Everyday, we are bombarded with photoshopped images of celebrities on the covers of health and fitness magazines. We judge ourselves for having an extra cookie, for not hitting that goal weight yet, or for cutting short a cardio workout. According to research done at the University of Southern California, everyday you have approximately 70,000 thoughts and Webmd.com tells us that these thou
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ghts are important, and can in fact, shape your reality.
Negative self-talk has a negative impact on your workout, your health, and your capacity to reach your goals. Fortunately, FitClub welcomes all body types, all fitness and health goals, and can be your place to start changing your health, and the way you talk to yourself.
Food is not the enemy. If you’ve been working out for awhile, you may have already learned that food is fuel and not the enemy, a source of shame, or something you should judge. Treating yourself with respect means that you know starving yourself is detrimental to your fitness goals, as well as dangerous. You know what foods fuel your workouts and what foods make you feel sluggish when you workout. Being body-positive means that you make food decisions based on what makes you feel good and you forgive yourself for the occasional treat.
You celebrate progress. Even if you have a healthy goal weight in mind, you know that every day is an opportunity to celebrate progress, even if the scale doesn’t move. There’s progress in being able to run or walk an extra five minutes on the treadmill or in being able to lift a weight you couldn’t lift last week. Being body-positive means that you find progress to celebrate every single day, even if it’s just that you made it to FitClub after a long day at the office. The wins start to pile up, the momentum builds, and your motivation increases every time you find progress to celebrate.
You see FitClub as a community. In every FitClub class, there is a variety of body types, ages, and fitness levels. Everyone is striving towards the goal of a healthier lifestyle, and no one is negatively judged. If you’re choosing thoughts that promote body positivity, you see that FitClub is a community of like minded individuals taking advantage of having a community that shares the same goals. It’s easier to find joy and motivation when you are able to share that in a FitClub class, program, or just surrounding yourself with others in the cardio rooms.
You express gratitude for your health. Everyone at FitClub is committed to improving their health, but we can also be grateful for the health we already have. When the negative self-talk starts to slip in, you can replace it with gratitude that you have enough energy to make it through your workout. We all have something we are working to improve, but we can also be grateful for our health and grateful for every opportunity to improve.
What helps you be more positive about your body? Share your tips with the FitClub community and let’s help each other get, and stay, more body positive!
