5 Messages You Need to Hear About Your “Holiday Weight Gain”
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It’s the beginning of the year, the holidays are officially over, the holiday high is wearing off, and the reality of life is beginning to set in. I know so many of you are looking in the mirror saying things like, “I'm fat”, “I need to lose weight”, “I feel and look so gross”, “Why did I let myself eat all of that?”What did I let myself go?” Do any of these thoughts sound familiar? If you’re finding yourself in this place, I have five super important messages I share with you in this episode of Embrace Your Real.
If you’re unsure on how to approach changing your body WITHOUT using a quick fix, girl, I’m here for you. This is why I’m launching my Honor Your Body Challenge to help you avoid those quick fixes I know you’ll be tempted to cling onto. My challenge gives you the exact framework you need for honoring your body long-term. After the 4-weeks, you’ll have built a solid foundation for yourself to keep building on. If that sounds like exactly what you need, then head over to honoryourbodychallenge.com.
TRANSCRIPT:
Hey, hey, beautiful human. Can I steal five minutes of your time? I have something super important to share with you, but I promise I'll be really quick. You're listening to my weekly bonus episode of Embrace Your Real with me, Julie Ledbetter. I'm about to give you a quick tip for building your confidence, honoring your body and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned if you're ready to embrace your real. Let's get it. Let's go.
Hello and welcome back to another bonus episode of the Embrace Your Real podcast. I'm so grateful that you are here. It is the beginning of a new year, 2021, baby. The holidays are officially over, the holiday high's wearing off, and the reality of life is beginning to set in again. Now, I know so many of you may be looking in the mirror and saying things like, "So fat, I need to lose weight. I feel so gross. Why did I let myself eat all of that? Why did I let myself go?" Do any of those thoughts sound familiar? If you're finding yourself in this place, I have five super important messages that I need to share with you today, so tune in.
But first I have to share this super sweet review. It comes from Cool Mikko. She says, "Thank you. I'm so glad I found this podcast. It sounds like Julie is speaking directly to me in every single episode. She has given me so much food for thought and her inspiration has even given me the courage to start a blog, which is something that I've been thinking about doing for years. Thank you, Julie, for addressing things in a way that makes me think and encourages me to try new things." That is so cool. Thank you for sharing this. I would love to know what your blog is. You are so amazing and I'm so proud of you for getting the courage to speak your truth. We all have truth that need to be spoken, and I'm so grateful for you. If you haven't already rated and read the podcast, all you got to do is scooch over to Apple podcasts. If you could leave us a new review for the new year, that would be incredible. Click rate and review, it's at the bottom. It takes less than 30 seconds and it helps us out so much. Back to the episode.
First of all, if you're having these negative thoughts, dominate your mind about your body, what it looks like, it's okay. I want you to know that that's okay. Whatever your body is right now is okay. You just need to allow it to be whatever it is because shaming it and punishing it is not going to change anything. The next time you have negative thoughts, like I'm so fat or I've gained so much weight, I need you to follow it up by saying, and that's okay. Because you know what? It really is okay. Whether you gained weight or it's all in your head, it's okay. Tell yourself that whatever your body is, is okay.
Second of all, if you did gain a few pounds, it isn't going to affect your life at all. You're still going to be an amazing mother. You're still going to be a loving wife or girlfriend. You're still going to be a killer co-worker. You're still going to be you. You're still able to do all the same things and be all the same things. A few pounds doesn't affect anything. So I need you to quit believing that it will because it truly doesn't.
Third of all, no one really cares about your holiday weight gain except for you. I know I've said it a lot, but it's something we need to continue to hear and drill into our brains over and over again. You are the only one who actually cares about what your body looks like. Everyone who loves you unconditionally loves you for you, not your body. If there's someone in your life who will love you or like you less because of what your body looks like, that's a clear sign that you need to reevaluate why they're in your life and what role they should play. We should only surround ourselves with people that prioritize and love us for us no matter what. So if someone in your life is bothered by your few holiday pounds, then I would thank the holiday weight because it's revealed to you that that person in your life maybe shouldn't be there in the first place.
Fourth of all, your body is capable of change. So if it's really bothering you, you can do something about it. Rather than complaining about your body and shaming your body, start changing your body. It's okay to do that. You can love and change your body at the same time. These two aren't enemies. They can actually be allies. And I think, personally, that when you start a change out of so much love and appreciation for your body, that will serve you so much longer. You're doing this. You're making goals. You're making the commitment to honoring your body with movement. You're pushing yourself in your workouts. You're pushing yourself with honoring the nutrition that you intake because you love yourself so much.
So start making choices that align with how you want to feel. Pick one word right now that describes exactly how you want to feel. For example, you might want to feel energized or nourished or strong or confident or happy, whatever that word is that describes how you want to feel, start making choices that align with that feeling. Will X make you feel energized? How about Y? What about Z? If the answer is yes, go for it. If the answer is no, take a moment before following through. How you feel and how you choose to look at each moment is 100% within your control. So if you want to change the way that you feel in your body, you have to start making changes in your mind and then start making choices that initiate the change that you want to see in your life.
Fifth of all, yes, your body's capable of change, but that change does not happen over night. Allow it to be a gradual change. Please promise me that you will allow it to be gradual. No one is counting down the days until your body is "back to normal". Stop rushing the process. Something else I say all the time, but we need to hear it over and over again, is that quick fix solutions will bring you quick results, but you'll lose those results just as quickly as you found them. They weren't meant to be long-term change. They weren't meant to be suitable lifelong habits. They were meant for a quick fix. So if you're serious about wanting to change your body, do it the right way so that you only have to do it once. So that you find joy in it not again in three months or six months or nine months, or again when the holidays are over. I don't want you to be in the same spot that you are right now if you're not happy with yourself one year from now. Do it the right way starting now. But do it slowly so that you don't have to do it over and over again.
If you're completely unsure, and you're like, "Julie, this is me. I want this. I want to do it gradually. I want to learn the fundamental habits that are going to serve me as they go into the new year," please, please, please check out my Honor Your Body challenge. I only do this challenge a few times a year. Really this challenge is all about you avoiding quick fixes that I know you'll be tempted to cling on to. My challenge gives you the exact framework that you need to know about how to honor your body long-term. After the four weeks, you'll have built a solid foundation so that you can keep building onto it.
If this sounds like something you're interested in, or if you even just want to learn more about it, I will link it in the show notes below. Or you can head over to www.honoryourbody challenge.com, and that will show you everything that you need to know about the challenge. Again, it's a four-week challenge. This is not a quick fix challenge. This is a challenge that's going to teach you the fundamentals of what it looks like to honor your body. I've also just recently did a podcast episode on the three Ms to honoring your body, so I will be sure to link that in the show notes as well if you want to learn more about of the framework and the process that goes into the Honor Your Body challenge and why I believe these are the three Ms to really honoring your body going into this new year.
The challenge starts on January 18th. I would love, love, love to have you inside of it. Remember, having a community of like-minded women all committing to not following a quick fix, all committing to gradual change, those are the types of people that you want to surround yourself with because those are the types of people that are going to encourage you on the days that you just want to give up. They're going to encourage you to keep going and over time, my girl, you are going to be so impressed with yourself as to what you can accomplish and most importantly, how you'll feel about yourself, how you'll feel in your body, the energy that you're going to experience. So again, head to the show notes, or go to www.honoryourbodychallenge.com. The challenge starts January 18th and ends on Valentine's day, so perfect time for it to end as we head into the new year. I'm so incredibly excited to see what this challenge has in store. I love you so much.
If you have somebody in your life that you feel like would benefit from this quick episode, I just encourage you to share it out with them. You can copy the link, text it to them, or you can post it up on your story. Tag me, Julie Ledbetter. I would love to know your aha moments, what came from this episode, and I will talk to you guys in the next one.
All right, sister, that's all I got for you today, but I have two things that I need you to do. First thing, if you are not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so, JulieALedbetter, yes it's with an A in the middle, for that daily post-workout real talk, healthy tips and tricks and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check. The second thing, be sure to subscribe to Apple podcasts to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world. And I'm going to leave you with one last thought, the most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface, so go out there and embrace your real because you're worth it.