A Pep Talk on Your “Summer Body”

 

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Summer is here and I know what summer brings for most of you women…

Anxiety, heighten insecurities, crash dieting, more anxiety, more insecurities and not enjoying your summer to the fullest. Am I right, or am I right?

That’s why I think you probably need a little pep talk on your “summer body”. You’re probably thinking about that summer body you “wish” you had and you’re going to let that thought ruin your summer. So before it’s too late, I want to change your mindset about the body you have right now!

If you loved this episode, I know you will also love…

Episode 100: My 2021 body goals

Sure it says 2021, but it’s still relevant for 2022 and I think it’s a message you need to hear!


TRANSCRIPT:

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 your another bonus episode, summer is here and you know what summer brings for most of us, anxiety, heightened insecurities, crash dieting, more anxiety, more insecurities, and not enjoying your summer to the fullest. Am I right? It is blasted everywhere on social media and that's why I wanted to share just a quick little pep talk on your summer body because I know what you might be thinking about that summer body and how you don't think you have one or you're going to let that ruin your summer. And before it's too late, I want you to change your mindset. I want to give you that big sister pep talk but before I do, I wanted to share this super sweet review. Danielle gave a five-star review and she said, "My all-time, favorite podcast, Julie is so real and inspiring every topic she covers is so valuable and exactly what I need to hear in the moment. I look forward to her episodes every week and I could listen all day. Thank you, Julie, for creating this space."

No, thank you, Danielle, for this. Thank you for sharing this, thank you for tuning in. I appreciate every single one of your guys' reviews. Hey, if you have a sister or a friend or coworker that you feel like would benefit from this podcast or maybe this specific episode or one that you've recently listened to, I just asked that you shared out with them. That is the absolute, best way to get the word of mouth out about the podcast is sharing with one or two friends and I could only imagine the impact that we could have if you shared this podcast with one or two other people that multiplies so quickly.

So thank you for doing that, if you haven't already left a rating interview, that is my one ask of you. If you could leave a rating and a review, it really does help out our podcast. Not only rank the charts which essentially just means that we're able to reach more people but it just allows more women to hear the message of Embrace Your Real and our goal, and from day one has always been to reach as many women to help encourage and inspire and educate them so that they can not only build the body that they want that is a sustainable approach, that is a realistic approach but also they can feel like they can come to a place and be authentically themselves and just hear some real talk on all things health and fitness related movement mindset, all of those things. So thank you in advance for doing that.

All you have to do is type and Embrace Your Real to any podcast app. If you have the Apple app on your Apple device, that is where it honestly matters most simply because the majority of people tune in on Apple podcasts. But if you're tuning in on Spotify, you can also just click that rating section at the top once you type and Embrace Your Real, you'll see the rating section. And that just allows more people to be like, "Oh, okay, this person recommends this podcast," and it just encourages other people to tune in. So thank you in advance for doing that. So let's dive into the five things that I want to talk to about regarding that summer body AKA that big sister pep talk that you need. Number one, you do not need a summer body. The body that you have right now is perfect for summer.

You don't need to change your body in order to enjoy your summer. You can enjoy this summer in the body that you have right now. If you do feel like you want to change your body, just remember it doesn't have to happen right in time for summer because summer is now. And if you feel like you need to change it right now, that likely means that you'll be crash dieting, depriving yourself, punishing yourself, under eating, over training, all the things. Do not do this. Again, if you feel like you do need to change your body, I am not by any means shaming you. I feel like it is a beautiful thing when we have goals especially, physical goals that we want to push towards but play the long game not the short game. The long game will ensure that you never feel like you have to rush to get a summer body again.

Sure, it will take longer but next summer, the summer after that and the summer after that and even more than summer, you will feel good in your body year round. Just remember that you will feel confident, strong and fit in your body and you won't ever feel like you have to crash diet for summer. So start now nourish your body, I encourage you to at least eat enough protein enough calories for what your body needs. I love using the tool of macro counting that way and weight training, resistance training, super important. But again, remember you do not need to change your body in order to enjoy your summer. Your body does not need to change, your mindset around your body needs to change. Let me say that again, your body doesn't need to change, your mindset around your body needs to change. You are fully capable of having the best summer ever in the body that you have right now if your mind allows you to.

And this is really important and this is an important thing to share simply because you could be working towards the body of your dreams but if you're not working on your mindset, it does not matter where your physical body is. If your mindset is not trained to be confident and to love yourself at every single stage, you will be the physically leanest or the physically fittest or you will reach your physical goal but yet you will still not feel confident. So please remember the mental aspect of this, is so important. Number two, you are not alone. This is honestly the most important thing that you need to know is you are not alone in feeling self-conscious of your body. There are so many women. If you are at a beach, I guarantee there's about 90 to 95% of those women if not more in their bathing suits that are also self-conscious, they are not looking at you. They are not judging you. They are looking at themselves and they are judging their body.

Remember that the next time that you go to the beach, the next time you go to the water park, the next time that you're in shorts, whatever it is, no one is judging you. They're all judging themselves. It's the same thing when we go to the gym, it's the same thing when we're at these places where we feel like everyone is looking at us and we feel so insecure. But think about it when you go to the beach, you don't care about what other people's bodies look like. What their body looks like does not affect your day at all. You are likely concentrating on what your body looks like so why do you think everyone else is staring at your body?

Trust me, I know it's an instinct but it's something that we need to remember. People are so self-absorbed so much so that they will likely not even remember you like five, 10 minutes from now. And they are so in their own mind and in their own head that they don't even have the energy or the capacity to think about you. So just remember that next time you are feeling self-conscious. And number three, every woman has cellulite. It is so important to know that cellulite is a common thing. You are not alone when it comes to cellulite, literally 99.9% of women have cellulite. It's normal, it's natural, it's a part of life. Stop stressing about it even the woman who you see are very lean, they likely still have cellulite. It's honestly nearly impossible to avoid it so stop feeling self-conscious of your cellulite and accept it.

It's a part of the body, the same way that your legs, your arms, your nose, they're all a part of your body. You don't want to just try to get rid of those parts so stop trying to get rid of cellulite. It's simply just a part of your body and you need to accept it because it's normal. Think about it, do any of your friends not have cellulite? I'm guessing, a hundred percent of them do whether you realize it or not. You also have to remember that there are angles, there are lightings, there are editing tools, there are so many things on even videos. You might say, "Yeah. Well, I saw video of this girl and she doesn't have cellulite." Well, two things, girl, number one, they might be in totally different lighting and I'm sure by now we are in 2022, you have seen the pose versus not posed, good lighting versus bad lighting.

All of those videos you have seen and we so easily forget though when we're in the moment on the heat of our insecurity, we forget those things, that there are so many women out there who have cellulite. I have cellulite on the back of my legs. I have cellulite on the sides of my stomach and I still show up day in and day out. I still show up with my shorts, it's taken me a while. I'm not going to lie. It took me a few good years in order for me to feel like I could show up in summertime without just being in leggings all day. But I'm telling you, it is the most freeing feeling in the world when you can show up to a summer barbecue, when you can show up in public, go to the store, whatever the heck it is and you are in shorts and you are feeling confident in your body.

There is nothing that trumps that feeling. So please remember that you are not alone and 99.9% of women have cellulite whether you see it or not which leads me to number four. Wear the dang shorts, it's summer, it's hot. Leggings are uncomfortable in the heat, jeans are uncomfortable in the heat. Just wear the shorts, stop caring about what your legs look like or what your cellulite looks like or what other people might think. It doesn't matter, no one cares. Wear the shorts, I dare you to wear the shorts. I used to be like you, I used to only wear leggings no matter how hot it was. And finally, I forced myself into shorts a few years ago. I kept forcing myself to wear them and the craziest thing happened once I did that, the more that I wore them, the less intimidating they became, the less self-conscious I felt in them, the more confident I felt and the more I just started showing up in them and loving my freaking body and accepting my body and celebrating the heck out of my body.

I am a leg dominant woman, I always have been, I always will be. I got it from my mama and I'm just telling you, it's so important that you feel comfortable and confident and I'm telling you the only way to do that is to keep showing up, keep taking action, keep doing it when you don't want to, keep forcing yourself into the uncomfortable zone. But one thing that I want to share that has really helped me with that to continue to keep showing up is it's important to find shorts that really fit your body. It's important to feel comfortable in the shorts that, they're not too small or they're not riding up your butt so that your butt cheeks are hanging out. That, they're not too tight. It's really important that you find denim that actually, fits your body. And all of our bodies are totally different.

Like I said, I am a leg dominant woman. I am a glute dominant woman. I always have been and so finding the right shorts is really important. For me, the two companies that I swear by when it comes to denim is Fran Denim. Number one, they are jeans built for the athletic body. I have partnered with them, I have been an affiliate for them since 2017, I believe. I love their denim, I love the company, I love the owners. They're phenomenal people. They are based in California. And if you haven't already checked them out, they are incredible. They fit the waste, they fit the booty. Another company that I have recently, I would say within the last two years have loved for denim is Abercrombie which I literally, never thought I would say that again. I remember being the girl in high school, being the girl in middle school that was too big for a ton of Abercrombie clothes, Hollister clothes.

I remember always wanting to fit in them and I felt like I couldn't, I did not feel like it was inclusive when it came to girls who are leg dominant, glute dominant. And I was always just the bigger girl growing up. And I never thought that I would be an Abercrombie person but here I am, they have the curve love. I absolutely, love their mom jeans. I use their curve love mom jeans. Absolutely, love them. My butt cheeks don't hang out and I am a tall girl. I'm 5'9, and so it's hard finding denim that butt cheeks don't hang out but these are awesome. I will be sure to tag them on my leg to know it. I have tagged them before but they have come out with some really cute styles. So mom jeans in the curve love by Abercrombie absolutely, love.

Number five, go to the beach, go to the water park, enjoy yourself, go to the pool party, whatever it is, put the bathing suit on, enjoy yourself. Do not allow your insecurities of what your body looks like to stop you from enjoying your summer. Just remember this, the memories that you create are way more important than obsessing about what your body looks like. Do not compromise creating memories for focusing on your insecurities. You will look back 3, 5, 10, 15 years from now and you will regret it. I know for me, I do regret that time. I regret the time that I wasted so many summers missing out. I don't want you to miss out on enjoying your summer with all of your friends.

Don't miss out on enjoying the summer with your kids or miss out on creating memories with your kids, your family or your friends, whatever period of life that you are in, do not miss out on it because likely you will look back and you'll be so sad if you do. You're going to look back and say, "Man, I was so busy focusing on my insecurities and I didn't show up and I just wish that I had that time back." That's the one thing that all of us wish that we could have that time back whether that's a person, whether that's creating memories or whatnot. And I don't want you to miss out on memories this summer, simply because you're focusing too much on your insecurities. I want you to show up with your flaws, I want you to show up and have a good time. People care more about you having fun and having fun with you than whatever flaws you think you have. All in all this is a pep talk and this is the takeaway that I want you to have.

Do not crash diet in order to get a summer body. The body that you have is already perfect for summer, wear the dang shorts, wear the dang bathing suits, create the memories, go to the barbecue, go to the pool party, whatever it is don't let your insecurities about your body stop you from enjoying summer. And most importantly, in all, whatever you do Embrace Your Real, embrace the real raw, messy, insecure parts of yourself. And when you keep showing up and show up day in and day out and show up when you don't feel like it and show up when you have insecurities and show up when you're having a bad day, trust me, it gets easier. Trust me that when you are vulnerable and you are open about that and you share those things whether it's on social media or it's with your friends or it's with your family, you will notice that you are not alone.

You will notice that you are not the only one struggling and man, is it cool when you can find women and you band together and you realize we are conquering this summer, insecurities, flaws and all, and we are going to have the best summer yet. So I hope that this episode encouraged you. I hope that it gave you the pep talk that you needed. I know for me, I always love a good pep talk and so if this is something that you needed be sure to bookmark this and you can go back and listen to it on the days that you're having those bad body image days or if you have a sister, a friend or a coworker that you feel like would really benefit from this specific episode or a community of people on your social media. If you could screenshot this, you could either post it up on your Instagram story or whatever social media platform you use.

You can also copy the link and send it to them in a text message. It really does help us out in just spreading the message of enjoying our summer and embracing our real. If you love this episode, I know you'll also love episode 100, my 2021 body goals. Oh, sure. It says 2021 but I'm telling you it is still very relevant for 2022. And I think it's a message that you all can benefit from. So you can easily go tune into that by clicking the show notes below again, girl, enjoy the summer, enjoy the heck out of the summer. We never know when our time is up on this earth and so I just want you to enjoy this summer. I want you to enjoy the memories and be present and know that you are so incredibly beautiful. And I want you to, most of all, like I said, Embrace Your Real. I Love you so much, I will talk to you 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 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.