My connections through my fitness & wellness community inspire & call me up in such a positive way. Thank you for being a tribe, "my people" and sharing so openly about your personal challenges.
I remember taking both of those photos so disappointed. I stepped into Lane Bryant & I had to go up another size. A size 28. Plus, I was tipping the scale at almost 400 lbs. I put all of the new shirts back & left. (No lie - I shed a few tears driving home) But I refused to buy that size & get comfortable in it.
In the right side photo, I was disappointed after losing over 150 lbs. & still seeing reminders of "who I used to be." I was supposedly a size 12 but my clothes were still loose fitting in some areas & tight in others. I didn't realize I could work this hard & not really know my true size - still carrying around loose skin. I remember researching loose skin for months before I started my journey. I wanted to do everything I could to prevent it. After C-sections, breast surgery & corneal transplants I knew it wasn't ideal to add skin removal & a tummy tuck to the budget. Then I had to ask myself "I๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐จ๐ง'๐ญ ๐๐๐๐๐ฉ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฃ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐๐ฒ ๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ง ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ง ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ?" I began lifting more, sculpting my body & truly embracing it.
๐ก Reminder - we have a body that's absolutely capable of pushing itself to work hard for what it deserves, no matter what that looks like. The less I appreciated how far I've come the more I ended up resorting back to old habits.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐บ๐ ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ ๐น๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ ๐น๐ถ๐ธ๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐บ๐ฒ?
๐ง Mindful eating & movement.
๐ง Stabilizing emotions. (If the mind takes a hit and becomes unstable - soon enough the body could too)
๐ง Try not to count your body out because your mind keeps psyching ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ out.
๐๐ณ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฟ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป: ๐ง My mind is the leader & my body will always follow it. If I'm not in control of my thoughts I will never lead my body. If I can't lead myself I can't lead anyone else. - NauBriana L.
I fought mind battles before I could be proud of EVERY step of this journey. I returned to the same-store & tried on a dress 7 sizes smaller just 2 yrs later. I still didn't buy it but it felt amazing to come back to the same place, leave undefeated & anxiety-free. ๐๐พ
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ ๐น๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ ๐น๐ถ๐ธ๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐?