How To Start Loving Your Body

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Do you ever have one of those days where you think ‘wow my body feels great today…I wonder what I weigh?’ to only step on the scale to get disappointed? You gained 5 pounds and you just don’t understand how you can feel so good yet the scale is telling you not to.

Do you ever have one of those days where you look in the mirror and don’t like the way that your tummy isn’t flat or the way your thighs look or the way your butt just isn’t high enough? But yesterday, you looked amazing so what happened over night?

Do you ever have one of those days that you go to the gym and you are feeling so great about yourself until a 20-something girl in a sports bra and booty shorts shows up and your mindset changes to how far away you are from where you want to be?

You’re not alone. In fact, over 90% of women have a ‘I hate my body’ moment EVERY SINGLE DAY. 90 PERCENT!!

Well we need to change this. NOW. And this week’s blog is dedicated to a few suggestions on how you can start loving your body immediately.

  1. Throw away your scale. Seriously. Who cares what the number is? Are you competing in a kickboxing match? No. So who cares if you are up or down a few pounds. If you look in the mirror and feel great, that’s what counts. A number is just a number.
  2. What mirror do you find yourself doing the most negative body talk in? That mirror needs to start showing you some love. Grab an old lipstick or a sharpee and make a huge pink heart with three things you love about the way you look. That mirror needs to tell you how beautiful you are even when you don’t see it.
  3. Take naked pictures of yourself. This one might be a stretch for some of you, but honestly, when your body is feeling so hot, snap a pic. Lying down, standing up, from behind, the front or the side – or maybe all of these. On the days where your body isn’t feeling the love, go back through your photos and reassure yourself how hot you really are. And if you’re thinking – ‘my profile pic on social media does this’ – it’s not the same. Loving your body in its raw naked state versus covered up is not the same. We need to start loving our bodies without the layers.
  4. When you find yourself over-analyzing your body, stop and quickly shift your focus to the three things you love the most about yourself. Not only is this good for your head game, but positive body thinking attracts a positive body image. And if you can’t think of three things that are gorgeous about you, ask your friends, your boyfriend, your kids. Make a list. Refer back to it. YOU ARE GORGEOUS in every size, shape and color.
  5. Think about the place that you feel your absolute best self, and start to spend more time there. For me, it’s the gym. I wear gym gear that I feel good about my body in, I workout hard, and I am yet to leave saying ‘wow, what a waste of time’. As you start to put yourself in locations that feel good to your soul, you’ll start to hopefully love yourself a bit more.
  6. Be the friend that makes everyone feel like they are the best human to walk the planet. I don’t have a plethora of friends, but I do know that all of them know how much I love them. I tell them often and I tell them why. Everyone loves to feel loved and connected, and it is our job to help the people in our circles feel incredible. One of my favorite things to do is write emails to my friends on my Top 10 Favorite Things About YOU. I would suggest doing this exercise to those you love starting today. And let’s make sure you are on that list of people first.

I hope this gives you a new helpful tips on loving your naked body. For extra motivation and positive living tips, sign up for our newsletter here – www.eepurl.com/GHTT5

Top 10 Reasons Sex is GREAT for Your Health

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There are so many elements to being a healthy person – fitness, nutrition, sleep, spirituality, connection, and the list goes on. But one of my favorites is sex. Yes – that’s right, in order to be a truly healthy person sex is needed. Some of us like it more often than others, some of us like it different ways than others, but at the end of the day, it is a fact that part of the key to an overall healthy ADULT is a great sex life.

According to sex therapist Richard A. Carroll from Northwestern University, “We are programmed to do so (have sex). Asking why people have sex is akin to asking why we eat. Our brains are designed to motivate us toward that behavior.”

Humans have sex for a multitude number of reasons from curiosity to exercise, from pleasure to stress relief, and from wanting to pro-create to wanting to boost self esteem. I find it fascinating to find out why people have or don’t have sex. I have personally never understood the idea of withholding sex from your partner as punishment because he or she didn’t do/act/say what you wanted them to. Is that not punishment to both? And moreover, why would you want to punish someone you are so intimate with? The topic of sexual encounters is one that truly intrigues me.

Back to the health benefit of sex! Here are my Top Ten Reasons as to why sex can actually improve your health:

  1. Lowers stress levels
  2. Lowers cholesterol levels and in turn lowers your risk for a heart attack
  3. Sex burns approximately 290 calories per hour – great exercise!
  4. Orgasm can partially or completely alleviate migraines (according to a University of Munster study)
  5. Heart health – with all of that cardio, you’re on a roll to a healthier heart!
  6. Helps keep your immune system on track due to an increased level of antibodies
  7. Improves women’s bladder control – all those kegel exercises and daily sex is helping you in so many ways!
  8. Lowers blood pressure
  9. Lowers the risk for prostate cancer in men
  10. Improves sleep

And of course, an absolute favorite is that it just feels great! Sometimes we need to do things because they feel great. Maybe that’s having an ice cream sundae, or playing hooky from work, or maybe it’s having terrific sex. Do what feels amazing and this world is your oyster.