The Busy Mama’s Guide to loving yourself: 3 areas of self-care you can work on to feel confident in your own skin
Moms are known for putting their wants and needs last in order to show up for their families. This is how it’s been done for generations. Thankfully, this is changing. Mamas are finally putting their needs first. I strongly believe that when mamas fill their cups first, they have what they need to better care for their families. This includes all sorts of self-care, but I think it’s especially true for our health.
One reason, I believe we need to focus on our health as a part of our self-care because how we treat our bodies and our health is how our kids will learn to treat their bodies and their health. If we stand in front of the mirror poking, pinching and pointing out all our problem areas, our children will learn to do the same thing.
You would never want that for your child, and you shouldn’t want it for yourself either. Let’s end this tradition and begin a tradition of self-love that lasts for generations!
Love your food
The first area I want you to practice self-care in is with your food. You may be thinking, “Krista, I LOVE food. I don’t need help learning to love my food!” But I want to ask you, how do you talk about your food?
Do you eat a cookie and say, “I shouldn’t have this!” Do you look at pasta and say, “that’s going to make me fat.” What about, “Uggh I hate salads, but I have to eat them if I want to lose weight.” And the kicker, “I can’t eat that. I’m on a diet.”
None of those phrases indicate a healthy relationship with food! When you talk about food and only about the bad things it’s doing to you, then you don’t love your food. You’re constantly battling it!
What if instead, you said, “I’m going to eat a cookie because it makes me happy!” Or, “I get to eat a giant salad and I’m doing it because I want to feel good.”
If you don’t want to eat something because it takes you away from your goals, that’s not a negative thing! Saying, “I’m choosing not to eat that because it won’t get me to where I want to go.” is a healthy way to look at food and make choices that feel good.
A huge part of loving your food is how you talk about it. It’s also about eating the food that is good for you and the food that makes you happy.
You can start practicing food love, by replacing those negative phrases with positive ones! It may surprise you to find how it changes your relationship with food.
Love your body
It makes breaks my heart that as women we are so hard on our bodies. I am not immune to this! I remember after having my third baby I knew that I should be proud of all that my body had done, but I was just disappointed that it didn’t look the way I wanted it to look. It took me so long to learn to love it again.
You may not have your high school body anymore (and why should you? That was a child’s body and you, mama, are a woman!) but that doesn’t mean that your body isn’t worthy of love! Learning to love your body at every stage of life will give you so much power!
What does loving your body look like?
Pointing out the beauty instead of the flaws
Giving it the nutrients it needs to keep up with your life
Getting enough sleep
Drinking water - and maybe giving up some of the sugary drinks that hurt your health
Moving that beautiful body - and not treating workouts as a punishment
Wearing clothes that make you feel amazing, no matter if the size on the label matches what you have in mind.
When we’re on a weight loss journey, we say we’re looking to hit a number on the scale or a certain pants size, but deep down we’re looking to love ourselves. We’re searching for a feeling. You could widdle yourself down to an absurd number on the scale and still not love your body. Instead, we should be learning to love our bodies and ourselves no matter what we look like.
“You can love who you are and where you’re at on your health journey right now and still be striving to be better tomorrow.”
When you begin to change how you’re talking about your body as it is, you’ll find that taking the actions to get where you want to be, becomes easier. Working out won’t be a punishment anymore, it’s a way to love your body. Eating veggies isn’t a chore, it’s giving your body the nourishment it needs. We can begin to act out of love instead of hate.
Love your mind
I have saved the best for last! Loving your mind is the most important and most beneficial aspect of self-care! The way we think about ourselves determines how we feel, how we act and how we progress towards our goals.
There are so many ways you can care for your mind:
Self-improvement books
Mediation
Listening to podcasts
Journaling
Therapy or mindset coaching
Talking with a trusted friend or family member
One of my favorite tools to use when I’m trying to love my mind and change my mindset is Brooke Castillo’s Model. It focuses on reframing the thoughts we have from negative ones to positive ones. In my Macros Made Easy program we use this as a tool to change how you think and feel about your nutrition, your body and yourself.
If you’re ready to practice the kind of self-care that transforms you into the healthy mama you want to be, then I can help you do that. You deserve to love and care for yourself just like you care for everyone else in your life. Let’s do it.
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