Real Conversations: Body Image Battles (featuring Lael)

Real Conversations

Sometimes it feels like we are fighting our battles alone. It’s easy to feel isolated, especially during this strange pandemic.

I know so many amazing women who are in the middle of ongoing hardship, and they continue to show up and they are learning incredible lessons in the midst of their trials.

Throughout the next few weeks, I will be interviewing some of these women and sharing their stories in the hopes that it can provide encouragement to those of you who are walking similar paths. You’ll be able to listen in on these conversations and/or follow along with my blog posts after each interview to hear about their personal journeys and glean some of their wisdom.

I dare you to NOT be encouraged!

In this first episode, I interview my friend Lael. Recently she has been on a journey to greater health and wellness which has meant not just weight loss, but addressing her underlying guilt and shame related to food.

I invite you to watch (or just listen to!) the full interview below, and keep on reading for some of my thoughts and reflections on our conversation and helpful resources.

Body Image Battles

So often, as women, we desire to lose weight and make better food choices, but can get stuck. Maybe you’ve tried different things and have not succeeded.

I am in a journey myself with this very issue and it can be hard to keep taking steps in the same direction and not give up when we don’t see the results we want right away.

We want to avoid the struggle of an endurance game of dealing with the emotional and spiritual side of our habits and want the fast lane. We address our behaviours without addressing our thought life. But when we bypass the hard work, we find that we yo-yo back and forth between short-lived success and disappointment and failure.

Relate?

But how do we make healthier choices without becoming obsessed, how do we have balance with wise decisions but allowances for life and bad days and failures? How do we deal with the mental battle underneath? How do we give ourselves grace for the journey?

Tips for Weight Loss and Food Habits

Some of the key points we talked about regarding weight loss and food habits:

Know what your why is. If the why behind your weight loss is fear and shame, it will only be motivating for so long.
It’s not all or nothing. There can be balance. You can be gentle with yourself and gracious for where you are at, while still moving forward towards a healthier goal.
What you speak to yourself, matters. The thoughts you allow to rattle about in your head will affect how you behave without you even being aware.
Be intentional about finding people that can support you.

The words “Would I talk to my child, as I talk to myself?” in white text on a green background

Getting ‘Unstuck’ on Your Body Image Journey

If you are on a weight loss journey and have found some of these truths to be helpful, or others along the way, let me know! What has helped you with the long-suffering journey of weight loss? Or transforming your mind with truths about who you are and what gives you value?

Romans 12:2 “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind”

And for those of you who are stuck and trying to become unstuck with this issue (as I find myself right now), here are some questions to help you get unstuck:

What are some of my wins lately? Am I celebrating the good choices I AM making instead of focusing on shaming myself for the bad ones?
What IS my thought life like? Am I even aware? Should I seek counseling to become more aware?
Where do I feel caught in guilt and shame? Is that cycle serving my goals?
What thought patterns am I having that are not helpful?
What does it mean to ME to be a good steward with my body? How can I focus on that instead of a number on a scale?
What does it mean to be a good steward of my thoughts?