Advertise on podcast: Love the Body You Have: Begin to appreciate what and who you see in the mirror.

Get the Journal Prompts: https://yourlevelfitness.com/email Join the Live Streams: https://yourlevelfitness.com/stream What if some of the thoughts and feelings you have around food also show up in the way you think about your body? In this episode, I introduce a term I like to call body noise. You may already be familiar with the phrase food noise, which is often used to describe the constant thoughts, feelings, and mental chatter someone experiences around food. My interest here is not in giving you another rigid definition. It is in helping you notice whether some of those same patterns also exist around your body. Do guilt, shame, anxiety, criticism, or constant mental commentary show up when you think about food? Do any of those same thoughts or feelings show up when you look at your body? Maybe there is a lot of overlap. Maybe there is very little. Either answer gives you useful information. I talk about why labels can be helpful when they give us language to recognize a pattern, but why I become much more cautious when someone else starts telling you exactly what those thoughts mean or exactly how you are supposed to respond to them. I want you to notice first. Define your experience for yourself. And while you are doing that, remember that you are surrounded by messaging designed to influence how you feel about food, fitness, appearance, and yourself. This is not simply about trying harder or having more willpower. I also come back to the idea I want to stick much more than the phrase body noise. Love the body you have. That means appreciating what you see in the mirror, but it also means going underneath the surface and learning to appreciate who you see. You do not have to do that perfectly. The goal is to make self appreciation the place you return to more often, notice when old thoughts show up, and practice redirecting yourself without judging the fact that those thoughts appeared in the first place.

Get the Journal Prompts: https://yourlevelfitness.com/email Join the Live Streams: https://yourlevelfitness.com/stream Where did your ideas about body image actually begin? In this episode, I’m asking you to think back to the earliest messages you remember about what an attractive body was supposed to look like, what was considered desirable, and how those ideas were presented to you. For most of us, it was probably not just one thing. It may have been what we saw in media, what we heard at home, what people around us talked about, what brands and companies promoted, or what was implied even when nobody said anything directly. And those standards have probably changed more than once throughout your life. That matters because it shows us that a lot of what we think of as “normal” or “ideal” was never fixed in the first place. The target keeps moving. I talk about why understanding where these beliefs started can help you see the rules of the game more clearly. A lot of marketing works by convincing you that there is something wrong with you, then offering you the thing that is supposed to fix it. That is one of the reasons I keep coming back to the opposite approach. You are enough right now. And if you have spent years being hypercritical of your body or feeling self-conscious about how you look, then changing that default takes intention and practice. That is why I like simple actions like standing in front of a mirror for fifteen, thirty, or sixty seconds and deliberately building yourself up. You are not going to erase decades of messaging overnight. But you can start creating a new default. You can choose how you want to see yourself, practice reinforcing that choice, and slowly change the relationship you have with the person looking back at you.

Get the Journal Prompts: https://yourlevelfitness.com/email Join the Live Streams: https://yourlevelfitness.com/stream Are you waiting to really start living until after your body changes? Maybe there is something you want to do, somewhere you want to go, something you want to wear, or some version of life you keep telling yourself you will step into once you reach a certain goal. In this episode, I’m talking about why I do not want you to put your life on hold while you wait for your body to change. One of the biggest problems with tying your life to a future body goal is that the change itself may not feel the way you expect it to. If you have spent months or years building up the idea that everything will feel easier, better, or more complete once you reach a certain weight or look a certain way, the reality can be disappointing. That is why I keep coming back to building a forever active lifestyle around your actual preferences. How do you like to eat most days? How many meals work for you? What kinds of workouts or movement do you enjoy? What can you realistically and consistently do right now? Start there. When your eating, exercise, and lifestyle habits are built around what works for you, you can make progress without making your entire life wait for the result. At the same time, I know “just live your life now” can sound simple when there may be a much deeper emotional reason behind why you are waiting. That part matters too. So ask yourself what you are waiting to do, why you believe your body has to change first, and what one step you could take toward that life now. Time is valuable. You do not have to wait for a different body to start using it.

Get the Journal Prompts: https://yourlevelfitness.com/email Join the Live Streams: https://yourlevelfitness.com/stream What story are you telling yourself about your body right now? And once you start thinking about that, how much of that story is really about your body, and how much of it is about how you see yourself as a person? In this episode, I’m continuing the conversation around body image, self image, and the way those two things can become intertwined. We all tell ourselves stories. We decide what something means, how we are going to see it, and then we reinforce that belief with the thoughts we keep choosing and the actions we keep taking. That can work against us, but it can also work for us. I talk about why I believe we sometimes need to decide first how we want to see ourselves, then look for ways to reinforce that decision. We do not always wait for proof before we form a belief. A lot of the time, we form the belief first and then notice the things that support it. That is especially important when it comes to body image and self worth. If the story you are telling yourself about your body is negative, limiting, or tied too closely to your worth as a person, the first step is not judging yourself for it. The first step is noticing it clearly. What do you see when you look at yourself? What meaning have you attached to what you see? And what story are you reinforcing every time you think about your body? You can change that story, but first you need to understand the one you are already telling.

Get the Journal Prompts: https://yourlevelfitness.com/email Join the Live Streams: https://yourlevelfitness.com/stream How you see your body and how you see yourself as a person can become deeply connected. I think the goal is not to pretend those two things have nothing to do with each other. It is to understand where they overlap, where they are different, and where they may have become tangled together over time. In this episode, I talk about learning to appreciate what you see in the mirror while also remembering that your appearance does not have to become your entire identity. I share more of my own experience living with cerebral palsy. I am proud of my body, proud of what it allows me to do, and proud of the things that make me different. At the same time, there are real moments of frustration. There are times when my brain and body do not communicate the way I want them to, or when simply moving through day-to-day life requires more energy than I would like. Those feelings can exist together. Appreciating yourself does not mean you have to love every single thing about your body every second of every day. You can be thankful for your body and still get frustrated with it. You can appreciate what makes you different and still have moments where those differences feel difficult. The important part is understanding that what you see on the outside is only one part of who you are. As you journal on this episode, think about how much of your appearance has become connected to your identity. How do you feel about your body? How do you feel about yourself as a person? Where do those answers overlap, and where are they completely separate? There is no universal right answer here. The goal is to understand your answer.

Get the Journal Prompts: https://yourlevelfitness.com/email Join the Live Streams: https://yourlevelfitness.com/stream There is a point where body image stops being only about what you see in the mirror and starts becoming about who you see in the mirror. That shift can happen quickly. In this episode, I’m continuing the conversation around body image by looking at the person underneath the physical reflection. What do you think about yourself as a person when you look in the mirror? What insecurities, past comments, memories, or beliefs come up? And how much have those things shaped the way you see yourself today? I also talk about how easy it is for the language we hear in fitness and weight loss to become personal. Good foods and bad foods. Good workouts and bad workouts. Being disciplined or undisciplined. Being on track or off track. Before long, a choice can start feeling like a judgment of who you are. A choice you are unhappy with does not have to become a statement about your worth as a person. Building a forever active lifestyle requires making choices constantly. Some will work well. Some will teach you something. Some lessons may take a while to sink in. The important part is learning to trust yourself enough to keep figuring it out and moving forward. I also share more of my experience with cerebral palsy and how the things that can make us feel different can become sources of insecurity. But those differences are also part of what makes us unique, and I believe that uniqueness is a much better place to begin defining beauty than constantly trying to fit somebody else’s standard. As you journal on this episode, move beyond what you physically see in the mirror. Ask yourself who you see. How do you describe that person? What judgments show up? What beliefs are attached to those judgments? And which of those beliefs do you actually want to keep carrying forward?

Get the Journal Prompts: https://yourlevelfitness.com/email Join the Live Streams: https://yourlevelfitness.com/stream What do you actually see and feel when you look at yourself in the mirror? That question sounds simple, but I think there is a lot underneath it. In this episode, I’m beginning a three-part conversation about how we see ourselves on the outside, how we see ourselves on the inside, and where body image and self-image start to overlap. For this first part, I want you to pay attention to what you notice physically. What parts of your body immediately get your attention? What thoughts show up? What feelings come with those thoughts? Are there certain things you tend to focus on every single time? I share some of my own experience with cerebral palsy and how quickly I can still fall into a negative thought loop if I catch my reflection while I am walking. Even after doing a lot of work around body image, those thoughts can still show up. The difference is that I am much better at noticing them now. That awareness matters because many of the beliefs we carry about our bodies have been built over a very long period of time. Some came from people around us. Some came from media, marketing, fitness culture, or other outside messages telling us directly or indirectly how we were supposed to feel about ourselves. Eventually, those messages can start sounding like our own voice. The goal here is not to judge yourself for what you notice. It is to understand it. As you listen, write down what you see, what you feel, what you tend to focus on, and where those thoughts may have come from. The more clearly you can see the pattern, the easier it becomes to recognize those thought loops when they happen and begin redirecting them.

Get the Journal Prompts: https://yourlevelfitness.com/email Join the Live Streams: https://yourlevelfitness.com/stream Body image is often treated like it is only about physical appearance, but I think it goes much deeper than that. In this episode, I’m exploring what body image actually means to me and why I believe it comes down to both what you see and who you see when you look in the mirror. Your physical appearance may be the first thing you notice, but it usually does not take long before thoughts about your body start connecting to thoughts about yourself as a person. That is why improving body image is not just about trying to convince yourself that you like the way you look. It is about intentionally deciding how you want to see yourself, then taking repeatable actions that reinforce that perspective. I talk about why I continue to come back to mirror work, even if standing in front of the mirror and intentionally building yourself up feels uncomfortable at first. Fifteen seconds, thirty seconds, or sixty seconds gives you an opportunity to notice what comes up, redirect thoughts that do not align with how you want to see yourself, and practice a different relationship with yourself. We are surrounded by messages that benefit from making us feel insecure about our bodies. Your Level Fitness is built around doing the opposite. I believe you can learn to appreciate yourself from the inside/out, navigate fitness without constantly fighting against yourself, and build a forever active lifestyle that actually works for you. As you listen, think about what body image means in your own life. When you look in the mirror, what do you see physically, and more importantly, who do you see?

Your Level Fitness Links Get the Journal Prompt Emails: https://yourlevelfitness.com/email Join the Live Streams: https://yourlevelfitness.com/stream Explore Your Level Fitness: https://yourlevelfitness.com/ You can choose to see yourself differently. That does not mean ignoring your past or pretending that years of thoughts, experiences, and emotional connections disappear overnight. It means recognizing that the way you have seen yourself up to this point does not have to determine how you see yourself moving forward. In this episode, I talk about learning to appreciate not only what you see in the mirror, but who you see there. That process takes patience, forgiveness, understanding, and a willingness to look at your past without allowing it to control your future. I also talk about choosing to trust yourself before you have all the evidence, developing confidence through your ability to navigate what comes next, and building consistency through small daily actions that are designed around your preferences and abilities. You do not need to become somebody else before you are allowed to believe in yourself. You can make that decision now and then practice reinforcing it through the way you think, the way you act, and the way you build your life. This is not about chasing perfection. It is about becoming more intentional about how you see yourself and creating a forever active lifestyle from the inside/out.

Get the Journal Prompts: https://yourlevelfitness.com/email Join The Live Streams: https://yourlevelfitness.com/stream Brand new to Your Level Fitness? https://yourlevelfitness.com/ What would change if you decided to appreciate the body you have? In this episode of Love the Body You Have, I talk about the way we speak to ourselves, the criticism we carry, and the mental tug of war that can develop when we spend years being at odds with our own reflection. Think about the things you have said to yourself over the years. The good. The bad. Everything in between. How critical have you been? How often have you torn yourself down? For a lot of us, that way of thinking feels normal because we have been conditioned into it for years. But normal does not mean permanent. I want to challenge you to start practicing something different. Stand in front of the mirror for thirty to sixty seconds each day. Look at yourself. Pay attention to what comes up. And instead of automatically following the critical thoughts, practice redirecting them. This does not mean the old thoughts disappear overnight. They may still show up. The difference is that you do not have to keep feeding them. Over time, you can begin to see yourself from a different perspective. You can soften the way you speak to yourself. You can become more comfortable with who and what you see. And you can start learning to appreciate yourself from the inside/out. Because the alternative is spending the rest of your life fighting yourself. You do have another option. You can practice choosing appreciation.

How much of the way you see yourself actually comes from you? In this episode of Love the Body You Have, I want you to think about who has influenced the way you see yourself, your body, and even the person looking back at you in the mirror. Maybe there is one specific person whose opinion carries more weight than you would like. Maybe comments about your appearance from years ago still come back into your mind. Maybe it is not even something anyone has actually said recently. Sometimes it is the perception of what we think other people are thinking about us that starts shaping how we think about ourselves. I share some of my own experience living with cerebral palsy and dealing with comments, looks, and opinions about my appearance throughout my life. Even when I am operating from a calm headspace and genuinely appreciating who I see in the mirror, some of those old thoughts can still show up. That is why simply telling yourself that someone else’s opinion does not matter is not always enough. You deserve the opportunity to understand how those experiences have affected you. There is no right or wrong answer here. There is only your answer. As you listen, grab your journal and ask yourself who has influenced the way you see yourself, whose opinions still carry weight, and whether you are sometimes seeing yourself through someone else’s eyes instead of your own. The goal is not to pretend those experiences never happened. It is to better understand them so you can continue building a relationship with yourself that comes from the inside/out. Brand New to Your Level Fitness? If you're brand new to Your Level Fitness, check out everything available at: https://yourlevelfitness.com

How do you feel when you unexpectedly see yourself in a video, a reflection, or simply moving through the world? That reaction can tell you a lot about the relationship you currently have with yourself. In this episode of Love the Body You Have, I want you to pay attention to what happens internally when you catch a glimpse of yourself that you did not plan or control. Maybe somebody else recorded the video. Maybe you see yourself walking past a reflection. Maybe you catch yourself from an angle you normally would not choose. What thoughts immediately show up? My hope is that, over time, those moments can start to feel calmer. You can learn to see yourself without immediately picking yourself apart. You can become more comfortable with your appearance, more confident in how you move through the world, and more at ease with the person looking back at you. That does not mean you will feel that way 100 percent of the time. It takes practice. It starts with choosing how you want your relationship with yourself to feel, then continually redirecting your thoughts and actions toward that relationship. You deserve to see yourself without your body immediately becoming something that needs to be criticized, corrected, or changed. So the question for today is simple. How do you currently feel when you see yourself in motion, and how would you like that experience to feel instead? Brand new to Your Level Fitness? Start here: https://yourlevelfitness.com

When do you actually feel most comfortable in your own skin? Not when you think you should feel comfortable. Not when somebody else tells you to love yourself or be confident. I mean the actual situations, environments, and moments when you feel most at ease with yourself. In this episode of Love the Body You Have, I want you to think about a time when you genuinely felt comfortable being you. Maybe there is a situation that consistently creates that feeling. Maybe it is a certain environment, activity, group of people, or moment in your day. Or maybe you have to think further back to remember the last time you really felt at ease. The reason I think this exercise matters is because simply telling ourselves to be comfortable in our own skin does not necessarily give us anything to work with. But when you can remember what being at ease actually feels like, you have a reference point. You can start reconnecting with that feeling in your mind. Then, when you are ready, you can begin looking for ways to recreate pieces of it in other areas of your life. The goal is not to feel comfortable, confident, or completely at ease all the time. There will still be moments when you feel anxious, uncomfortable, ashamed, or disconnected from yourself. But developing awareness around the moments when you do feel at ease can give you somewhere to redirect yourself when those harder feelings show up. Take a few minutes while listening and write down your own answers. When do you feel most comfortable in your own skin? What is happening around you? What are you thinking and feeling? And what pieces of that experience could you intentionally bring into other parts of your life? Learning to love the body you have is about much more than what you see in the mirror. It is also about understanding the relationship you have with yourself underneath everything else. Brand new to Your Level Fitness? Start here: https://yourlevelfitness.com

What is the thought that tends to send you down the body image rabbit hole? Maybe it happens when you look in the mirror. Maybe it is a certain picture of yourself. Maybe it is an angle you do not like. Maybe one thought appears and, before you really notice what is happening, you are seven or eight thoughts deep and tearing yourself apart. In this episode, I want you to start noticing that pattern. What is the first thought? Where does your mind go next? What emotions come up along the way? I think it is easy to look at these patterns logically and tell ourselves that we should just stop thinking that way. But the emotions underneath those thoughts still matter. You have to respect what you are feeling. That does not mean the feeling has to determine where the rest of the thought process goes. It means you can acknowledge what is there, sit with it for a moment, and then begin working toward another path you can choose. At first, you may only catch the pattern occasionally. Over time, with repetition, awareness, and plenty of compassion for yourself, you can start creating a different default. I also talk about why a productive relationship with a therapist or counselor can be valuable when you are working through deeper body image patterns, especially when that relationship includes identifying blind spots and practicing things between sessions. Because loving the body you have is ultimately about much more than the reflection itself. What you see in the mirror may be the starting point, but underneath that is how you see the person looking back at you. New to Your Level Fitness? Start here: https://yourlevelfitness.com

Why do you suddenly feel self-conscious when someone looks at you? That is the question I want you to sit with in this episode. For a lot of us, attention can create discomfort very quickly. You may feel completely fine with yourself, then the second you notice someone looking at you, your awareness changes. You start thinking about how you look. How you are standing. How your body is moving. What they might be thinking. And depending on your past experiences, that feeling can bring up a lot. In this episode, I talk about why I think it is useful to slow that moment down and get curious about it instead of immediately judging yourself for feeling uneasy. What are you actually feeling? Why do you think that feeling is there? What past experiences might be influencing the way you interpret attention now? The goal is not to pretend those old thoughts and feelings never existed. It is to recognize that they do not have to remain your default forever. You can start observing how you respond, decide how you would rather feel, and gradually practice a different way of seeing yourself in those situations. That process takes repetition. It takes patience. And it starts with remembering that nobody knows your experience better than you do. New to Your Level Fitness? Start here: https://yourlevelfitness.com