We focus so much on our physical selves that we often forget that the biggest challenge to weight management and living life as our healthiest selves is being in touch with our emotional well being. Self Love is good for our hearts, both physical and emotional.
There is a new term floating around in social media called “self partnering.” Emma Watson is cited as the person who coined the phrase. If we look at the phrase as a way to describe enjoying who we are, the way we are, and being comfortable in our own skins it is easy to see why self partnering can be a good way to be.
Living life to the fullest, especially if we are living with a chronic disease, is not about a number on a scale or a size of clothing. It is about living a healthy lifestyle and enjoying the process. It is about making a plan work for you. We have to take into account our preferences and the dynamics of our lives. The biggest down fall for all of us is when we think we need to conform to certain “expectations” or “ideals.” To succeed we need to know ourselves and choose a path and healthy lifestyle routine that is best suited to who we are and how we live. Here are some tips to help you focus on self-love with self-care in 2020.
- Personalize your approach. It is clear diets don’t work. And there are so many different approaches to eating and preparing food. Pick the method that works for you both in the types of foods you prefer to eat as well as the way you consume them. If you are able to prepare your food regularly then a healthy eating style that allows you to cook healthy foods might be perfect for you. However, if you travel a lot for work, following the WW plan may make more sense since it is adaptable to eating out. Do some research and find an approach that works best for you.
- Pick a plan that suits you and your lifestyle. What are the foods you prefer to eat? Are you a meat eater? A Vegetarian? Do you want to focus more on a plant-based diet? Do you like the structure of a specific diet plan? It is important to focus on a plan that will work with who you are, what you prefer to eat and that is possible for you to stick to and maintain. Doing what is “hot” and the latest fad may set you up for failure. It is best to know what will work for you in the long term. Wanting some ideas about good options? Check out the 2020 US News and World Report on the Best Diets, which means they are relatively easy to follow, nutritious, safe, effective for weight loss and protective against diabetes and heart disease, to discover which might be best for your lifestyle.
- Connect with purpose. Research has shown that if we follow a healthy lifestyle plan for a specific reason and purpose we are more likely to succeed in the long run. If we try to change up our habits or lose weight because somebody else shamed us into it we will not have the drive to accomplish it. If becoming healthier, including losing weight, is part of a bigger mission in our lives where we have a drive to make it happen then when things get tough we can break through the barriers fortified by our greater purpose. Read some of the success stories of weight loss shared in magazines and online and you will see each person who succeeded had a greater purpose than just losing weight. What is your purpose for wanting to live a healthy life?
- Keep it Simple…It is way to easy to make achieving a healthy lifestyle complicated. We want to change EVERYTHING! We want to change our routine, how we eat, when we exercise, how much we sleep, what we drink, you name it, we want to change it. Sustaining all that change at once inevitably becomes too hard to do. It is better to start with one change and build on that change overtime.
- Take the long view and make it about a lifestyle. We know diets don’t work. They have a beginning and an end. A lifestyle is a continuum. It is a journey and a way of being. How do you want to live your life as your healthiest self?
It is possible to both love ourselves and challenge ourselves to live life as our healthiest selves. This isn’t about being at your “perfect” size or fitting in to your “skinny” jeans. It is about feeling good, having the energy to get up in the morning to tackle your must do’s as well as your bucket list. Self Love is critical to our ability to live life as we deserve and want…as our healthiest, vibrant selves.
