Move Because You Love Your Body, Not Because You Hate It

In this day and age, self-loathing/ lack of self-like is all too familiar. Tell me, do you remember a time when you didn’t have some sort of issue with your body? My first memories of being body conscious go way back to when I was 10 years old and most prominently wanting to put a towel over my tummy in the car in my bikini at 13 years old - to try and hide my ‘rolls’. But we aren’t born with this insecurity, it is taught! In a world of social media, now; and magazines, back when, we are almost pressured to dislike ourselves if we don’t conform to society’s version of a perfect body. And, on top of that, body-confidence has historically been viewed as arrogance! But times are changing, gradually, and we at least now know that we should love our bodies, even if a lifetime of ‘training’ makes it quite difficult sometimes!  

A Victoria’s Secret 2014 campaign, which caused backlash in the media

Exercising to get your ‘perfect body’ is not the way forward. When have we ever been happy chasing after an unrealistic goal - often what happens is, when we achieve it, there’s more we want to change. And I can truly attest to that - when I hit my goal weight, with great muscle tone etc etc, I still didn’t think I was good enough. And three months into this journey to get ‘in shape’, I totally self-sabotaged, decided after a week of not doing much that I had ruined all my progress and essentially gave up and got an even worse opinion of myself. I’m sure this, or similar, has happened to a lot of us. Essentially, when we desire to change ourselves from a place of not feeling good enough, we can over do it, and it creates a yo-yo effect of exercise - hard for a few months, do nothing for a few months. 

But, if you’re exercising because you want to get fit and healthy and look after yourself - that’s the one!! That is the mentality to have when exercising - moving because you love the feeling of feeling fit, feeling healthy and loving how your body feels!

I know, though, you read this and think yes ok I love moving and I like my body but I would really like it to be X kg lighter / a little more like Y …. Well it’s ok to have goals, of course, but there’s a fine line!

Instead of dreaming about your 'dream body', we suggest tweaking these dreams a little. For example, thanking your currently gorgeous body every day for how it moves you, lifts you and makes you strong. If you want to see progress in fitness or the way you look - we 100% support you and will help you achieve goals related to them, but the best results start from a LOVE of oneself, not a DESIRE to look like someone else. Secondly, find people on social media who live an honest, active and inspirational life which resonates with you rather than makes you intimidated and feeling like less of a human… 

Speaking of which, Sara Blakey on instagram is a 10/10 account to follow for just loving yourself all round …

“THE MORE YOU LIKE YOURSELF, THE LESS YOU’LL NEED OTHERS TO”

LOVING THE LITTLE THINGS… You'll never feel at home in a body you view as temporary. If we view our bodies as a work in progress, we will never be satisfied with how we look. And, you won't want to help something you hate. Our bodies are just part of who we are. Sometimes, we can't change them. And, that's okay. What we can do is change our mindset. I know, it's much easier said than done, but start small. Look in the mirror and say one thing that you like about yourself. Do that maybe once or twice a week, and point out something different each time. You'll find you like much more than you thought you did, and maybe even start to love your 'flaws' most of all. 

Bod Squad beach workouts - the feeling you get training with the sun rising with your friends <3

Creating a healthy balance of fitness, food and fun is what Bod Squad is all about :) And we love that we can create a safe space for women to find out these things they love about themselves and train for the FUN not necessarily for the FAT LOSS! So many of you can attest to the fact that fat loss does happen, when you aren’t totally focused on it, but are eating well and training for the love of it and the love of yourself! How good is that <3 

We can’t wait to start our Spring Challenge next week, with this mindset firmly in place! Your coaches are here for you to talk about how you feel about your body and help you to create goals to make yourself feel even better. But generally, if you eat nutritious foods and don’t overeat them, whilst training consistently, and not worrying about the scale, believe you me you will feel the difference, and eventually you’ll be surprised that you can see the difference too, because you haven’t been analysing and looking and worrying <3 

X O X O