WHY GAINING WEIGHT ISN'T ALWAYS SUCH A BAD THING
With everyone setting New Years resolutions to get fit, lose weight etc. I wanted to hop on the complete opposite #GainingWeightIsCool trend @ariannadantone started last week.
April 8 2016(140 lbs & couple of weeks post show)-> Current (165 lbs)
If your motivation and your reasoning behind getting into the gym is because you hate your body, or you constantly have a dialogue of negative self-talk in your mind (The ‘I’m so fat, I hate how my stomach looks, my legs are too thin, my butt is so small, I’m ugly, my legs and shoulders need more definition' etc.) I want you to add ‘Work at creating a positive body image & replacing negative self-talk with positive’ to your list of new years resolutions, and I want you to make this your #1 priority.
People (especially women) are sold this idea that they will be 'happy' & more worthy of love when they reach their 'goal body' and lose weight. I thought the same thing, but I can 100% tell you that this is not true & that if you do end up ‘happy’ when you lose the weight, the happiness will likely be temporary & short lived. Losing weight (40 lbs by competition day to be exact) didn’t make me happy, in fact the smaller I got the more miserable and cruel I was to myself. FASCINATING considering I thought getting 'skinny' was what would make me happy. Turns out I was MISERABLE & I started to realize the complete LACK of self-love I had for myself.
The complete mental shift that has happened since that realization is what has helped me actually love my body and feel happy in my own skin. No matter what my weight is.
This change doesn’t happen overnight & it is something you must work at every single day. I work at turning my negative body image into a positive one DAILY by replacing negative self-talk with positive whenever I catch myself falling into that negative self-talk trap.
Yes getting healthier and getting fit are great goals and things you should work toward daily, but I promise you that if you are not happy now, losing weight will never be enough especially if you have a negative body image.
So yes, continue working to pursue your 'goal body' but remember to be patient and work just as hard at loving to yourself and creating a positive body image along the way.