Loving Myself

I bought a little notebook and wrote these words on it. Move your body. Eat well. Love yourself. The book pretty much follows me around everywhere I go (much like my water bottle) as I use it to record my water intake, what I eat, workouts, recipes, and, most importantly, how I am feeling.

Love yourself.

Love yourself.

LOVE yourself.

This is a phrase that I had a hard time understanding where it fit in with positive body image and the need for weight loss. I mean, I didn't want to loathe my body into losing weight, but I didn't want to love it so much that I was content with being overweight. Does this make sense to anyone?

In some strange way I associated following a restricted diet and exercising everyday with hating one's self, or, at the very least, dissatisfaction with one's body. I'm reading back that sentence it just sounds crazy, but that's how I felt. I'm only now beginning to understand that loving yourself doesn't mean that you need to be contented with whatever you current situation is, be it health or whatever. I'm learning that I can love my self and love my body NOW! and I can show that love by taking care of it as that sacred gift from God it is.

It is because I love myself that I will MOVE my body and EAT WELL. I am not moving my body and eating well so that I will love myself. It's not about getting skinny for me. It used to be in the past, but that mindset so very damaging, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Now, it's all about loving myself at all stages.

So on that note, I want to share with you my "before" photos of the body that I LOVE!