When I say ‘talk to yourself’, I am referring to the words or voices in your head, not the real things, the ‘not true’ stuff!

I’m not good enough

‘My Butt looks SO big in this’

‘Gee, I want her body, I hate my body’

‘I will be so much happier when I lose 5kgs (or any amount)’

‘I am so ugly, I hate my body’

‘I’m so fat’

How often do you say these sorts of things to yourself?

Or are you a visual type of person – do you always critique your body in front of the mirror – picking out all the bad points, the bits you don’t like, grabbing and shaking those wobbly bits?

Do you look at yourself in every window/glass door you walk pass to see if your butt has grown in the last second?

I read an interesting stat the other day, that apparently the average woman thinks about her body every 15 minutes. Even if it was every 30mins, that is still a lot! And I am going to guess that not much of those thoughts fall into the positive basket? Am I right? It seems pretty harmless right? We all do it, so it must be ok, right?

BUT, have you ever thought about, or even considered how this constent negative voice in your head could be holding you back from achieving your goals – losing weight, toning up, getting fitter – getting the body you want?

Thoughts like ‘You’re fat, you’re so lazy’, ‘You should be so disappointed in yourself’, ‘You never try hard enough’, ‘You are so not good enough’.

It’s not really inspiring or motivating is it? Would you pay a trainer to say that stuff to you, to motivate you? I know I wouldn’t.

If you heard your best friend, or any friend talking about you the way you talk about yourself, you’d think she was a complete b*tch and you would probably never talk to her again. So why would you talk to yourself that way?

The thing is, and the thing you really need to remember is this….It’s absolutely NOT OK. You have to realise that you get what you focus on, the more you focus on your negative points, or the things you don’t like, the more you will set yourself up for failure.

NOTHING good is ever going to come from hating your body. The self loathing can only lead to destructive behaviours  – low self esteem, binge eating and maybe even depression.

It is NOT going to help you achieve your goals, so it’s TIME TO CHANGE. It’s time to stop wasting energy on things and thoughts that aren’t good for you or your health.

When you turn your thinking around, it is amazing the difference that occurs. When you truly learn to respect your body, amazing things will start to happen.

Some things to think about:

• Focus on all the good things about your body, what bits do you love, and focus on them for a change
• Think of exercise as energy boosting, fun and will help you achieve your dream body, rather than using it as punishment for eating food you know you shouldn’t have!
• Invest in good quality food – because you ARE worth it! You want to nourish your body with the best you can!
• Avoid the junk food, the ‘bad’ food – the food that makes you feel yuk after you eat it. Don’t avoid it out of fear, avoid it cause you know it makes you feel yuk and you don’t want to feel like that anymore!
• Know that you can have ‘treats’, but enjoy them with friends or family, rather than eating them on your own, while hiding it from everyone. Enjoy them when you truly want them

Now your challenge for the next week (and beyond) is think and believe that you are beautiful. Start enjoying your body, start changing that negative crap that goes on inside your head into POSITIVE reinforcement. And next time you walk past that mirror, or the windows, smile at yourself and compliment yourself on your positive bits! You have LOADS of them, so get to it!