By Julie Anne McGready Ace Certified Personal Fitness Trainer –
“I wish I was a smaller size. I hate shopping for clothes. I can never find anything that fits. I wish I had a flat stomach. I hate my arms. I’ll be happy when I lose this weight. I hate my thighs so much that I won’t wear shorts. I hate how fat I am. I wish I looked like that.” I wish, I hate, I wish, I hate–the list goes on and on. Sound familiar? This is the way most American women think about themselves. Men look in the mirror and they say ‘looking good today!’ They don’t even see that big belly sticking out in front of them! Whereas women look in the mirror and see every inch of fat! A lot of women that are at healthy weights with nice figures will attack their bodies as if they have the plague. I’ve had women grab the crease of their underarms demanding, “How do I get rid of this?!” They look for something to pick on. And if we have a big weight problem, we tend to either stop looking in the mirror all together, or we just look from the neck up. We remember a smaller body and ignore the scope of how our body weight has spun out of control. We go from one extreme to the other. Lets’ face it ladies: we have issues!
For the most part, women would rather be ugly and thin than pretty and heavy-set. Most women struggle their whole lives dieting, practicing negative self-talk, being miserable inside of their bodies, until they get older. What is accomplished after year and years of this behavior? Unhappiness for their whole lives! This can cause negativity in other aspects of life. Their poor husbands have had to repeatedly answer “No honey, that does not make you look fat!” over the years and what else do you expect them to say?!
What women should strive for is to be fit! Being thin will not keep you strong and independent as you mature, nor will it make your body attractive, or your mind happy. Being fit is a combination of what you do over a period of time. It’s a matter of caring about yourself and who you are. It means eating foods that are known to be healthy (unprocessed) most of the time, performing exercises that include resistance, cardiovascular, and flexibility training, and working on having a healthy mind set. The latter is often the stumbling block that keeps us from successfully achieving our goals.
When we have negative thoughts and feelings about our bodies and ourselves, we sabotage positive changes that we are trying to make to get healthier. We feel like losing weight is unobtainable. And it is, as long as we have a negative body image. When you feel bad about yourself, you are the only one feeling this way. How do we overcome these horrible feelings about ourselves and our bodies?
Two words: DISCIPLINE and LOVE.
Most of us have raised one or more children. Because you love your children, you discipline them; otherwise, they could grow up to become reckless and wild adults. We have to treat ourselves as we would treat our own children. Would you say to your child, “You can’t wear shorts because I hate your big thighs!” or would you let them eat whatever they wanted to all of the time? No way! Why? Because you love them and you would never treat them with that level of disrespect or have terrible thoughts about them like that. Guess what? You are no different! You have to love yourself first. Turn your negative thoughts into positive ones. “I hate how fat I am” should be turned around to, “I am a beautiful woman and I care about myself, so I am in an exercise program and eating healthier every day to become more fit and healthy!” Search and confirm positives about your personality first, then work on your body features. When you have positive reinforcement, healthier changes are easier to make because you are not fighting against yourself. Instead you are taking care and pride in your mind and in your body. I have assisted many women in redirect their thoughts, and the outcome for them is life changing. Negativity towards one’s self is the biggest waste of someone’s life that there is. Hiring a qualified personal trainer can make all of the difference. Setting goals for the changes you want for your body as well as working on a great self-image is just the beginning. As you work with your trainer, you should see and feel the difference in your attitude and your body, as your program excels you too become as fit as you can be.
So change your course of life to become fit and happy! Let the professionals at Progressive Health Club help you!
Julie Ann McGready
Certified Personal Trainer
Julie Ann McGready is a Certified Personal Trainer. She is certified by The American Council on Exercise (ACE). She has won the Personal Trainer, Best of Charlotte Reader’s Award five times. She is an expert at weight loss and strength training. Julie Anne’s fitness career began over 15 years ago as a certified group fitness instructor. Watching people become healthier and fit in her classes propelled her to want to help them on an individual basis, so she obtained her personal training and weight management certifications. Julie Anne brings to the table a lot of personal experience with being both overweight and underweight during certain periods of her life. Julie Anne’s expertise lies in her ability to provide her clients with effective programming based on their goals and needs. From traditional to cutting edge workouts, her pliability and natural talents have led to a large variety of clientele ranging from the older adult, weight loss, post rehab, special needs, athlete, and body builder.
Progressive Health and Racquet Club
941-743-8700
www.progressivehealthplex.com