Janey takes her clothes off…

To prove a point about the scales and body image!

I’m a little nervous about posting this blog if I’m honest. Taking selfies in my underwear is not something I do regularly,well, ever actually! But I’m so frustrated at how many of my clients focus all their attention on a stupid number on the scales. And also women focusing on all the negative things about themselves rather than the positives, something I’m seeing more and more.

So I’m in week three of my four week Best Body bootcamp and my body has really changed. I’ve been combining long, fast power walks, with HIIT sprinting, swimming and doing my own conditioning videos, as well as cutting back on wine a little and continuing to eat really healthily – the latter I do all the time anyway and with ease. Yes, I’ve been working hard in my workouts and yes I’ve been consistent, but nothing supersonic.

As I got ready to get changed for a run yesterday, I stopped and looked in the mirror and thought to myself ‘Wow, your body has really changed in three weeks!’ and I decided to weigh myself, something I only do occasionally and purely out of curiosity! I have actually put on 4lbs since the start of the bootcamp and I’ve gone from 11 stones to 11 stones 4 – and by the way, I’m ok with that, scales mean absolutely nothing to me.

Now for many women, seeing 4lbs of weight gain on the scales EVEN IF they looked better and were smaller, would send them into a frenzy! In fact there were women on the Best Body forum who had said they were feeling dis-heartened by not losing weight or staying the same on the scales, DESPITE fitting into smaller clothes and getting compliments left right and centre.

But I laughed as I saw the weight gain. There I was standing in front of the mirror looking completely differently from the start of November (and not bad for a nearly 37 year old, who’s had twins and likes her wine!) so WHO CARES what the scales say?

When are women going to realize that putting all their focus on a number, rather than the things that really matter – like real health, a good shape, a strong body, is COMPLETE INSANITY? And more importantly, when are women going to focus on getting a body that fits in with their body type AND a body that they keep without being a misery guts?! What’s the point of spending your whole life trying to be something you never can be OR wasting all your time wishing you look a certain way when quite frankly, you’re not prepared to put in the work. Make peace with who you are and your body choices. It’s the most incredible feeling in the world.

This is my body, it functions properly, it’s practically effortless to sustain and I actually really like it. And believe me that has taken a long time to be able to say that! It’s no one else’s body, but mine. What other people think of it or me, is none of my business. Yet this exact thing is what often drives women to be something they are not. To some women, they might deem my body to be perfect and ideal, for others too curvy or big. I honestly don’t care what others think or say about it and ladies, I’d recommend you try to do the same.

I’m a mesomorph, 5ft 10 and a size 12. Yes, I can work harder and be stricter with myself and be a size 10 and smaller, but it’s exhausting to sustain. I choose not to be a size 10 and I have made peace with that. I’d rather compromise having a size 10 body for extra meals out, the wine I like to drink from time to time and not having to be obsessed about training my nuts off. Some days I like to sit on my arse and do absolutely nothing and there’s nothing I like more than to demolish a big chunky burger and fries. And I never feel guilty about it, ever.

Going back to my bedroom yesterday morning, something else interesting happened. As I looked through the photos, honestly, my initial reaction was to actually focus on the negative things about my body. ‘My waist could be narrower, I could have smaller thighs, my tummy could be flatter, I could be leaner’ etc, you see deep down I have as many negative thoughts about body shape as the next woman. But over the years I have learned to override these toxic, self-sabotage, sub-conscious thoughts, with positive and more pleasant affirmations that truly are the foundation of having better body image. So I immediately swapped them with positive affirmations about my body and re-thought, ‘You have great definition, what a nice, shape, nice skin, pretty flat abs post-twins and for someone who does no ab work, for someone three years off 40, you look great, this body grew two babies at once etc etc.’

And it dawned on me HOW DIFFERENT THE WORLD WOULD BE IF WOMEN FOCUSED ON ALL THE POSITIVES AND THINGS THEY HAVE GOT/ACHIEVED, AS OPPOSED TO THE NEGATIVES AND THINGS THEY HAVEN’T GOT/NOT ACHIEVED. Not just with their bodies, but with everything. It would be a very different world.

Life is short. Stop being so hard on yourselves. Stop using the scales as a judge of success. Find a body that suits you and you can sustain. Work with what you’ve got. Make a choice that is authentic to you. Make peace with that choice. Drown out the noise of what you think others think of you. Be prepared to compromise. Be true to yourself. And finally, be nice to yourself.

Janey x