Transformation Tuesday

Maybe you have noticed that I look different. There have been some major changes for me recently. I was stuck in my body for a long time. I was stressed out by the overwhelming number of basic things I had to do for myself, in order to stay healthy. I didn’t think positive change was an option for me. I was at a plateau. Then I had a perspective change. 

For a long time I had trouble letting things go. Then one day it was no longer an issue. I opened up about how I was feeling. I changed my attitude and approach to life. I reached out to some people who could help me with this mind shift. I started and stopped, and started again. 

When executing an exercise in Pilates, there are a couple of repetitions for precision and then I tell my clients to “find the flow” for the rest. Within that process, you give yourself time to try things and see how the exercise feels in your body. Then you go for it. 

April, May and June were my set up months. I tried things and gave up and tried again. Then in July, I found the flow. I changed a few habits and they snowballed into other areas of my life. 

On July 4th I went to a cookout with 99% female body builders in attendance. Normally, I would have compared myself negatively to their bodies. Many times in similar situations, I would have noticed scrutinizing looks. I would have thought to myself how they would be asking how I could be a Pilates Instructor, looking like I did. None of that happened. Everyone was nice. Instead I looked at their bodies and appreciated how each one was different even though they all had a similar goal. I thought to myself, this is my body and it is what it is. I choose to be ok with our differences and to appreciate our different goals. 

Later that week, I started to lose weight. I did not set out to do this. I did not think that was something that could happen for me. My attitude change was the catalyst to all this work, I had done, starting to pay off. I had choices. I could choose to think negatively about my body. I could place blame on any number of things. Or I could accept myself for who and what I was in that moment and be happy with that. I chose to live in the moment, from a confident place. This is what worked for me. I have continued to work from a place of confidence in my body and my choices about what I put into it and how I move it. I do Pilates 6 days a week, and walk when I can. I do not do any cardio. Pilates makes me sweat. I eat a lot less inflammatory foods. These are the main changes I have made to help me make positive change in my body.

There have been a lot of changes for me. I lost a lot of things in this process. I lost my negative attitude toward my body. I lost my fear of asking for help. Most of all I let go of the need to live up to other peoples’ expectations of my body. This is my body and it is just fine. Even if it had not changed at all. How I feel about myself and my body changed and that is all that matters. How can you be more confident in your body?