Itty Bitty, Teenie Weenie, Yellow Polka Dot....Sports Bra??

bod·y im·age
noun
the subjective picture or mental image of one's own body.

Most of us don't see ourselves as we truly are. I do not know a woman in the western world who hasn't shed a tear trying on clothes in the harsh glare of changeroom lighting. I personally believe that all changerooms buy their mirrors from the fun house, but I'm assured this is not the case.

Bathing Suit shopping. Yes. I know every woman reading this just shuddered. What a special brand of hell it is. Being chirped around by a commission motivated fetus who looks like they rolled out of their mother's womb last year. I'm quite certain that only those who have yet to reach puberty are hired in these places, just to make the pain of walking out of the changeroom, bulging and stripey, all the more humiliating. The look of fear in the eyes of the young nubile innocent is worth it, though, as you hiss knowingly "under your breath" about how age gets EVERYONE!

But enough about my day.

In all seriousness, most of us fail to see the sum of the good, and instead focus on the bad, or, not perfect. This is regardless of whether you are over, under or at a healthy weight. Perception doesn't meet reality. For many people, this can become a chronic struggle. People with poor self image can have an entire day ruined from one glance in the mirror. Your perception of yourself on the outside can have a profound effect on how valuable you consider yourself on the inside.
People with healthy body image can shake off a "bad hair day" and move past or work through to prevent it from robbing you of any enjoyment. People with unhealthy body image sometimes can't see past the demon in the mirror.

I don't have all the answers to cure poor body image, but I do know from my own experience that you do have to test your preconceived notions.
Be brave.

These are things I believed (mostly because I was told them by people I loved)
- wearing heels will elongate your legs and thin out your trouble areas. I did not own a pair of flats except for running shoes until I turned 32.
- you are not beautiful, but pretty enough you may mature into an attractive woman.
- black. clothes. That is all. Black is slimming, right? Nothing like permanent mourning garb to help you look trim.
To name a few.

I have terrible body image, but I am pretty much past most of that now, with some hard work. I wear flats, love colourful clothing, and I have no opinion on my outer beauty. If I look in the mirror I may see hideous, but all it takes is a look into my heart to see otherwise. If I am meeting new people, my introverted self will generally pop back over to the dark side and dress safely, but after that all bets are off.

NOW - having read all of the above, know the following. I DO NOT WEAR BARE MY BELLY IN PUBLIC. There are two exceptions:
a) I am out of the country where NO ONE will ever see me.
b) I am teaching a Zumba Fitness Event with awesome music and my girls KT and Lisa. On this occasion I have a habit of ripping the shirt off of my back. Literally. I do tend to get a little carried away.

So, my challenge this year is to buy a cute little sports bra top and cute little shorts and wear them to complete the Warrior Dash. Oh my. I actually just threw up in my mouth a little.
There are around thirty clients and friends doing this Dash with me, and some of them are also committed to doing this ridiculously silly but oh so scary clothing challenge with me.


So go ahead. Do something a little scary. Be brave. Work your butt off to make sure you are the best and healthiest person you can be. Then look in the mirror, and smile.

Find Your CORE.

A Very Merry Un-Resolution To YOU!! (and you, and you...)

Full disclosure. I have never, ever,ever,ever,ever fulfilled a New Year's Resolution. I hold the resolutions themselves completely responsible for this because I am not a quitter. Clearly the failure to complete them had nothing to do with me. Or maybe. Ok fine. It was all me.
I made the obligatory resolutions. Why? Everyone was doing it, peer pressure at it's best. Besides, everything about me always needed to change. I never really measured up, so it was easy to find a million things to change about myself.
I feel the need to clarify here a little though. I am an excellent goal setter. And I always (I mean ALWAYS) reach and usually exceed even my ridiculously high expectations. But if you label it a New Year's resolution I suddenly am rendered useless and incapable.

Now that I am older and getting a little wiser, I realise that this is because I don't really need to change all that much. I am perfectly imperfect, and have so many flaws I'd have to start a new blog about them, but for the most part I am pretty ok. And no resolution to eat healthier, move more, apply more sunscreen, whatever, is going to change that, whether I reach the goal or not. All of the many little things I need to do to help myself to be all of the things I find most important (kind,loving, loyal, helpful, thoughtful) and want to accomplish (be a good Mum, wife and friend. Be a motivating force. Help others in my community)are ongoing efforts (sometimes battles) and the work on myself to make myself be the person I want to be is ongoing and constant. I work at my physical, mental and emotional health all the time, because these three components of my well being directly contribute to my ability to be the type of human being I aspire to be. Every day.

Life is an ongoing and constant state of employment. Invest in yourself every day so that you can invest in others.
I never kept a single New Year's Resolution because I never found one as important as worthwhile as that.

Without futher ado, here are my yearly UN-RESOLUTIONS. An unresolution is simply an acknowlegement of what you did well in 2014 and a vow to continue!

a)Run Forrest, Run! Over the last few years, I have turned my relationship with running from a brief fling, to a heated romance, a steamy honeymoon and now a comfortable, loving marriage. What was once a struggle is now a joy, and I can honestly say that apart from being with my family and friends, there is nowhere else I would rather be than the open road or trails.
b)Kindness & Gentleness: Learned this year to apply these traits to all areas of my life. Tried to stop living life on attack mode, and instead to nurture, apply patience, love and sometimes ice packs, to wounds that need to heal, those both literal and metaphorically.
c)Forgiveness: for others and myself. It's work, and it's working.
d) To avoid school trips like the plague. Luckily most are scheduled on my work days. Only got roped in to one last year - a personal record. Looking to continue that streak.
e)Friendships. I love having friends. And I have the BEST friends ever. So I will work on letting them all know that, as often as possible.
f) Wine. I started drinking the occasional glass of "occasion" wine (or maybe two glasses. I can't remember exactly)
It tastes good, and I plan on having more "occasions" to drink a glass!
g) Relaxing. I'm getting better at it (see the above statement about wine)and am hoping to do more.
That's the most important points I can think of, except I'll keep loving my husband, kids, family, friends, jobs, clients and random people I meet and to keep inspiring, energizing and motivating people to move!!

Find Your CORE!

"New Year, New You?" Perhaps, but probably not.

Every year at around this time I turn into the "Incredible Hulk". Every time I see any one of the following statements/catch phrases/tag lines or memes I turn green, boil and seethe with anger and grow super tall, muscular and burst out of my racerback tank top and tights until the are little shreddies.
"New Year, NEW YOU!"
"Resolve to make big change happen in 2015!"
"Got a little chubby over the holidays? Try this diet/pill/coconut oil/scam....."
"Join our ______________ and be the best/fittest/richest/thinnest/prettiest/smartest you can be in 2015"

What was so wrong with you on December 31st that you must resolve to change yourself completely on January 1st?
And if so much is wrong that you must resolve to change it all (usually immediately) why, oh why, wait until January 1st to do it?

Look, if you need to make changes, you know it already. You know it in June, you know it on your birthday, on family Day, on Thanksgiving and Easter. You know it on Monday and you know it on Sunday, and every day that falls between. If you have unhealthy habits (and all of us in priviledged North America do - ALL of us) you know them. And you know they must be addressed. The sooner the better. And by you. You alone can make a plan to make positive changes in your life and you alone can make them stick around permanently.

Annie's Tips for Implementing Change and making it happen:

1. Don't set deadlines and start times. If something is worth improving, it's worth starting NOW. If your goal is to add more movement into your life, don't wait until January 1st. Go out for a walk today, even if it's ten minutes! Keep moving in small amounts and add on with other types of movement, longer times, classes, personal training - what ever you like. But get started.
If better nutrition is your goal, and you resolve to start eating healthy tomorrow - you know that your entire day will be spent consuming all the sugar and chocolate and chips in your postal code. Start with making better choices today, and slowly and surely making easily sustainable changes over time.
2. Know your weaknesses and confront them. Hate exercise or are unmotivated? Join a class, get a personal trainer, gather friends to move together and keep accountable. If chips are calling you from the cupboard, remove their salty little ripples from your life.
3. Challenge Your Fear. The toughest. What is the worst thing that is going to happen if you succeed? If you lose the weight you must in order to feel great and be healthy, you win. If this time nothing changes, well, you aren't any farther behind than you were. You have nothing, I repeat NOTHING, to lose.
4. Make a plan. Nothing happens without planning, goal setting and education. Sit down with a professional or a friend who has an eye for this type of thing, and come up with realistic goals and a basic,realistic plan to reach them. Realistic is the key here. Nobody likes to fail,so being sensible here is the key.
5. Find your why. I often have clients write down their anwers to the following questions:
a) Why is this goal/lifestyle etc..important to you? ( simply : Why must you change?)
b) Why did you choose unhealthy habits to be a part of your life? ( simply : Why did you get here?)

Everyone can make change happen. But don't start tomorrow. There is no better time than now.

Find Your CORE!