Here is Alex’s favorite snack: green apples with almond butter. He actually made this plate himself. How cute…will he be a future Matthew Kenney in the works? 😉
Isn’t funny how quickly things can change when you shift your perspective from “I am not good enough so I MUST lose weight” to “I love myself so much that I want to treat my body with love and respect”? It’s an empowering shift moving from a state of forcing your body to be a particular way to allowing your best body to come forth.
I remember losing 10 pounds EFFORTLESSLY in 2007. I didn’t stick to any strict menu or have a set workout routine. I just focused on feeling good. I found that I was preoccupied with living and not the number on my scale. I did make it a point to sweat everyday, but that was as simple as cranking up the music and dancing while mopping my floors. Besides that my focus was just to stay happy. It wasn’t long and everyone asked me how I went from 118 to 108. I felt sort of guilty because I didn’t make that my primary focus. I didn’t even try, it was just a by product of feeling good. I have decided to go back to that method after realizing that the egocentric way I have been TRYING this year so far hasn’t given me the results I wanted. I remember that quote “Insanity is repeating the same thing over and over, and expecting different results.”
I needed to shift into the heart. I have started looking at myself in a loving way. I have been focusing on what I do have and what I am thankful for. I am also paying more attention to what my body is able to do rather than how it looks.
Here are a few things I have been feeling lately:
I am so happy that my body is free of pain.
I am so thankful my body has healed from several injuries.
I am thankful this body has given birth to two amazing children.
I am thankful for my energy, youth, and vitality.
I am grateful that I can pick up sports with ease and participate in all sorts of recreational activities.
I am thankful for my feminine curves.
I am thankful I have found raw foods.
I am thankful I love being healthy.
I am thankful I love yoga and all forms of exercise.
I love my body and look forward to showing it how much I love it through giving it a little daily love and attention. Here is a great quote from my favorite yoga instructor, Bryan Kest “The integrity of the web is dependant on the resiliency of every strand”.
Remember to take time to honor your body in more ways than the ones that affect you aesthetically.
Here are 2 other related articles/blog posts about self acceptace and loving your body:
9 Days to Bikini- Ready: Self Acceptance & Loving Your Body is Listening to Your Body
A Special thanks to Lenette Nakauchi who sent two videos that go along with this message:
Abraham on Weight & Abraham on Natural Weight Loss
Q:
Hey Lori,
I got a chance to check out your website and I really resonated with it since you have been through plenty of bad relationships yourself. I was wondering if you could help me heal from all the baggage it left. I just don’t want to be the old me anymore and want to stop living in my story. It seems whenever someone gets close to me it starts getting ugly hence the reason why I have been staying to myself lately, but I do like being social and eventually want a healthy sound relationship. Every time I try it seems like I am stuck talking about my ex’s big no no. I don’t know how to gain closure over all this mess.
This led me to the raw food lifestyle and have been embracing it well, but then I splurge every now and then and don’t like being addicted to cooked foods anymore either. I feel like a complete mess and need to get it all together so I can take my board exam for medical school soon. Yikes!! today I just heard my past reiterated from a male who was trying to get to know me and well it led to an emotionally messy me and then I went back down the spiral not eating well and not being able to sleep. Can you help?
A:
When the going gets tough, you fall off your raw food regimen. This is a situation where you are emotionally shutting out what you are experiencing through food. Raw foods actually clear pathways and what you feel is more intense. When you are raw you are alert and clear headed. Emotional eating tells me you are holding back from healing. Your heart wants to heal, but your head is stuck on the past rather than the vision you hold for yourself. The past has no power so stop giving your power to it.
Talking about your ex’s “big no no” tells me that you are BLAMING others and you haven’t gotten over it. Take the pain you experienced in relationships and turn it inward so that you could learn to make finer distinctions in your relationships. Take full RESPONSIBILITY for where you are and what happened because YOU allowed it to happen. Nobody can do anything to you, playing the victim role only harms you and does not serve you.
I can tell a lot about a person by what they choose to talk about. If they are complaining to me about someone else I know they are deflecting the energy from their inner core and trying to project it elsewhere. They are looking outside of themselves. What they want is validation. You do not need the world to say, “Oh, look at you…you poor thing. How could anybody do this to you?” That is not what you really want.
If there is anyway I can help you heal from your baggage and gain closure it is to FORGIVE yourself. You are here to grow and learn. We are supposed to make mistakes because with each one we get a bit better. ALLOW yourself to explore and grow. You need to feel your VALUE as a person.
In this life we are faced with reflections of our internal state by our relationships, our finances, our career, our home. How do those look to you? If they look a mess it’s probably because you feel a mess internally. Remember that everything in life you are complaining about you are guilty of yourself. When you want to complain go inward and take actions to improve yourself. Start acting like the person you wish to be and soon you will be that person. Treat yourself the way you wished others treated you and soon your self RESPECT will flourish and you will find yourself around others who respect you as well. How do you expect anyone to truly love and respect you if you can’t even love, respect, and accept yourself?
You serve no one in beating yourself up. If you want to be loved…love yourself. Do all the things you want someone else to do for you and do them for yourself. Your love will illuminate and you will have that spark within you. Soon you’ll be surrounded with people who love you because the outer physical world is just a mere reflection of your internal state. I commend you on your raw food journey! You are on track! Keep eating raw foods as you go through this sticky “mess”. Feel it, experience it, grow from it, and move forward into that “new you” you say you want to be.
Recommendations
Book: The Mastery of Love: A Practical Guide to the Art of Relationship: A Toltec Wisdom Book
Blog Article: You are Worthy of Love
In July, I tweeted that I did a Fitness Analysis. This is something I learned as part of my personal training education. You can learn how to perform your own fitness analysis by going to this link. It’s great because it gives you a general idea of your fitness level. When you see my results below you’ll see I added in a few extra elements to the test just to get a clearer picture of where I was.
I wasn’t exactly thrilled with the results, but everyone needs to know their starting point. Isn’t there a quote out there somewhere that says what gets measured improves? I have been more sedentary since I have been working online more so here are my humble results.
After reviewing my results, I was bummed that I relapsed and lost most of my efforts I was making on my bikini body challenge. My sedentary lifestyle is eating away my physical abilities and I really needed to step up my game. There is no reason that I shouldn’t be in the top 95%ile in all areas. Obviously, I need to work on my upper body strength and cardiovascular ability. I decided it’s time to get back on track & make some goals, create a support system and accountability.
Goals
Run an 8 minute mile. It isn’t a fantastic time, but it is a big improvement to my current time.
Complete 40 consecutive modified push-ups and 20 consecutive full push ups
Reduce my BMI to 18
Plan of Action
August I started a 30 day challenge. The goal is to complete a workout everyday for 30 days.
Cardio Plan
Complete 1 mile 5x on week 1= Total 5 miles
Complete 2 miles 5x on week 2= Total 10 miles
Complete 3 miles 5x on week 3= Total 15 miles
Complete 4 miles 5x on week 4= Total 20 miles
Strength, Flexibility, Balance Plan
Perform Yoga 2x a week- 90 minutes each session adding in lots of push ups or chaturangas for upper body strength.
Support System & Accountability
I created a yoga bikini body boot camp group for women. I love helping others by solving my own problem! Together we are supporting each other to improve our levels of fitness. Another way to stay accountable is by posting blogs on my weekly workout wrap ups. So check in weekly to see if I am still going strong.
I have already completed 10 days this month. I haven’t missed a day of doing some exercise everyday! Even better, my sister decided to join in on the 30 days of fitness challenge and has been walking 4 miles everyday! I love it!
Comment below and share with me your current weekly workout!
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