Earlier this week, over 75% of you on Instagram shared that you experience negative body image and feel it interferes with and / or holds you back in some way in your life.
Does that feel true for you?
If so, I’m sending you so much love + compassion. And, so much understanding. Because I spent years feeling that way, too.
psst:I created a totally FREE Body Image Masterclass just for you here, walking you step-by-step through how you can care for yourself during a challenging body image moment.
Many of you so vulnerably shared with me your biggest body image challenges and the number one theme was experiencing body changes.
Reading the responses made me feel both furious (that you’ve been made to feel this way about your body – because I know without ever seeing your body that your body is NOT a problem) and grateful (that we are here together and I can support you through this – you’re not alone!).
It also took me back to a really challenging body image moment about a decade ago. I was working with my first health coach (she was such a blessing in my life – Hi Amy!!) and was really focused on releasing my rules + rigidity with both movement and food. I was working to undo patterns of restriction, heal binge eating, and trying to connect more with pleasure. I had kicked my scale to the curb, was resting more, and was working to really nourish my body.
I felt like I was making forward movement YAY! Growth YAY! Healing YAY!
Until one Saturday when I went to get dressed. I pulled on a pair of jeans and could feel a snugness that I didn’t remember. That pair of jeans that had fit before? Well, they no longer did.
And I broke down.
I sobbed over my Blackberry as my thumbs rapidly typed an email to my health coach. I told her about my feelings of failure, my fears around my changing body, and the anxiety that the only way forward was to go back to restricting to “fix” this.
At that moment in my life it truly felt like the only way to deal with the challenging body image moment around body changes was to “fix” my body by making her smaller again.
Have you ever felt like this?
I had no idea at that moment in my life how deep the diet culture conditioning was and how engrained the beliefs were in my subconscious.
How I saw my body was so connected to my worth as a human being. The only way I knew to “deal” with the discomfort was to try to make it go away by trying to shrink myself smaller (what I had done for years and years that SPOILER ALERT had led me to feeling obsessive about food + exercise, disordered eating + binge eating, had me completely distracted from my life the vast majority of the time, on an external-validation rollercoaster, and feeling like I was never enough).
I had no idea there was another way.
I thought having “positive body image” meant I was supposed to LOVE the way my body looked every second of the day.
What I know now is there there truly is a different way: my body was not the problem. And your body is not the problem either.
Despite what I used to believe, having a more positive body image is not about loving what you see every time you look in the mirror.
It is about learning to love WHO you see (+ really, deeply seeing yourself) while also developing the ability to act with love towards the beautifully imperfect person you are even in those moments when that feels hard.
I know body image work can feel so overwhelming and difficult to truly “practice.” After hearing your responses on Instagram this week, I wanted to create something to support + encourage you in a practical way:
Enter this Body Image Masterclass.
In this free masterclass, I’m going to walk you step-by-step through how you can care for yourself in a challenging body image moment:
>>> Trying on a pair of pants that no longer fit.
If you’ve ever struggled to make peace with body changes, this free masterclass for you.
As a Certified Holistic Health + Anti Diet Coach & Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, I’ve coaching hundreds of women around body image.
I know that your body is not a problem to be fixed + I’d love to offer you guidance, encouragement, and support around how to navigate a triggering body image experience differently.
When you sign up here, this pre-recorded Body Image Masterclass will be sent right to your inbox on Friday, February 26 + you’ll have a full 48 hours to watch it.
I know life is wild right now, so there’s no pressure to be somewhere “live” at a certain time.
Here for you!
