The Perfect Body
Perfection. It relates to the absence of flaws and is one of the biggest hoaxes in the health and fitness industry. We all have an idea of what ‘the perfect body’ is in our minds and this is usually dictated by a combination of what we consume from the media, and the self-proclaimed health gurus around us. While comparing ourselves to that ‘perfection’, we feel insecure and discouraged.
Self-Awareness
The first step towards leading a healthy and happy life is to become self-aware. You need to get to know yourself, and understand who you are before you can even think about changing it. Most of us know our closest friends better than we know ourselves, which is ludicrous. It’s a cliché, but you need to stop trying to be who you or society wants you to be and start accepting who you are. Once you learn to accept and love who you are, you will become a lot happier and gain the confidence to reach your goals! Until then, no matter how hard you work or how close you are to your goal, you will always feel the need to improvecertain aspects of yourself. Always remember that you do not need to have the flattest tummy, or the most defined abs to have the perfect body. There is nothing that’s sexier than self-confidence, which can only be achieved through self-awareness. If you know your best qualities then you won’t spend time worrying about your weaknesses.
Impatience
We are living in a world of instant gratification. If we want something, we don’t need to wait until the next day to go and buy it, we just order it online. If we want to watch something, we don’t need to wait to watch it in the cinema or until it airs on TV, we just go online and stream it. Everything that we want, we can get immediately. Everything… except for “the perfect body”. Achieving your goal takes hard work and commitment over a long period of time. Every small adjustment to your lifestyle is a building block towards your long-term goal and while these blocks may look so small individually, they are enormous when put together. Be Patient. Watch your body change and develop over a few months and years rather than expecting it to change in days.
Crash Diets
A lack of self-awareness and self-acceptance combined with a sense of impatience has meant that many people are trying so hard to achieve the perfect body and in pursuit of this they go on ridiculous ‘crash diets’ that aren’t healthy or sustainable. While they may see results in the short run, and may start to look ‘better’, the changes are only temporary because these diets and regimes catch up to them. 95% of the people who lose weight through extreme diets gain it back just as quickly.
Achieving your goal
The first step to reaching your goal and to start living a healthy lifestyle is to accept your body the way it is and learn to love it. Many of us are too hard on ourselves and criticise our bodies far too easily instead of accepting it and working from there. Once you (truly) accept your body, you can start to make minor adjustments to your lifestyle that allow you to enjoy the foods you love in the right quantities. Remember, there is no one-size-fits-all blueprint pertaining to how you should live and what you should do but instead, it’s about becoming self-aware and learning how your body responds to different situations.
In Conclusion
Monitoring your food and eating healthy is not supposed to be a punishment. It’s not meant to make you feel like you aren’t living your life and enjoying what you should be. Being healthy is about allowing you to enjoy the delicious treats without the guilt of harming your body. When you make permanent lifestyle changes, there is almost always a way to accommodate for whatever you love to eat and still maintain a healthy lifestyle.
If you have any questions about this post, or anything that you feel is relevant, feel free to get into contact with us and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
