Life Is Too Short To Not Eat The Chocolate
lessons in body love
Love your body.
What does that mean?
Take care of it.
Nourish it.
Move it.
Touch it.
Hug it.
Thank it.
Worship it.
Hear it.
Revere it.
Look at it.
Feel it.
Breathe into it.
Stretch it.
Push it.
Slow it.
Caress it.
You only get one body. Aren’t you a little curious about what it can do?
How long can you hold your breath?
How far can you run before you need to stop for a breather?
How high can you raise your leg in eagle pose? Can you tuck it behind your calf? Rest it on the floor?
How many pounds can you deadlift?
How many laps can you swim before your shoulders burn?
After years of all or nothing, obsessive dieting, inconsistent movement and a whole lotta self hate towards my body, I’m finally finding my way back to myself and it feels so damn good.
I’m curious again, like a little kid. What can this body do for me?!
Since beginning my exploration to finding love and acceptance for my body I’ve noticed a few things (or maybe a lot of things!):
I’m mega proud of how strong I’ve become.
Nutrition and exercise is not “all or nothing" but more like “80/20” with a lot of grace if that 20 creeps towards 30 or more!
It’s just a body. I’m still soft in some places, firmer in others. What matters is less how I look on the outside and more how I feel on the inside.
Breathing is everything. (Ya, I probably sound like a broken record but have you tried breathwork? My God, it’s incredible!)
I’m far less obsessed with food or exercise and see both as a privilege of being in this human skin suit. It’s an honour to be able to lift weights or run or bike. I refuse to take it for granted.
If you’re eating out, either have a salad with protein, dressing on the side or a protein heavy meal like steak or fish.
Movement sounds better than exercise. Movement sounds fluid, easy and endless. A walk, lots of stairs one day, yoga, sexy time, a bike ride, hitting the gym, shovelling snow: all movement, all beneficial.
I never let more than three days go between movement.
Cold plunging. Goal: Five minutes. I made it 3m40s. Food is fuel. You choose what you want but do you want to feel good and energized or bloated and sluggish? It’s a choice.
Meal prep. Meal prep. Meal prep. I can’t say it enough.
Eat 30-40g of protein in each meal. Have boiled eggs, meat sticks, chicken breast, taco meat, shrimp, fish, whatever you like on hand at all times.
If you’re a nighttime snacker it means you didn’t eat enough during the day.
No one wants to hear about your workouts whether its CrossFit, weight lifting or yoga. Let yourself shine by example, not preaching or bragging or boring people to death.
It’s only hard if you make it hard.
Rest is vital. Taking time to let your body recover is just as important as the movement.
Some days I feel ugly and fat and gross and some days I feel womanly, strong and badass. Both are just thoughts and feelings that can usually be determined by where I am in my cycle.
Movement is kind of like sex. You’ll never regret doing either (with your safe, loving partner of course!) You’ll feel amazing afterwards and I bet you’ll say or think, “Why don’t I do this more often?”
Learn your cycle. Work with it. Lift heavier on days 1-14. Slow down on days 15-30.
Give yourself grace. Can you love yourself while working on healing your body or adjusting your composition? Can you see yourself for the majestic human you are rather than the stretch marks and scars that may adorn your body? Can you give yourself some damn grace?? Who cares if you ate a chocolate bar at 10pm that one time? If you care, ask yourself why? Why are you beating yourself up over a couple hundred calories? Instead, can you choose to enjoy every single bite? Can you relish in the deliciousness that is chocolate? Can you savour it? Can you appreciate chocolate for simply being chocolate? Can you give yourself some love and just enjoy the fuckin’ chocolate?
Life is too short to not eat the chocolate.
