Before we dive into our main topic for today, you know what time it is…We’ve got some Wellness Woo to talk about. 

Wellness Woo is the stuff that diet and wellness culture tells us we should do in the name of health, but it’s really based on pseudoscience, exaggerated claims, or just nonsense. 

Today’s Wellness Woo is: Accupressure insoles – s/o to Tracy https://share.google/oQRoxHJn31AfPbC0P 

If you have an example of Wellness Woo that you want to share, send it to me at rebuildingtrustwithyourbody@gmail.com. 

Ok, that’s enough of that. Moving on to today’s main topic…The #1 Thing You NEED To Do On The Days You Don’t “Like or Love” Your Weight or Body Image

That thing is to RESPECT your body. You don’t have to like or love it. But hating your body, telling yourself how gross and disgusting it is, and berating yourself isn’t going to help you take better care of it. 

Let’s talk about what NOT respecting your body looks like:

• Looking in the mirror and picking yourself apart
• Telling yourself that you have to wear black clothes b/c they’re slimming or leggings because nobody should see your legs even though it’s 1,000 degrees outside
• Making yourself drink black coffee because you don’t think you deserve the calories in your favorite creamer
• Skipping breakfast because you want to avoid those calories
• Getting on the scale and letting it determine how you feel or how you eat that day
• Forcing yourself to work out as a form of punishment because of how much you hate your body.
• Working out to make up for feeling guilty for eating something like pizza or ice cream…or working out before eating these things as a way to “earn” it.
• Telling yourself you can’t wear a certain style or pattern of clothing because you’re not skinny enough
• Similarly, telling yourself you can’t wear a 2 piece swimsuit
• Avoiding carbs at your meals and mainly eating salads or meat and veggies because you think carbs cause weight gain (explain glycogen/wt)
• Ordering the lower calorie chicken dish at a restaurant because you don’t feel like you earned the higher calorie creamy pasta that you really wanted.
• Telling yourself you’ll do XYZ only after you lose weight….plan the vacation, sign up for online dating, get a new job, join a social group at your church, take the exercise class at your gym, go on the girls trip, get family photos done. I’ve made multiple clients who told me that they wouldn’t let their partner propose to them until they lost weight because they wanted to be thinner in their engagement photos. Starving yourself leading up to your wedding or a big event like a family reunion or if you’re giving a speech at a conference.
• Putting off the doctor’s appointment because you don’t want the doctor to judge you, shame you or lecture you for your weight. Or you’re worried that your doctor will be disappointed in you, even if they don’t say anything. Or you’re scared that your health is worse and you want to lose weight before you get your report card of your labs. 
• Refusing to take a medication that your doctor prescribes because you don’t want to need to be on it in the first place
• Drinking coffee, water, sparkling water, diet soda or any other no-calorie liquid as a way to stave off hunger and eat less. Clinically we call this fluid loading for appetite suppression and it’s a disordered behavior. If you’re hungry, you should EAT. Not try to trick yourself into feeling full off liquids.
• This list could go on and on…

Now let’s talk about what RESPECTING your body looks like:

• Catching your negative thoughts and reframing them 
• Talking to body like you would a friend, not an enemy
• Rewriting the negative body image stories that you’ve been telling yourself over and over again for years if not decades. (Grab my free body image guide)
• Taking the batteries out of your scale
• Practicing body neutrality
• Doing acts of kindness towards your body (grab my free body kindness guide)
• Scheduling the doctor’s appointment
• Moving your body for self-care
• Going to the social event and letting yourself be seen and take up space unapologetically
• Asking for the seatbelt extender if you need it 
• Taking your medications as prescribed, and NOT shaming yourself for needing them or telling yourself that you’re taking the easy way out or that you’re cheating
• Getting your labs checked on at least an annual basis
• Getting enough sleep
• Eating when you are hungry, choosing satisfying food. Stopping when you’re full. 
• Choosing not to flip the package over to look at the calories or look up the calories online for every food you eat.
• Intentionally providing your body with carb, protein, fat and fiber at most meals…without being rigid or dogmatic about it.
• Drinking enough water, and not living on coffee, energy drinks and diet soda or sparkling water.
• Taking a 10 minute walk after you eat to support your digestion and blood sugar if those are things you struggle with, and not making it about burning off your food or losing weight.
• Doing your PT exercises for your knee pain or your back pain, rather than just dwelling on the notion that if you lost weight your pain would go away. 
• Wearing clothes that comfortably fit your here-and-now body
• Redirecting your focus when you catch yourself body checking in reflective surfaces or judging your thighs or belly rolls
• Letting yourself wear the sleeveless dress or take off your cardigan when you’re hot, rather than hiding your arms because you’re so self-conscious of your underarm jiggle
• Choosing NOT to participate in diet talk among your coworkers, or opting out of your workplace’s weight loss challenge or your gym’s “lock in” challenge that’s all about losing weight before the end of the year.
• Unfollowing the accounts on social media that make you feel like crap about yourself…and following accounts that show you body diversity and body acceptance.
• Allowing your body to age in peace, and not making every sign of aging a problem that needs to be solved and erased. 
• And bottom line….It’s choosing to be KIND and RESPECTFUL towards your body, even on the days that your body image sucks or those thoughts about losing weight are really loud. 

And let’s bring it back to the overall theme of this episode – the #1 thing you NEED when you feel crummy about your body isn’t more body hatred, rules or punishment. That’s the way diet culture has taught us to think…and it’s exactly what makes you vulnerable to getting sucked back into doing some type of diet, or detox, or “lose belly fat” workout program, or taking some wellness woo supplement that makes false promises. Diet culture preys on your body hatred and insecurities. 

What you NEED when you’re feeling insecure about your body, or when you’re feeling really uncomfortable in your own skin – physically or emotionally – is to be NICE to yourself. To be KIND to your body. To give your body CARE and RESPECT – both in the way to you talk to yourself inside your own head, and in the actions you do and the behaviors you engage in that day. 

Grab the free body kindness guide and the body image journal prompts. They’re in the show notes for you. 

And in case nobody has told you today – you are ENOUGH ALREADY. We’ll talk again soon.

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