I often wonder why women are so hard on themselves when it comes to their bodies. We look in the mirror and instead of focusing on what looks good, we nitpick and immediately go to what we don’t like; a wrinkle, a muffin-top, our nose, stretchmarks, vericose veins… I could go on and on. I want to talk about how to love your body as a woman because it is important in staying healthy and happy in life, as well as during and after divorce.
How to love your body as a woman: I have three words.
What would happen if this year ,for the whole month of February (because of Valentine’s Day) and even beyond, you treated your body with three things: love respect and care ?
Instead of picking yourself apart–you know, “there’s too much fat here …there’s too many wrinkles on my face….You can still see my C-section scar” and the list goes on and on and on…why not say, “Wow, I have really nice arms,” or “I’ve always liked my eyes,” or “I’m fortunate to have long legs.”
Let’s face it. Being a woman, there’s enough people around us trying to tear us down. We don’t actually need to tear ourselves down. Instead, let’s focus on building our self-esteem and body image.
Here are three ways to love your body as a woman—with love, respect and care:
1. Every time you go to the mirror and you look yourself in the eyes give yourself a wink. Winking is the most amazing form of providing to ourselves that good feeling of dang, I look good!
2. Every morning when you brush your teeth, look into the mirror and give yourself a complement. Some thing you normally tell yourself is awful, change to something that’s actually good.
3. Every day, think of something you like about yourself that has nothing to do with your physical appearance. It can be anything from, “I’m a really good mom,” to “I work really hard at my job and am proud of that,” to “No one makes eggplant parmasean as well as I do!” When you focus on what you love on the inside, you realize how much more important that is, so it takes the pressure off of you to feel like you have to be perfect on the outside.
Do these three things every single day for 28 days, and imagine what it would feel like to look in the mirror a month from now and truly love yourself again.
See, most women spend their entire lives learning all the things that are wrong with their bodies, and their image, when in all actuality, if we could just shift these small
Interactions with ourselves in the mirror we would begin to feel different. It’s a shame because these negative feelings start in childhood and stay with us throughout life, making it difficult to change our thoughts and patterns.
The good news is, you CAN change. It just takes repetition and dedication.
These are the kinds of habits I help my clients with and the byproduct of changing your mindset is the body you have always wanted. Feel free to reach out if you’d like a free consultation with me.
Leslie Urbas is a Registered Dietitian and Personal Trainer. She is originally from St. Louis Missouri where she received her Bachelors in Nutrition and Dietetics from Fontbonne University. After her Bachelors, she finished her internship at St. Louis University majoring in Sports Nutrition. Immediately after college, she joined the United States Navy as a Dietitian. She served 3 years active duty and 6 years in the Reserves. During her time in the Navy, she received her Master’s in Science and Nutrition from the University of North Florida. She now runs LeslieUrbas.com, her health, wellness and fitness company and brand designed to help people lose weight, get fit, have a better relationship with food, and live a happy, healthy life. Learn more: LeslieUrbas.com.
