How to Love Your Body the Unbusy Mom Way

For March, I want to focus on another aspect of our lives that takes up an excessive amount of time: our bodies. This tends to be such a loaded topic for women. Why? Because we are bombarded with constant messaging about how we should look and what we should be eating. I mean, it is exhausting just thinking about it. So how do we navigate through the sea of the latest and best advice while still being true to who we are? Think about the time and money you have spent on this endeavor. Whether you struggle with your weight, eating healthy, or maintaining an exercise routine, you will find the mindset shifts we talk about this month to be helpful and time-saving. 

This week we are going to focus on loving our bodies. I know, I know you want to gag at the thought of another blogger telling you that you need to love your body before you embark on any weight loss or healthy body change. While the concept of loving your body first might be true, I have never been able to wrap my mind around how you go from disliking parts of your body to just loving it. I’ve played around with changing my thoughts and focusing on the parts of my body I like. But these approaches just felt fake and untrue. If this rings true for you, then consider this. What if we changed what it means to love our bodies? Here are two mindset shifts that have helped me redefine how I love my body.

You don’t have to like your body. 

I don’t like my stomach. Society tells me that is should be flat and toned. It used to be flat and toned before kids. I know I should be evolved enough to love it for what it is. But I just don’t like the way it looks. And you know what? That is totally ok. There are parts of my body I don’t like, and you can’t make me like them. Think about your partner. Do you love every part of him or her? If you do, good for you. There are parts of my husband I don’t love and parts of me he wishes were different.  Does that mean that we don’t love the whole of them? I may be pushing it, but dare I say, the same thing goes for our kids. I 100% unconditionally love my children. But do I love that my son (in a strikingly uncanny resemblance to me) forgets something at every event we attend? I mean, how hard is it to put your soccer gear in your bag at the end of practice? Don’t love that part of him (or myself). But I love the whole of him. So why do we hold body love to a different standard? Why do we try over and over again to love all the parts of our bodies? 

When you decide you don’t have to love every piece of your body, your mindset will shift. You will stop obsessing about fixing the parts you don’t like. Your focus will be on the whole of you. Some days you will love the whole package. Some days not so much. But isn’t that the case for everything in life? And here is the best part. When you accept that you hate some parts of your body, you stop nitpicking every aspect. You stop focusing on what you need to change, which leads to the next mindset shift.

Focus on how your body feels.

Why do you want your body to look different? For most of us, it is because of how we think we will feel when our bodies change. I have noticed that how my body feels impacts my mood more than how my body looks. When I am not doing things that make my body feel good, I feel sluggish, bloated, and “out of shape.” So take a moment and think, how does your body feel when you are at your goal weight or eating “healthy,” or at your peak physical conditioning? Now the goal is to do things that make your body feel that way as much as possible. 

Here’s the thing. Goals like weight and physical conditioning take time. Sure, you can get some quick “wins” initially, but consistent habits over the long term will get you to your goal. And this is where we tend to lose motivation because we can’t always see the changes in our daily lives. But you always have access to how your body feels. Is this third cup of coffee going to make me feel good or cause me to be jittery? Is this workout going to make me feel good at the end, or am I exhausted and depleted and it is going to make me feel more run down? This second helping of cake will feel good now, but how will my body feel in ten minutes when it is overstuffed? You get the point. 

Adopting this mindset has helped me eat better and stay consistent with my workouts. I have also learned some other interesting things. My body doesn’t like 3-4 cups of coffee a day. When I cut out coffee for two weeks, I felt great. Less jittery and less anxious, and I slept longer and better. After years of drinking a ton of coffee, this news was shocking. And I would never have discovered this if I didn’t start focusing on how my body feels.

Drop me an email or DM me on Instagram. I’d love to hear if you tried these mindset shifts and what you discovered about yourself. 

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