Does loving yourself where you are today help or hinder your success? My name is Brandice, from A Grace Filled Plate, and I wrote this post to help you determine if a change of mind and some self acceptance would do you good!
I stood slumped over in front of the bathroom mirror, wearing a swimsuit. My eyes were filled with tears as I tugged on what little body fat I had left. After years of hard training and strict dieting, I had finally reached my goal weight. And yet, here I was devastated with how far from “ideal” I felt.
I don’t know what was more painful– feeling like I still had so far to go or realizing that I’d spent all those days, living in discontentment, waiting to be happy, for nothing. I had to make a change but it took me years until I figured out how and why.
Maybe you can relate. Maybe you are waiting to breathe a sigh of self-acceptance until you get to your desired end result. If you are anything like I was, you fear buying cute clothes or saying nice things because you don’t want to get too comfortable where you are.
But, sweet friend, I have to tell you– your lack of self-acceptance can be the very thing that is stopping you from reaching your goals!
Here I am going to detail 3 BIG REASONS why embracing where you are today will help you get where you want to go fast.
How Self Acceptance Leads to Easy Weight Loss
1. Feeling “rushed to change” backfires!
Ok, I know I just said this is all about reaching our goals faster, and now I am telling you not to rush– but hang with me.
When we get into the “fix it fast” mindset, we tend to lose sight of sustainability. We choose diets and exercise plans that promise to deliver “now” but are difficult to follow long-term. We make commitments that require perfect performances and then can’t keep up. Feeling like a “failure”, we throw in the towel until we feel ready to try (another quick fix) again.
What was intended to speed us along left us stagnant wasting precious time and potential results.
When self-acceptance takes center stage, we are willing to slow things down a bit. We can now find nutrition habits and workout regimens that we can live with.
Rather than spinning your wheels on the perfectionistic hamster wheel, practice taking smaller steps towards real progress that lasts. And these small changes, they add up fast.
2. Give yourself the grace to change.
Do you live with a bully? No, I am not referring to your housemate. I mean, do you have a bully living in your brain?
Imagine your best friend calls you after a long day. Work has her stressed to the max, her kids won’t stop arguing, and the only thing she has to “cook” for dinner is peanut butter and jelly (again).
In the swirls of stress, she found herself regain consciousness when her hand hit the bottom of an empty cereal box.
She calls you seeking encouragement and a listening ear. You, her confidant, have the option to make her feel better or worse. Like the amazing friend you are, you give her love and grace and diffuse the situation.
This is how we treat others, but in our own lives, that often isn’t the case. And, that mean-girl talk, it will keep you stuck.
Rather than meeting your slip-ups with negative self-talk, consider how being a little nicer to yourself can actually help you reach your goals faster.
With GRACE:
- The less-than-ideal food choice is just a bump in the road and not a disaster that sends you into a panicked state back to the pantry.
- A missed workout is just a blip on the radar. Rather than being discouraged because you just can’t seem to “get your act together”, you move on and go to the gym tomorrow.
- Your pants are a little tight and instead of moving into body-bashing, you choose to put on a pair that fit better today. You feel better and you treat yourself that way…
3. We treat what we love… better.
We take good care of that which we value. If you do not feel like you are worth the time and effort required for self-care, it is going to be difficult to the find motivation to do so.
When you acknowledge that how your body, no matter how it looks, enables you to move throughout this life, it just makes sense to feed it better. When you appreciate the health and wellness that you do have, it is much more inviting to move your body in a joyful way.
By choosing self-acceptance, you are choosing to love and that love will compel better choices that will help you reach your goals faster.
HOW TO MOVE INTO MORE SELF-ACCEPTANCE
While you may be shaking your head in agreement with these three points, putting them into practice is easier said than done.
Here are 4 steps to move you towards the kind of self-care that makes goals happen:
1. Notice the negativity. Put on your detective’s hat and start to pay attention to the ways you are less than accepting of your current state. Don’t judge (and please don’t beat yourself up over beating yourself up!)… just observe.
2. Jot down your thoughts and behaviors and look for patterns. Are there certain times that you are less loving to yourself? Are there hot topics that keep coming up?
3. Decide what you want to do. Now that you see what is going on underneath the hood, you get to decide if you want to continue down this path or if you want to change. Even if you don’t feel like changing, you can make the decision to do so.
4. Change your mind (slowly). Discontentment is pervasive and you won’t be able to change every thought all at once- but you can make remarkable shifts towards acceptance by starting small.
- When you notice the thought, question it. Ask yourself– Is it true? Is it helpful? Do you want to let it go?
- You don’t have to be completely on board to change your mind; simply poke holes in its arguments, revealing that this way of thinking may not be 100% true and is not in your best interest.
- Then catch those sneaky thoughts as best you can. Some days you may be well down the path of negativity before you notice but over time, you stop them sooner and sooner.
- Meanwhile, along the way, you’ll be making progress!
I hope that this post has helped you see that embracing where you are today is not a death sentence to your goals. Rather, it is the opposite. Love, kindness, joy, and grace are the fuel that will help you reach your goals… happily!
Brandice is a nutrition coach and blogger at Grace Filled Plate. She teaches women how to ditch diets and restriction and find peace with food through God’s grace. Grace that then overflows into a healthy lifestyle. Be sure to check Brandice out on Facebook and Pinterest for more amazing content!
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