Mental Struggles

One of the biggest struggles with extreme weight loss is your body image. When you spend a large part of your life being “fat,” “a big girl,” or anything other than what society deems acceptable, you tend to struggle with your image. As I navigate through this journey, I realize that I still struggle with fully embracing my “new” body. I had to retrain my thought process when it came to accepting compliments from others. Growing up, I was always one of the heavier kids, and I realized that some of the things that I heard growing up still had an effect on me. People used to tell me all the time that “You have a pretty face” or “You’re pretty for a big girl” 😒 as if size determined beauty. Let me say this, as an adult, my self-esteem has been very high and I’ve learned to embrace my physical stature. Now I’m learning to embrace the compliments that are given to me. They actually help me feel better about myself. Also, constantly taking pictures of myself after my workouts has helped tremendously. Everyone else will see your results before you because we are always our own worst critics. Now, are there parts of my body that I’m still self-conscious about? OF COURSE! I’m learning to embrace those flaws. The progression pics have been a great motivator for my bounce back. Seeing myself at my smallest, then watching myself gain and lose again is motivating me. Even with the parts of my body that I’m not comfortable with, I use those pics to help motivate me to continue. The one thing I stay away from on a consistent basis is the scale. I have a previously written about my love/hate relationship with the scale 🙃 Only compare yourself to yourself!