Body Liberation 101. Exercise Because You Love Your Body Not Because You Hate It
Let’s talk about movement and how to exercise because you love your body rather than hating it. It’s a sad indictment of society’s obsession with thinness that the focus on exercise for many is purely about losing weight. There are so many health benefits of exercising regularly. If you could buy a pill that gave you the same benefits, there would be riots and people paying ridiculous amounts to get hold of some.
Benefits Of Regular Exercise
Improved cardiovascular health
Stronger muscles and improved bone density
Lowers blood pressure
Lowers levels of health cholesterol
Improves balance and reduces the risk of falls
Boosts Energy
Improves the quality of your sleep
Improves insulin sensitivity
Lowers the risk of some types of cancer
Can have a positive effect on mental health
Reduces stress and removes the stress hormone cortisol from the body
Sounds great, right? Exercise can do so many more wonderful things for you beyond making your body smaller. That’s why it’s sad and deeply frustrating that diet culture has hijacked the exercise space.
How to Exercise Because You Love Your Body
1) FORGET Calories!
If you’re going to reconnect with your body and learn to enjoy movement again, you have to forget about calories. Do not think about the effect each exercise has on the number of calories you burn, your weight, or the shape of your body. These things are not relevant! There is so much you can do to improve your health without focussing on weight loss.
2) Try New (Or Old!) Things
What you need to do is find a type of movement that you love, or at the very least that you don’t hate. If you have an activity you used to love but gave up on, try returning to it. See if it’s still as much fun as you remember. My aunt, who is in her 50s, joined a netball team.
If you don’t have anything, then try stuff out. For example, I found I love lifting weights and doing clubbercise. I tried aerobics, circuits, cardio machines, swimming and walking. I didn’t enjoy them, so now I don’t do them.
Having an activity you enjoy is a huge part of making movement part of your life.
3) Learn To Listen To Your Body
The saying “No pain, no gain” needs to be thrown on the scrap heap forever. Exercise should never be painful! Remember, I want you to exercise because you love your body. Working out to the point you’re in pain is not love!
If it hurts, then stop what you’re doing and rest. If you feel better after a few minutes, try to continue if you want to but take it easy. If it starts to hurt again, you’re done for the day. See a doctor if it still hurts over the next couple of days or if the pain gets worse. Obviously, if you’re in agony, go to the doctor or A&E immediately.
4) That Doesn’t Mean It Will Be Easy
Depending on the type of movement you choose, you may find it gets steadily more difficult. If you do a martial art, you must fight to win each belt. If you love to dance, the steps might get more complicated. In yoga, the poses become more challenging, both to get into position and hold it. Or, if you lift weights, it gets harder as you lift heavier and heavier weights.
As you make progress, it is normal to feel uncomfortable. Just uncomfortable, though. As I said above, it should not be painful but feeling discomfort is not a reason to stop. Obviously, stop if you want to, but to make progress, you might need to put up with a bit of discomfort.
However, progress is not required! If you reach a level that you enjoy and don’t want to go any further, that is absolutely fine. You do you! Any type of movement is great for your body and your mental health.
5) Look For Signs Of Success
No, I do NOT mean looser clothes or a lower number on the scale, although one or both of these things may happen. The goal here is to exercise because you love your body! Please consider throwing your scales away altogether; that is not how we measure success. Here are a few examples of what we’re looking for:
- You don’t get as out of breath while exercising and while doing everyday things like climbing stairs
- You feel stronger; you can lift more weight if that’s what you’re doing or just find lifting a heavy bag of cat litter a doddle
- You have more energy
- You’ve noticed you sleep better
- You don’t feel as stressed and can cope better
- Your mood has improved, and you don’t feel blue as often
- You’re excited to see what else your body can do
- You feel empowered and proud of yourself
- You love your chosen activity and look forward to it
Those things sound pretty great, don’t they? If you achieve some of these things, that’s wonderful. Far better than being a dress size smaller! Movement does so many great things for us, so please, can we stop allowing diet culture to corrupt it? Exercise because you love your body not because you hate it. Learn to see its beauty and explore all the fabulous things it can do. I think you’ll be both surprised and pleased so give yourself a chance:)
