30 Day Challenge
IGOR's Tip #7: If you want to lose belly fat, crunches are not the way to go. In fact, crunches may actually increase your risk of back injury. Here are the best abdominal exercises.
THE GIFT OF COMPASSION
A few days ago I gave the 30 Day Challenge Participants some homework. They needed to think about the following:
Write a few sentences about treating yourself with
compassion when you mess up. Do you find it easy or hard? Do you treat
others with compassion, but expect more from yourself? How does this
affect you emotionally, particularly in regards to food.
This homework was something that each participant found very personal. It was a cause for self reflection and not only just in terms of this challenge, but for life in general.
For myself, I put a lot of pressure on myself, and I have
learned in the last year to take a step back and just take the
pressure off. It helped me to find out that exercise out of obligation
and guilt is actually BAD for you, it triggers all sorts of hormones. Eating out of emotional stress resulting, in guilt has a whole other
release of hormones that does leave you feeling uplifted. I guess I
had to realize too that I needed to treat myself with compassion so that
I did not end up in a downward spiral of negative emotions. Yes, that means forgiving yourself and moving on.
I am
not suggesting that making excuses is okay, but realizing that stressing about it is not
going to be productive is a huge step. What I had to get rid of was that
"all or nothing" mentality. When you live like that you miss out on a
lot of things because of the fear of failure. I realized that one slip up
was not a failure, but an opportunity to learn so that next time
I am wiser. Hey, we hear all the time how great men and women failed
over and over again before they became the big name they are today, so
why would you and I be any different.
I want my healthy lifestyle to be sustainable and do able. Not just a 30 day stint. Do you really believe that you deserve to be healthy or is there a little bit of self-loathing in there. We can't love others, until we learn to love ourselves in a healthy way. I am not saying arrogance, I am suggesting a humble love and compassion for your self so that you can identify and empathize with others and love them too.
A 30 Day Challenge is a good thing. There is nothing wrong with taking that time to focus in on getting rid of bad habits and building new ones, but what are you going to do when the challenge is over?
Will you ditch everything you have learned, or will you continue to be kind to yourself, give your body what it needs, whether it is food or rest? Will you continue to watch over your heart so that you can love others? If you look after your emotional state, you can make a connection with what makes you want to eat when you are upset.
"Not as compassionate about my own mess-ups as with others, for sure! I'm an emotional eater and occasionally realize, I'm not even hungry half way through a meal. Getting better at putting the fork down and getting away from the food. Trying not to give into guilt, just makes me want to eat more. I love being sugar/white flour free. Feels great. Not eating sugar helps me eat less I think. The weight is still about the same but I feel that things are changing. Looser pants, rings move on my fingers. I'm not worried. Feeling great."
What would your answers to the homework questions be? Feel free to comment below.
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Melony Teague a freelance writer and columnist who lives in Canada with her husband and two young children.
Founder of "Secrets of Body Transformation from the Inside Out"
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