5 “What If’s” You Need to Consider About Weight Loss
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So many of us think that weight loss is the answer to everything. So many of us think the second we lose weight, our entire life is going to transform. But at the same time, our quest for weight loss is stopping us from living our lives now, from living happily and healthfully and from embrace our real. That’s why I have 5 “What Ifs” to share with you in this episode of Embrace Your Real.
If you love this episode, I know you’ll also love episode 133: 4 Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Body Standards.
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 am really excited about today's episode because I think so many of us think that weight loss is the answer to everything. We think that the second that we lose weight, our entire life is going to transform. But at the same time, our quest for weight loss is stopping us from living our lives right now. It's stopping us from living happily and healthfully, and most importantly, embracing our real. So that's why I have five what-ifs to share with you today that I would love for you to seriously consider while continuing your quest for weight loss.
But before I dive in, I wanted to share this super sweet review. It comes from Anna Lee Dicky. She says, "Julie, just what I needed. I cannot thank you enough for creating this podcast. It truly uplifts me. I discovered this podcast at the beginning of a new season of my life. As a mom of three under three...
Wait, can we just take a moment and say you are amazing, mama. I am so proud of you.
... loving myself and my body has taken on a new meaning. This podcast reinforces the idea that caring for your body that you have is the healthiest way to truly feel your best. After years of struggling with a body image disorder, I finally love and appreciate my body and everything that it's given me. I feel more confident and beautiful at 31 than I did in my 20s. Thank you, Julie, for everything you do. I look forward to tuning in each week for that daily dose of real talk. XO, Anna."
Anna, first off, like I said, you are crushing it. I am so proud of you, and thank you so much for this review. I am sending you all of my love and all of my support. With three kiddos under three, girl, you are crushing it, and I'm so grateful that you are a part of this community.
If you haven't already rated and reviewed the podcast, it does help us out tremendously with the growth of this podcast and just reaching more women like Anna to help them realize that loving themselves and caring for their body truly is the healthiest way to feel your best. I just ask that you scooch over to Apple Podcasts. You can click that rate and review. It takes less than 20 seconds, but it helps us out so, so much.
Okay, what if number one. What if you can't lose weight because you don't have any more weight to lose? Something that I see a lot of women thinking is that they are on a plateau that they can't get over. When in reality, they just don't have any more weight to lose or more weight that they should lose at this moment.
In this case, oftentimes, you're striving for perfection, but no one actually has a perfect body, nor do you need to have a perfect body. As women, we were literally created by God to have fat on us. Our fat is there to help us create life. How amazing is that? Plus, having fat is actually mandatory for supporting healthy hormone levels. So no matter how hard we try, we won't be able to get rid of all of the fat because the fat that you actually have on your body, sometimes that's actually supposed to be there.
The point being, if you are struggling to get rid of that last 5 or 10 pounds, or whatever it is, maybe those last few pounds are pounds that are supposed to be there. Maybe you're not supposed to lose that weight. And I also wanted to touch on something with this, as well. Body recomposition is a real thing. And so I think oftentimes we have this goal weight in mind, and we think before we had babies and after we had babies, well, if I could just get back to my pre-baby weight, then I will feel my best.
But you have to remember that body recomposition is a real thing. And so not just going by the scale is so important, body measurements, progress photos. How are you feeling? So just remember that, if you feel like you're not losing the X amount of pounds that you think you're supposed to be losing. When I look back at my 130 pounds versus 155-pound body recomposition, if I were to go back to 130 pounds at my frame right now, I would look sickly. I wouldn't look how I was designed to be and how my body naturally is.
So just remember, it's not always weight that you need to go off of. And I've talked about this in so many other podcasts, but go off of body measurements, go off your progress photos, go after how you're feeling, how your clothes are fitting, and don't just think that you have 5 or 10 more pounds to lose. Because if you are honoring your body with movement, you're nourishing your body with what it needs, you're speaking to it lovingly, your body will naturally be what it's supposed to be at that time. So don't force it.
What if number two. What if you never lose the weight? Okay. I know that sounds super negative, but I want you to think about it. What if you never lose the weight and for the rest of your life, you live in weight loss mode, and you live hating your body, and you live constantly wishing that your body was something other than it was? What if, for the rest of your life, you allow your need to lose weight to control you, control the way you live, and control the experiences that you have in your life?
That doesn't really sound like a pleasant way to spend your entire life. Does it? No, of course not. So don't let it be the way that you live right now. Don't let your, quote, need to lose weight, control anything about your life right now. Because when does it end? It won't have an end, so stop now.
And actually, I was just looking at this Instagram post that went viral, and it was like women in their 90s. And so many of those women who are nearing the end of their life, I want to say that they have a good 10, 15 years left of their life, but their number one piece of advice was stop hating your body. Start living in the moment. Give yourself grace. There were so many beautiful pieces of advice. And I just want you to remember that right now. Whether you are 15 years old, listening to this, You're 35. You're 55. You're 75. I don't care how old you are. I want you to stop letting the need to lose weight control you and waste hours and days and so much emotion of your life.
What if number three. What if your body is already exactly what it's supposed to be? What if you're trying to change your body, but it won't change because it already is where it's meant to be right now? For years, I strived to have a thigh gap because I believed that my thighs were too thick. But I finally realized, oh, God actually created me to have thicker thighs. And no matter how hard I try, I will never have a thigh gap. That's not how they were built. That's not how my body is supposed to look. We need to stop trying to force our body into something that it's not and start accepting our body for everything that it is.
What if number four. What if weight loss isn't actually what you're looking for? I think most of us are chasing weight loss because we think it will make us happier or more confident, or more valued. But here's the truth. These are all separate things. It's totally fine if you want to lose weight and have goals but don't for one second think that that will make you happier, more confident, or more valued. I can speak from experience. When I was at my lowest leanness weight, I was also the unhappiest and unconfident version of myself I have ever been. All of those things are separate and need to be worked on separately.
If you want to lose weight, work on losing weight. But if you want to be happier, work on being happier. If you want to be more confident, work on being more confident. And most importantly, you don't want your happiness and confidence to be reliant on your weight because when, not if, but when your weight fluctuates, your happiness and confidence will fluctuate with that. Now that is some food for thought.
What if number five. What if you stopped trying to lose weight? What would happen if you simply let go of all of your weight loss thoughts and just simply lived your life? How freeing of a thought is that? I dare you to try it. The next time you find your weight loss thoughts controlling you, ask yourself, what would I do if I weren't trying to lose weight? The beautiful thing, oftentimes, when we stop focusing so much on the weight that we think we need to lose, we finally lose the weight we've been wanting to lose, whether that be physically losing the weight or losing it mentally no longer allowing it to weigh us down.
Okay, so let me recap those five what-ifs. I suggest you writing these down and coming back to them time and time again for a reminder. What if you can't lose weight because you don't have any more weight to lose? What if you never lost the weight? What if your body is already exactly what it's supposed to be? What if weight loss isn't actually what you're looking for? And what if you stopped trying to lose weight?
If you love this episode, I know you will also love episode 133, 4 Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Body Standards. The number one reason we struggle to embrace our bodies is because of the body standards that we hold for ourselves. But here's the thing. Many of us are completely unaware of the body standards we have, where they came from, why we hold ourselves to these standards, and how toxic they really are. You can download that episode now and start evaluating your body standards by following the link in the show notes. Again, that's episode 133, 4 Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Body Standards.
If you have a girlfriend or a sister or a coworker in your life that you feel like would really benefit from this episode, I just ask that you share it out with them. You can copy the link, send it to them in a text message. You can screenshot this, post it up on your story. Tag me, juliealedbetter, tag, embraceyourreal, and tag some friends to check it out. I really appreciate you sharing this message with other women and spreading the message of embracing your real. And stop living in this constant weight loss mode. Thank you so much for tuning in, and I will talk to you guys in the next episode.
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.