Body Love. Books.

I started my body love journey in 2012, after reading Health at Every Size by Linda Bacon. But my weight soared after a miscarriage at 11 weeks and then an immediate pregnancy resulting in the birth of my youngest. I was so uncomfortable that I figured I would just get the weight off first and then I would work on normalizing my eating. In 2013 I started reading a wonderful book called Nourished Metabolism by Elizabeth Walling. It was another love your body now approach that I figured I would eventually get to once I finished losing all of the extra baby weight.  After another year of intense dieting I could do no more.

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Body Love. Exercise.

When I started this year my focus was on no longer dieting. Specifically to lose weight while no longer dieting. I was doing really well with following hunger signals and giving myself permission to eat. But without realizing it, I made exercise my salvation. If I was going to lose weight without dieting, I must need to increase my exercise.  So I did, subconsciously. As I continued to increase my workouts I grew dissatisfied with them and began to feel trapped and resentful of “having” to work out. After I skipped a workout for some much needed journaling and meditation time I realized what I had been doing. And vowed to stop. I only want to move my body because it feels good and invigorating to do so. I only want to move my body in ways that provide joy.

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Body Love. Food.

We received a wonderful gift from a friend the other day, 16 pounds of organic apples! Just like with sewing I have a season of canning food, from October through the end of winter (and just after Easter if I can get a good deal on closeout organic ham), and the season has begun. Today I happen to have an eager two year old as my helper. He helped me wash the apples and after I cut them he then transferred them into the crockpot, where I was turning them into apple butter.

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Body Love. Support.

A few weeks ago I talked about my struggles with comparison while at church. Today I had the pleasure of attending church with my husband. This is a great rarity with his demanding schedule. We were also blessed to sit with a friend from our last church family that has also relocated out here. This dynamic made a substantial impact on my own comparison issues. With the anchor of people who value me now and in the past I didn’t find myself needing to pause and refocus my energy. I was already in a peaceful place.

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Body Love. Simple.

I have just seven days left of this challenge. Which is a good thing, I am running out of photo ideas that reflect my actual life. I live a pretty normal life full of routines and patterns, but how many more laundry pictures can I possibly take?

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