’s your responsibility in your family) if you are always trying to cut calories, count points, or track macros? Of course planning what to eat is a huge burden if you are constantly micromanaging your food intake versus trusting your hunger cues.

None of this is your fault. It’s how diet culture makes us behave towards our bodies that makes us do these crazy things like post pictures of women in bikinis on our fridge to reinforce deprivation and starvation mode.

Or weighing ourselves every morning and then having the number determine if we are allowed to like our bodies or eat food that day.

When you stand firm and say you are no longer going to engage in behaviors that disrespect your body, a whole identify shift can happen.

Who you are changes.

This can be meant with relief or resistance. It is important to have support as you let go of your "I am a dieter" identify to "I am now an intuitive eating who no longer diets" mindset.

3 ways to show your body respect:

1. Desire to lose weight: Restriction is bad for your health and is the biggest predictor of weight gain. When you are dieting you do crazy things like skip meals, eat too little, skip date night with your spouse, ditch happy your friends for sweaty gym workouts, and are chronically tired. This is not showing your body respect.

2. Say goodbye to your inner critic: You know that little voice in your head that is telling you "your too fat" or "you are so lazy" and "if you tried harder you would lose weight" that is your inner critic voice and it's an asshole. When was the last time you were motivated to change by someone yelling at you like a crazy drill sergeant. Never. You need to learn how to talk to yourself like your best friend would. If that seems impossible I can help you with that. There are several self-coaching tools you can learn to build a positive self-talk inner dialogue and no, it's not lying to yourself, you can't tell yourself something that isn't true.

3. No more body bashing and comparison: When you walk by a mirror, window, or see a photo of your body are you constantly criticizing and say crappy things to it. "Eh, I had my fat stomach rolls" or "I am so gross with all this jiggly cellulite." Or do you compare your body to every other women you see as you grab coffee, eat lunch, or workout? One reason you do this is because you think it is "motivating" you to take action. How's that working for you? If you are like many of my clients, it's not. It causing you to feel hopeless, disgusting, worthless, frustrated, critical, inferior, and ashamed.

In session, I work with clients on how to reframe negative self talk, how to appreciate the body they have, how to cope with body grief (letting go of the fantasy body) and surrendering to the process of learning to be an intuitive eater.

One thing you can do today: unfollow or mute anyone on social media that makes you feel like shit.

Detox your feed.

Lose the weight of judgement.

Swap toxic accounts for body positive accounts.

Healthify your reading material by choosing books, articles, and magazines that focus on nourishing your body.

Skinny your tolerance for thin white privilege.

Nourish your mind and body with self-care, gratitude, and self-esteem building practices.

Respecting yourself means allowing yourself to trust that you know exactly what you need, what you don’t need, and how to choose meaningful habits that build your health and confidence. Start the process of loving and respecting your body today by booking a free consult with me.