New Years Day marks the beginning of Tone It Up's annual "Love Your Body" series. It is a 6 week fitness challenge designed by Karena and Katrina of Tone It Up to inspire you to strive for your goals of getting lean and healthy. This is actually the first year that I am participating in this particular series, and it strikes a chord with me more now than I ever think it would have before. We are given these choices and opportunities in our lives for a reason; to either teach you something, or remind you of what you already know (even if you didn't want to admit it yet!) . This challenge for me is the latter.
Loving my body is not something I have ever done. I have always managed to point out everything I hated about it when I looked in the mirror. (As many girls do, unfortunately). With the help of the constant and amazing support from Tone It Up, the girls I have met through the program, and deciding to pursue a vegan diet, I can say that I have truly learned to love my body. I'm not even at my goal weight or where I want to be yet, but I have learned to appreciate myself on a whole new level.
My life has changed for the better. I'm happier with the way my body is looking, the sharpness and clarity of my mind, and simply for knowing that I'm consuming the best possible foods for my health. While prior to deciding to eat vegan I was still eating "healthy" as far as I was concerned but didn't realize there was a much better option out there for me. It was something I had never even considered. Now, with nearly 6 weeks of vegan eating under my belt, I truly do have a greater appreciation for my body. Within those 6 weeks, I ran my first 5k and 10k both! I've lost a good deal of weight, and I've realized how amazing our bodies truly can be when you treat them right.
So this challenge really couldn't have come at a better time. Loving my body is a whole new concept to me, but I feel more beautiful and confident than I ever have. I know now that I CAN push myself, and I CAN absolutely love myself no matter what that damn scale says. I have the diet portion of it under control at this point, so with the challenge my goal is to stick to the workouts as best as I can.
I can't wait to see what this series, and this year will bring :)
feeling good in your own skin is so important.. I'm healing from a bulging disc in my low back and for the past 2 yrs I haven't been able to be active.. now I'm back to what I weighed over 4 yrs ago when I started my "get healthy" journey. I'm so discouraged.. at the gym yesterday. I had such a negative convo in my head.. "look at you, you used to be able to do this with 15lbers!" "look how slow and fat you are now" "you used to be this or that".. it was horrible.. so I said ya know what everyone starts somewhere and I'm making my setback a comeback one day at a time. and I told that nasty biotch that I'm beautiful, strong and I will get back to where I was and then some.
ReplyDeleteLife happens! That is no fault of yours that you've been unable to be active. Your body definitely needs that time to heal, so don't be discouraged. You have the right idea, and you're exactly right, we all have to start somewhere! You'll be amazing :)
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