5 Things to Remember When You’ve Gained Weight
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Gained weight and freaking out about it? This episode is for you!
I know you’re probably stressing out about your weight gain, you’re probably punishing and depriving yourself, you’re beating yourself up about it, you’re trying to figure out how lose this weight ASAP, and how to hide the weight gain, am I right?
That’s seems to be our nature response to weight gain as women and that’s why in this episode of the Embrace Your Real podcast, I give you 5 remembers to help you change your outlook on weight loss. When you remember these things, I can guarantee you will feel more at peace within in your body, regardless of the weight gain.
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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 Labbetter. 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.
So you've gained weight, you and everyone else, sister. I know you might be stressing out about it. I know you might be punishing yourself. You're depriving yourself. You're maybe beating yourself up about it. All of the things. I know that is honestly our natural response to weight gain. And so in this episode, I really want to try to help change that perspective. And I want to give you five things to remember when you've gained weight that will really help you feel more at peace about it.
But before I dive into this episode, I wanted to share the super sweet review. It comes from Aton Annette. She gave a five star review and said, "The perfect addition to your 'me time.' Sometimes all we need is the dose of real talk and encouragement from our gal pals. Julie is that ride or die gal pal. My favorite time to listen to this podcast is on my morning commute to work as I'm preparing for the day ahead. Embrace Your Real sets the tone for the day by reminding me to be intentional and create actionable steps for reaching my goals. I love this podcast and would recommend it to anyone looking to enhance their mental and physical wellbeing."
Oh, my goodness. I love this so much. I am so honored to be your "ride or die gal pal." Love that so much for us. And if you haven't already rated and reviewed the podcast, if this podcast or any episodes have helped you in any way, I would love to hear about it. So all you have to do is go to Apple podcast on any Apple device and be sure to type in Embrace Your Real. When you are on that page, if you scroll all the way down, you will see the rating interview section there. It really does help us out. That's how we are able to rank the charts. And all that basically means in the podcast world is that we're able to reach more women. And so this free resource comes out to you every single Monday and Thursday. And so if this has served you in any way, that is my one ask of you to leave a rating and review. And thank you, thank you, thank you in advance for doing so. Okay. So let's dive in.
Number one, weight gain is not permanent. So you've gained some weight. So what? Just because you maybe went on vacation or you've gained five pounds, you've been off track for a few months. Maybe you've gained 10 pounds, 15 pounds. This does not mean that the weight is permanent. You've gained some weight, but guess what? You can also lose the weight too. You know how, and when you cut your hair, your hair grows back. Well, when you gain weight, you can also lose that weight too. So don't stress out over it too much. Don't obsess over it. Don't beat yourself up about it. Don't deprive yourself. Don't make up for it. Just remind yourself that it isn't permanent. The weight is within your control.
And that kind of leads me to number two, you have control to change. You have control over how you nourish your body. You have control over how you move your body. You have control over how you hydrate your body, which means that you have control over the way that your body looks. If you actually wanted to lose the weight that you've gained, you're actually 100% capable of losing the weight that you've gained. All you truly need to do is learn how to properly nourish your body. Work out three to five days per week, hydrate at least 100 ounces of water daily and try to get seven to eight hours of rest at night.
The thing is, I know that there are certain things in our life, and sometimes we don't have control over how we nourish our body, but you have control over how you react to that situation and what you do in that situation. And I'm giving certain circumstances like maybe you're at a summer camp or maybe you're doing something or maybe you're at a certain place and you just don't have control over all the meals and all the snacks and whatnot. There are so many other ways. Like I mentioned, you have control over how you move your body. So maybe that's even stepping in place. Some people say, well, I don't have the space in order to have a treadmill or it's too cold outside to go outside. All I say to those people is that's an excuse. If you have literally a place where you can stand up, you can even walk in place. If you want to get a little bit more movement in your body.
You have control over hydrating your body. Most of the people listening to the sound of my voice right now have access to clean water. I'm guessing about 99.9% of people who have access to the ability to listen to a podcast, you likely have access to clean drinking water. And that is a blessing. And that is something that we should not take for granted. And so I'm going to tell you as a sister to you in a loving kind of nudge, like you have control over how you hydrate your body. You can put the soda down or you can put the green juice down and drink water instead. You have control over that. Honestly, if you're traveling or if life is busy or your routine is disrupted, there are three or four things still in your control.
Yes, it might take a little extra planning. It might take a little extra effort, a little extra motivation, but that doesn't mean that it's not outside of your control. You just need to commit and remain consistent no matter what. Number three, there is no need to crash diet. I know that you want to lose your weight ASAP, but there is actually no reason for you to lose the weight ASAP. No one cares how long it takes you to lose weight. No one is counting how many days it takes you. No one is racing you, nothing terrible is going to happen if you don't lose it right away or within the first week. So please don't go on a crash diet, okay? Just lose it naturally, lose it sustainably. Crash diets only lead to unhealthy relationships with your body, with food and with fitness. They can truly damage your metabolism and they can honestly make it impossible to maintain weight loss once you've crashed dieted for a long time.
It can make it super hard to lose weight. So remember when you gain weight, it is not a race to lose it again, take your time, do it right, and trust the process. If you try to rush the process, you will likely do more harm than good. Number four, don't resist it. Just accept it. I know how easy it is. When you gain weight to want to hide it. You feel like you need to cover it up. You feel like you need to wear baggier clothes. Not go out in public. You need to wear clothes that don't make you "look as fat." You're constantly trying to figure out how you can dress to hide the weight that you've gained. You're also constantly thinking about the weight that you've gained. You're thinking about how fat you look. You're thinking about how other people probably notice how fat you look and you just feel so self-conscious.
So what if you just stopped worrying about it? What if you stopped resisting the weight loss and instead you just accept it? What if you said, okay, I gained weight. It is what it is, but I'm taking measures to change that. In the meantime, I'm just going to accept my body on this journey towards losing the weight that I've gained. The next time that you try to hide your body, remember this, you can accept your body and change your body at the same time. You don't need to feel self-conscious. You can accept where you are and embrace where you are and still work towards changing it. No one actually cares if you've gained weight. Better yet, no one has probably even noticed that you've gained weight.
Number five, gaining weight is a part of living your life. I've gained 40 pounds since I started my fitness journey. 40 pounds, but you know what? Those were the best 40 pounds that I could have gained. I would rather weigh more and actually live my life than weigh less and constantly obsess about eating perfectly. I can honestly say after years and years of depriving myself and having such an unhealthy relationship with my body, that weight gain is well worth it. I would much rather gain weight so I could eat the pizza on Friday night. I could have the ice cream on a Tuesday night. I could enjoy date nights with my husband, live more freely while on vacation, be more present when going out for girls' night, and feel more relaxed on holidays instead of living in constant fear of gaining weight, which prevented me honestly from actually enjoying all of those things that are meant to be enjoyed.
I'm sorry, but there is no amount of weight loss that would be worth more than the memories I have created by living my life without food fear. Let me say that again. There is no amount of weight loss that would be worth more than the memories that I have created by living my life without food fear. So with that being said, if you've gained some weight, please just know what else you might have gained. You might have gained unforgettable memories. You might have gained real happiness, so much fun and a life you actually enjoy living. Weight gain honestly feels pretty worth it to me, in my opinion. This is also to my postpartum ladies. Trust me. I know it's probably hard to look in the mirror and see your body differently from where it was pre-pregnancy, but I'm telling you that you were made for this. You literally just had a baby, like you literally birthed a human being out of this body that was designed for birth.
And so please, please, please. Don't discredit everything that your amazing body has done for you over the last nine months and still continues to do as you are nurturing this new newborn baby, and as you are going through all of the different fields of being maybe a new mom or just having a new baby. And I just want to applaud you number one, and I want to remind you that you have done something incredible. Your body has done something incredible. So give yourself time, give yourself grace and just look back and appreciate everything that your body has done and allowed you to do. But all in all, if you've gained weight, please don't freak out about it. Remember it isn't permanent. Just remember you gained weight, but you can also lose weight. The weight you lose is within your control. You are in control of the decisions that you make, and you can decide to do the things that need to be done in order to lose the weight.
But no matter what, please, please, please do not crash diet. That is not the solution to long term weight loss. It will only cause more harm than good. And so instead, I want you to accept your body while working to change your body. You don't need to feel self-conscious. Just embrace where you are at while you are still working towards changing your body. And lastly, please remember that your weight gain could be a symbol for you actually living your life. And that's honestly a beautiful thing. Memories and happiness are way more important than weight loss. Capish?
Okay, if you love this episode, I know you'll also love episode 196, 5 Steps To Losing Your Holiday Weight. I know it's not the holiday season right now, but these steps will still apply to you. This is a fail proof method that you need to try. And I know you'll also love episode 212, my thoughts on body acceptance. I think many of us believe it's impossible to accept our bodies for what they are simply because we don't actually know what body acceptance actually looks like. And so in this episode, I share what body acceptance means to me and how it can apply to you and help you live more freely in your body.
Both of those episodes are linked in the show notes so that you can easily go listen to now. I hope this episode was helpful for you. I hope this episode gave you some perspective. Please remember that nothing in this life is permanent, but it's really important that wherever you're at that you have a proper perspective on where you're at and the things that you've gone through and appreciate your body for everything that it is instead of dwelling on everything that you think it's not. If you have a girlfriend or a friend or someone in your life that you feel like would benefit from this specific pep talk, I just ask that you shared out with them. You can copy the link and send it to them in a text message. You can also screenshot this and post it up on your Instagram story or on your social media. Be sure to tag me, Julie Labbetter, as well as Embrace your Real. We love connecting with you guys. Thank you again for tuning in and I'll talk to you in the next episode. Love you.
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, Julie A. Labbetter. 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 Podcast, 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.