3 ways to manage stress without eating your feelings

Disclaimer: I am not a medical or mental health professional. This post constitutes my personal experience and opinions and is geared towards women who have an otherwise healthy relationship with food and their bodies. If you experience binging or suspect you have an eating disorder, please reach out for help!

If you’ve ever found yourself elbow deep in a box of cereal, popcorn bag, running through the drive thru for fries, or polishing off a sleeve of Oreo’s before you even notice what you’re doing...

First of all, there's no reason to feel guilty or ashamed. You are hardly alone! Most women deal with stress eating (or emotional eating) from time to time.

Stress eating is a habit if you can’t NOT imagine yourself heading to the drive thru for fries or ice cream if you are feeling down. When you’re triggered, it’s your immediate and first reaction.

Feeling overwhelmed. Stuff snacks in face.

It's hard to stop eating your emotions because you can’t just break the habit cold turkey. First of all, it’s a completely automatic behavior ingrained in your subconscious, and if you DIDN’T soothe yourself with food you’d feel like a completely deprived emotional wreck, which would only make your stress worse.

When we emotionally eat or binge, we're actually using this behavior as self care to protect ourselves from negative or uncomfortable emotions we'd rather not face.

YES! Emotional eating is self care! It's just probably not the best way to take care of yourself. 

So how do we start to overcome our emotional or stress eating habits?

First of all, you have to give yourself permission to actually feel your feelings.

You can't eat or drink them away. Just because you're numbing with food doesn't mean the stress is disappearing, but by allowing ourselves space to physically and mentally process our emotions or get to the bottom of where our stress is coming from in the first place, it WILL pass! It's like the opposite of that Gandalf scene.

Once you start to feel your feels, there are so many positive ways to deal with stress or negative feelings in order to flip them into higher vibes.

Another disclaimer: if your feelings are too overwhelming for you to handle alone or stem from a traumatic experience, pleeeeease see a counselor or therapist! You deserve to heal and feel your best, and you deserve the help you need.

When it comes to replacing emotional eating with a more positive behavior, we need to first RECOGNIZE when it happens and then REPLACE the habit with one that's more nurturing so you can keep food in its rightful place in your life.

Food is delicious. Food is fuel. Food is energy. Food is celebration of life!! 

Here are a few non-food ways to manage stress if you want to stop eating your feels!

3 NON FOOD ways to manage stress

1. Get outside for a walk.

Even if it’s just 5 minutes around your house or office!

This is the best way to chillax because usually when we’re feeling stressed, anxious, or overwhelmed, it’s because we’re overstimulating ourselves with too many tasks, responsibilities, browser windows, notifications, to-do’s, etc all at once.

Getting out into nature immediately calms your nervous system, removes you from a stressful situation, and helps you gain clarity and perspective on your priorities for the day.

Getting your body into MOVEMENT (a brisk walk) will channel and release any negative energy.

Remember that anxiety = energy. We have to give it a place to go!

If you can get sweaty and workout, even better.

Visualize what that would feel and look like >> Feelings of stress triggered. Instantly lace up shoes and hit the sidewalk.

2. Do a pen to paper braindump.

Again...most overwhelm comes from holding EVERYTHINGGGG we need to do over the next week/month/year plus potential ideas plus conversations plus fears like “am I good enough?” plus re-hashing past events in our brain all at once.

Putting pen to paper and literally dumping everything in your brain is so cathartic.

Don’t censor or judge yourself, don’t try to organize a to-do list, just LET IT OUT. Take as long as you need.

If you start writing tasks, break them down into every step involved in that task.

Once your brain is dumped, you should already feel better, but to take this to the next level of calm, now you can organize your braindump!

1. Categorize things, e.g. To-Do’s, Fears, Random thoughts/ideas, Negative inner critic chatter

2. Look at your lists and ask yourself “Is this something I need to release (e.g. fear) or something I need to take action on? What is a ‘should do’ vs. a ‘must do?’ What can I delegate? What ‘should’s’ can I let go of?”

3. For all the ‘must do’ or ‘want to do’ action items, schedule them on your calendar! Now you don’t just have an overwhelming guilt inducing to-do list. You have a PLAN.

Visualize what that would feel and look like >> Feelings of stress triggered. Instantly grab a pen and paper and let it out!

3. Use music to flip your mood.

It’s so easy to forget how powerful music can be! Make a playlist on iTunes or Spotify of all your favorite happy songs. I have an ongoing playlist and whenever I hear a song that makes me happy, I add it!

Bonus: have a solo dance party to your music. Because stress = energy and we need to give it a place to go to release it! Yes you might look crazy or stupid. Laugh at yourself!

Visualize what that would feel and look like >> Feelings of stress triggered. Instantly press play on your “happy mix” and dance it out.

Empower yourself to process your feelings, then move forward and upward instead of dwelling in a rut.

Remember that making deep changes in our mindset and behaviors can't happen overnight, so practice practice practice and have tons of self compassion and patience with yourself through the process of change. You will have setbacks, that’s not a sign that you failed, it’s a sign that you are leveling up!

xo Anna

Disclaimer: I am not a medical or mental health professional. This post constitutes my personal experience and opinions and is geared towards women who have an otherwise healthy relationship with food and their bodies. If you suspect you have an eating disorder, please reach out for help!

The Master's Hammer and Chisel Review

I’m really excited to finally share my official review of The Master’s Hammer and Chisel! 

Here are my official "before and after" pictures, from January 4th (left) to March 6th (right). 

Two weeks ago I finished my last workout of this program (which I’m just going to call Hammer and Chisel from here on because let’s be real, that name is super long and ridic. Actually let’s just make that H&C, yeah?).

Hammer and Chisel is one of Beachbody’s latest at-home fitness programs, an 8 week strength and lifting adventure that’s designed to build strength, power, stability, agility, and performance in your body.

The preview for this program launched way back at the closing celebration of the 2015 Coach Summit in Nashville last July, and let’s just say that putting a cheesy infomercial promo video on a jumbotron while you’re sitting in an NFL football stadium surrounded by the energy of 10,000 other coaches and the trainers Autumn and Sagi in real life makes it SO FREAKING awesome and I pretty much exploded with excitement. #coachlife

I couldn’t wait to finally get my hands on the program when it launched in December because I LOVE strength training and it looked like so much fun!

I officially started the program in January and it actually took me 9 weeks to complete because I took a week break in the middle to go to Jamaica, but I can’t believe it’s over! The time flew by. It's truly unlike any other fitness program out there, scientifically designed to combine the best of strength training, agility, power, endurance, and sculpt your body to be lean AND strong.

WHAT I LOVED

+ What I loved the most about H&C is that it re-defined my relationship with food and my body.

I learned how to eat to fuel my performance instead of eating to be “skinny”, and learned how important it is to eat MORE calories instead of living in a constant mindset of restriction. I was never athletic or into fitness growing up, and I’ve been on a personal journey of developing positive body image and self love for the past several years. Yup, even as a health and fitness coach, I’m most definitely a work in progress!

+ Also, when you commit to starting and finishing a longer program like this, you get the most incredible feeling of accomplishment.

+ I never got bored! This program went by SO fast. I don’t usually have any trouble finishing 60 or even 90 day programs, but by the end I’m completely sick of doing the same workouts every single week. Hammer and Chisel has 12 different workouts, and the calendar mixes them up constantly so you have no idea what’s coming in the week ahead.

+ I loved the workouts! There’s a combination of heavy weights, endurance, cardio/HIIT, balance, agility, and each one is a little different.

WHAT I LEARNED FROM HAMMER & CHISEL

I learned that when you lift weights every day, you won’t just lose weight, but your entire body composition will change.

I learned that when you gain muscle, you boost your metabolism (hello, extra food!) and make your body more resilient to bumps in the road (hello all inclusive vacations!)

I learned that when you gain muscle, your results will be MAINTAINABLE.

Here’s where I’m at 2.5 weeks after completing the program, including one week spent on an all-inclusive Caribbean cruise (on which I definitely consumed my fair share of chips and guac, wine, froyo, and rum punch).

I’ve done programs before that focus on “quick results” and slimming down as fast as possible. Let’s face it. Those types of results are never sustainable, and I’d end up losing my progress and ending right back where I was.

With Hammer and Chisel, I have so much muscle and strength that these results aren’t going anywhere, and I don’t have to feel guilty for “falling off the wagon.”

I consider myself a recovering perfectionist, and with perfectionism comes a type A all-or-nothing mindset. It’s easy for me to convince myself that if I’m not 100% perfect at something, I might as well not even try. This relates to working out and eating too -- in the past, I thought if I couldn’t stick to a plan 100%, I’d automatically fail, and that I had to feel shame and guilt for slipping up and having a “non-approved” treat. I’ve been healing from this mindset for the past two years, basically ever since I became a Beachbody coach and did the 21 Day Fix, but Hammer and Chisel brought me even further on my journey because I KNOW there’s no such thing as perfect.

The workouts are only 30-45 minutes a day, which countered any false belief that you have to do an hour of cardio plus extra “toning” to get results. They’re primarily focused on total body strength and weight lifting routines, but they push you to really challenge yourself.

TIPS FOR SUCCESS

-Get some accountability! Whether that's your partner, friend, a coach (oh hi!), or joining a challenge group ... you will NEED someone cheering you on!

-Add stretching! I personally feel like there needed to be more rest days built into the program calendar. You workout six days a week which in itself isn’t too much, but the workouts are ALL intense, total body routines and some weeks I felt a little over-tired or burned out.

-Make sure to fuel yourself properly and listen to your body.

-Shakeology is super important because it will ensure your body is getting all the nutrients it needs! I drink it every day, it’s a non-negotiable for me.

-I also loved adding the Beachbody Performance Line, specifically the Recover protein shake. I had one after the more intense workouts, 4-5 times/week.

-Track your weights on worksheets and challenge yourself to increase your weights every time you do a workout (you repeat each workout at least every 2-3 weeks).

WHAT DO YOU GET WITH THE MASTER'S HAMMER AND CHISEL?

You can purchase different packages depending on your goals. I recommend the Challenge Pack, which is a bundle of Shakeology plus the base program which comes with all 12 workouts, a couple bonus workouts, three different workout calendars, a nutrition guide, and a free trial to Beachbody On Demand so you can stream the workouts online or through an app (that's what I do)!

There's also an expanded "deluxe" kit that comes with some additional bonus workouts I'm probably going to end up purchasing.

WHO IT’S FOR

Due to the intensity of the workouts and compound movements, and the 6 days a week schedule, I'd personally recommend this program for people at an intermediate to advanced fitness level.

If you’re just getting started with working out or learning how to eat healthy, the 21 Day Fix is the best place to start!

WHAT EQUIPMENT DO YOU REALLY NEED??

+ Several sets of dumbbells
Ranging from light (the weight you’d use for shoulder presses) to heavy (the max amount you would squat). I got away with 5lbs up to 25 lbs, but I definitely need heavier weights for the lower body exercises. I have my eye on these adjustable dumbbells!

+ A stable, high quality bench OR an exercise ball
I used a stability ball and it worked just fine. There are modifications shown in all workouts if you don’t have a bench! If you do want to invest in a bench, my friend and teammate Brittany recommends this PowerBlock workout bench. She says it’s a lot more sturdy and safe than cheaper ones at Target.

+ A pull up bar OR resistance band
I do recommend an over the door pull up bar. If that’s not possible, you can wedge a resistance band into a door crack and do lat pull-downs instead of pull ups! There are a lot of pull ups and chin ups in this program though. I placed a step stool under my pull-up bar and assisted myself with my legs...otherwise you can get this awesome stretchy assist band!

+ A good quality mat

+ At least 6x6’ of space

Yup, this is a more high maintenance program in terms of equipment needed -- but it's an investment in YOU and well worth it if you're committed to creating a home gym.

WORKOUT DESCRIPTIONS

One of my favorite things about this program is that there are TWO trainers, Autumn Calabrese and Sagi. Autumn is the “chisel” and Sagi is the “hammer,” and they each have 6 workouts. Autumn’s Chisel workouts tend to be more compound movements, and Sagi’s are geared more towards building muscle (although they both mix it up too). With the 60 day calendar you alternate Hammer and Chisel workouts every other day.

The program also comes with two additional 30 day calendars, one with only the Chisel workouts if you want to, and one with the Hammer workouts if you want to.

I could see myself completing the Chisel calendar later this spring because I loved almost all of the Chisel workouts!

Chisel Balance - A total-body workout creating stabilization, muscular endurance, and core strength.

Iso Strength Chisel - An intense resistance workout using isometric holds and flexibility to increase strength.

Chisel Endurance - Increase muscular endurance and strength in this time-under-tension workout.

Chisel Cardio - The cardiovascular resistance routine will increase heart rate, circulation, and burn an intense amount of calories.

Chisel Agility - A challenging cardio workout that will help you move quickly, improve coordination, and create greater stabilization.

Total Body Chisel - This full-body resistance workout focuses on creating lean muscle and strength.

Hammer Plyometrics - This jump training workout will use your entire body to create force, speed, and power.

Iso Speed Hammer - A tempo training workout that uses speed and isometric holds to create strength and grow muscle.

Total Body Hammer - A hypertrophy workout focused on pyramid-style sets to maximize strength and muscle growth.

Max Hammer Strength - Start with a pre-fatigued muscle, finish with a maximum lift. Increase strength, power, and muscular development.

Hammer Power - This intense powerlifting-inspired workout will increase speed, reactive strength, and power.

Hammer Conditioning - A workout based on compound movements that will improve stability, coordination, and strength.

10 Min Ab Chisel - This core-crusher will transform your midsection, without ever getting on the floor.

10 Min Ab Hammer - Carve definition into your core while strengthening your entire ab complex.

HOW IMPORTANT IS NUTRITION?

Like the calorie breakdowns in 21 Day Fix and 21 Day Fix EXTREME, the ones in The Master’s Hammer and Chisel Program and Nutrition Guide also include the number of color-coded, portion-control containers your bracket requires each day to meet your goals. If you want to gear your nutrition toward building more muscle (a surplus), or toward shredding fat (a deficit), you can use the Nutrition Plan Quiz to recalculate your calories to help you reach your goals.

Nutrition is EVERYTHING. This program really taught me how to fuel my body and eat for energy, not to be skinny. Because it's a longer program, I wanted to really make it fit into my LIFESTYLE, instead of fitting my lifestyle around my workout/meal plan.

Therefore...

I did try to follow the nutrition plan most days, but I left some space for date night and treats here and there. “Date night” for me entails a glass or two of wine, a salad or healthy dinner, and maybe a piece or two of pizza or bites from Ben’s plate, so nothing too crazy. Let’s be honest, I probably drink about 3-6 glasses of wine a week, and that’s something I’m not going to cut out of my life. Late winter is the easiest season for me to stay on track because there aren’t any major holidays and it’s too cold for my froyo addiction to hit full force. I also make sure to keep junk food OUT of the house or at least out of sight, because if I can see it I’ll want to eat it!

This is what a "treat meal" looks like for me once or twice a week ... brunch, beers, froyo, or date night (NOT all at once, but maybe a couple at once haha).

I’m lucky to work from home and have more control over my kitchen, but if you have office temptations, do your best to stay out of the break room and always have a healthy snack as an alternative.

I’ve also learned that if I give myself wiggle room and cut myself some slack, it’s easier for me to actually listen to my body and eat healthy, because if I know that treats aren’t “off limits,” it’s easier to say no. Restricting yourself is a mind fuck and will trigger mad emotional cravings because we always want what we can’t have, regardless of how it will make us feel physically! If you tell yourself you can have a treat, you’ll empower yourself to say “no thanks” because it doesn’t meet your goals and will make you feel like crap.

Give yourself a choice!

WHAT'S NEXT FOR ME

I've been taking the past couple weeks "off" a designated program and getting back into running now the days are longer, but I'm going to continue working on my strength and intuitive eating goals!

I will say that when you're committing to a program like this, ACCOUNTABILITY IS KEY. So key. I would have given up so many times if it wasn't for my team of coaches who were doing the program together with me, and my Inspire Joy accountability group!

xo Anna

I choose to become an affiliate of products which I believe are truly helpful to my readers and that I use myself, and I may receive a commission on purchases made through the links I provide on this website. I am not a licensed nutritionist, or expert in any healthcare field. I am an Independent Beachbody Coach who is a product of the products I use from Beachbody.

Please see your physician before changing your diet, starting an exercise program, or taking any supplements of any kind.

Are "Before and After" photos inspiring or discouraging?

Let’s talk “before and after” pictures.

What a loaded topic! I just posted my own “before” (or as I prefer to call them, my “then/now” picture) in my team’s June Challenge and it brought up a lot of unexpected feelings for me, especially since I’m at the point where I’m not trying to lose weight but I'd still like to change my body. 

I'm learning that whenever I experience a negative emotion I need to stop and really think about where it's coming from, so I started thinking! Why do we dread taking progress pictures? Why do we force ourselves to do something that makes us feel discouraged or negative about ourselves? 

I asked my health and fitness community if they find progress pictures motivating or discouraging, and got mixed answers: 

"I'm a bit of both. I don't want to not get an after pic!"

"I think it depends for me! I am a bit of both, it puts a lot of pressure on me but that's in my head. It's also motivating, and then I'm like, wait, I don't know if I can do that!! Ahh, such a conflict in my head."

"I like seeing other people's photos (those are motivating!), but I hate taking my own, I am so much harder on myself and even if there are results--if they are not as dramatic as I wanted I put even more pressure on myself. I have decided to put more distance between my after shots and give my body time to transform."

"I think they are so powerful, especially when you're in the grind every day and aren't noticing subtle changes. That being said, they can be so deceiving since you see them in an instant and don't necessarily equate the changes to the work that comes in between."

"I'm totally both. I also like seeing other people's photos, totally motivating!! But despise taking my own. Although, I want the after photo for myself so bad too!"

"I don't like taking photos of myself. I think it discourages me. Though I like seeing others photos."

"If I'm looking at someone else's 'after' photos I try to not get jealous, but it's hard not to sometimes! BUT, MY OWN 'after' photos TOTALLY inspire me! I often look back on my own progress photos to remind myself how far I have come. If I've fallen off the wagon I look at them and am inspired and re-motivated because I KNOW that I can get back to that 'after' photo body and I know the things I have to do to get there!"

It's official: our relationship with "before and after" photos is complicated!

My thoughts? I’ve officially decided that I personally don't love them because they steal my joy, make me hyper-critical of myself, and stir up negative feelings of jealousy and comparison that I’d rather not deal with.

Whew! Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, hear me out!

The "before and after" fad

When it comes to health and fitness programs, the “before and after” or transformation picture seems to be a required and expected part of the process. It seems like you can’t successfully market, sell, or even attempt a fitness or weight loss program without PROVING that it works by sharing before and after pictures of yourself or others who have dramatically changed their bodies with the product.

Pictures work as marketing tools because let’s face it--we're all visual people and we want PROOF before we invest our personal hopes and dreams in a new product or solution!

We want to trust that it will work for us too, and we use other people’s transformations as  inspiration. I’ve had so many women tell me that they signed up for my challenge groups NOT because they wanted to make a positive and healthy change in their lives, but because they saw a picture of my abs on Instagram!! Agghgas;flkjasdl;kfjasdfl!!! Before and after pictures CAN be inspiring...but at the same time it makes me feel kind of icky and uncomfortable to market my coaching services with my body. I'm not a health and fitness professional, and I'm not designing these programs. I'm just a girl who wants to inspire other women by sharing my own experiences and spreading positivity and encouragement!

As a Beachbody coach, I’ve struggled a LOT with the pressure to produce and share before and after pictures of myself and my clients in order to “prove” that what I do matters.

I love cheering my clients on and helping women lose 5, 10, 50, 80 pounds with the awesome and fun programs I promote. Simply put, Beachbody programs work. They’re foolproof, they’re scientifically designed and rigorously tested, they’re the best of the best, and they WILL give you a physical transformation if you stick to the plan. I wouldn’t affiliate myself with this company if I didn’t feel 110% aligned with its mission and core purpose: to help people reach their goals and live healthier, more fulfilling lives by matching them with programs and products that meet their needs and give the a sense of confidence and self worth.

This is one of my all time favorite inspiring 21 Day Fix/P90X transformations, my friend Hilary!

HOWEVER. 

My Instagram account has been flooded with before and after pictures recently since the Tone It Up Bikini Series just ended, and to be honest, I’ve been struggling with some old comparison and body image issues that have been bubbling to the surface! Even though I’m in the best shape of my life, I’ve been dealing with a major bout of low confidence and perfectionism. It doesn’t really matter what I look like...it all stems with how confident I’m feeling. I’ve been feeling extra sensitive and vulnerable lately, which manifests in low self esteem.

The fact is, it doesn’t really matter what you look like on the outside or how far you’ve come, or how much weight you’ve lost. When you’re trying to become a happier and better version of yourself, external change doesn’t magically make you happier because you’re still the same on the inside!

Losing weight and getting abs won’t bring you joy

Progress photos are definitely a great way to hold yourself accountable and celebrate your progress when you’re working hard to lose weight, but they shouldn’t affect how you feel about yourself, just like you shouldn’t let the number on the scale determine your self worth. Pictures, numbers, measurements are just tools that show us that we are changing. This can be good, but if you’re getting too obsessed or dependent on the numbers and pictures, it might be time to take a step back and think about WHY you’re trying to change your body.

You should NEVER feel discouraged when you’re actively working towards becoming a happier and healthier version of yourself.

I don’t think we should measure our success and self-worth OR the effectiveness of a fitness program by "before and after" pictures alone, and here's why:

1. THEY BRING SO MUCH INTERNAL PRESSURE!

Have you ever been afraid to commit to a fitness program because you don’t know if it will actually work for you? Have you ever committed to a fitness program but didn’t tell anyone because you didn’t want to create false expectations or open yourself up to judgment? Have you ever finished a program, but felt like you failed because your before/after picture wasn’t as dramatic as you wanted it to be?

Yup, I can raise my hand for every single one of those scenarios.

It took me over a year to purchase the TIU nutrition plan, then it took me another 6 months to come out of my “fitness closet” and share what I was doing. Once I started sharing, I was amazed at the response and discovered I had the power to inspire so many people simply by being myself! So I became a Beachbody coach to pay it forward and help other women get started with their own fitness journeys. Cue ALL THE PRESSURE, holy crap you guys. Now my reputation and livelihood depend on before/after pictures. SO much pressure on myself to be in the best shape ever and produce dramatic transformations to prove that these programs work.

I am SO DONE with the pressure! I’m done with feeling guilty if I’m not 100% perfect with my nutrition or workouts, or if I lose motivation, or if my after picture doesn’t measure up to my own expectations. I'm real, I'm human, I am far from perfect and that's ok.

You have the power to control how you feel about yourself!

2. A PICTURE IS MERELY A SNAPSHOT IN TIME.

But life is not a snapshot, it’s a continual process.

Let’s get comfortable with the concept that we are on this journey called life and the journey IS the destination! Life is happening right now as you’re reading this blog post. How do you feel about yourself RIGHT NOW?

A picture represents a moment, and that moment has already passed...so if you set yourself up with the expectation you have to maintain the body you had in that “after” picture, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment and failure if you gain weight again! Is it really a bad thing to gain back weight after losing it? Maybe...but maybe not! Your life is going to be a continual cycle of weight gain and loss, a series of before and after pictures.

I mean...look at my big picture journey! I've lost about 20 pounds since 2006, not on "purpose" but by slowly starting to build consistent healthy habits like exercising regularly and eating healthy. My body has reached a healthy weight and I've thrown away my scale, but I still waste way too much time obsessing about my day to day body, and learning how to trust that I have officially arrived and am not going to gain back the weight!

I want to start thinking of progress pictures as “Then and Now” pictures instead. Your “Now” picture instantly becomes a “Then” picture as soon as you take it. All that matters is today, the present moment, and the choices you make. How do you want to treat yourself today? How do you want to feel right now? Make decisions based on that...not because you want to punish yourself.

3. NOT SEEING A DRAMATIC TRANSFORMATION DOESN’T MEAN YOU “FAILED.”

Last summer I did the 12 week Kayla Itsines Bikini Body Guide program (you can read my full review HERE). Kayla is infamous on Instagram for the dramatic before and after pictures of girls who do her workouts. Yup, I was sucked into the hype because I wanted sleek abs and tiny thighs too! I did all 12 weeks of the program and yes, I gained so much strength! But did I see a physical transformation? Nope, not at all. Does that mean I failed or that I’m not as good as the other girls who have fabulous before and afters? Nope. It just means we’re all different, and our bodies are going to respond differently.

(SIDE NOTE: it also means that when you are in 3 weddings within 4 weeks, there is going to be a lot of eating, drinking, and celebrating going on. Sometimes maintaining your weight IS a victory! Think of the season of life you’re going through right now...sometimes you have to surrender your personal goals for the bigger picture!)

4. PICTURES CAN FEED INTO THE “NEVER ENOUGH” SYNDROME

It breaks my heart when I see a strong, beautiful girl on Instagram post a stunning before/after picture representing WEEKS of hard work and dedication and then caption it with some version of “I’m still not where I want to be….” or “I know it’s not a dramatic transformation…”

You guys, stop this madness! Who is the ultimate judge of what’s “good enough?” or how worthy our transformations are? Personally, I believe that God is the only person/thing we need to impress, and guess what? You don’t even have to do anything to impress God. We were all created perfectly imperfect, we don’t even have to try.

If we constantly think we have to finish a program, lose x pounds, or see a dramatic before/after picture to be happy or feel proud of ourselves, our happiness and self worth is always going to exist in the future. That’s a horrible thought.

Let’s shift our thinking and stop this endless pointless quest to change in order to be better.

Newsflash: You’re already good enough. You are already perfect! The only way you can be better is if you get out of your head and learn how to love yourself on the inside.

5. THE 'OLD YOU' IS NOT SOMEONE TO BE ASHAMED OF!

Yup, I used to weigh more. Does that mean I was less of a person? Not at all!! I'm the same on the inside. What you weigh means nothing. All that matters is how you feel about yourself. When you're 80 years old, do you want to look back on your life and remember all the amazing fun times you had, or remember all the times you wasted because you were freaking out and obsessing about your body? In the end, our body is merely a physical vessel for our soul, our light, who we are deep down.

How to lay off the pressure and appreciate YOUR unique health and fitness journey

Keep a daily journal to record your inner transformation.
We need to be working on our inner transformations just as much as we work on our physical bodies. Every night, write down what you ate, how it made you feel, how your workout felt, and how you feel about your day in general. Over time you'll be able to go back and read how far you've come, and see the internal progress that's hidden by pictures!

Put your blinders on and focus on YOUR journey.
We are all so different! Use before/after pictures if they keep you motivated, but catch yourself if you start to feel negative feelings or start to compare yourself to others!

Let’s lay off the pressure!
If you’re trying your best to treat yourself right and be the best version of yourself every single day, that’s good enough. YOU are good enough. Be proud of yourself for the small victories every day. Did you order a small ice cream instead of a large? WIN! Did you fit into a dress you haven't worn in months? VICTORY! Did you feel yourself getting stronger in your workouts? MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENT! Don't wait to be proud of yourself. 

Before and after pictures can be motivating, inspiring, frustrating, discouraging, positive, and negative. I guess they hold whatever power we are willing to give to them, and ultimately how you feel about yourself is completely in your control.

Let’s empower each other to celebrate our inner AND outer transformations, no matter how big or small. If you’re trying your best to make positive changes in your life, that’s all you have to do.

I'd love to hear your thoughts--are you inspired or turned off by seeing before and after pictures? How do you feel about taking your own?

xo Anna