Hey babes! My name is Kami Blease and I am a body image & wellness coach for women looking to gain confidence, consistency, and joy in their lives and around their bodies!
It can be hard to love your body. I mean we are constantly inundated with advertising that tells us being skinny should be our primary goal because once we are skinny everything else in our life will fall into place.
There was a time when I wholeheartedly believe this. I held this as truth for years! Years I chased after being smaller. Just 5 more pounds, just a few more inches…then I would be happier. But in reality, I never was. It was never enough. Because even when I would lose the weight, I didn’t feel as happy as I thought I would, so I assumed maybe just a little more and then I would get there.
But shocker…this didn’t happen. I never got as skinny as I wanted to be. I never got the body I had always dreamed of. And I constantly felt like a failure. A failure because I had let myself down and would never reach my full potential.
Can anyone else relate to these thoughts? I hope I’m not alone here!
As I look back I can now see how warped that desire was. I was putting so much of my worthiness on my weight. If I was thin I was worthy, if I gained weight I was unworthy. I felt like I was trapped in this battle of trying to love myself and change myself and losing on all fronts.
So I finally gave up. I literally said no more, I’m done. My mind is tired, my heart is tired, my body is tired and I’m not any happier running down this road. I was supposed to be training women to lose weight and love their bodies and yet I didn’t feel like I was succeeding at either of these.
At that point I realized that what I was doing wasn’t working. The diets, trends, quick fixes, morning smoothies, two-a-day workouts and so on had not gotten me where I believed they would and I didn’t think they ever would. I started to question, research, and relearn everything I thought about dieting, weight loss, body types and body image.
I realized that I first needed to love and accept my body and from there I would be able to eat and move in a way that honored it. That if I could separate the need to lose weight from living a healthy lifestyle then I would actually be able to enjoy living a healthy lifestyle! It no longer mattered what weight I was because that was no longer what my life was about.
Living well looks different for each of us. And it doesn’t really matter what it is as long as it feels right for you. As long as each day you wake up and do things that honor and support your body, mind, and spirit in a way that truly fuels you then it’s right.
So how do you get there? To the place where you love your body and start creating a life from that space? Well I have a few tips for you!
Be protective of how you spend your time and what you look at
Instagram was a big trigger for me when it came to my body image struggles. So I decided that I would only continue following people that made me feel happy and truly inspired. Even if they had a beautiful profile or funny things to say, if I saw them and immediately doubted my calling, body, lifestyle, or dreams then I would unfollow them. When it comes to living out a life full of self-acceptance and purpose how can we do that when we are constantly seeing things that make us feel less than? We have the power to change that…so I did.. Don’t wish for things to be different and then do nothing about it, if you struggle with this like I did then start making changes now!
I really thought about what I wanted my life to look like when it came to how I moved and ate
I didn’t want to workout 5-6 days a week and cut out carbs. I wanted to workout 3-4 days a week and not track my food at all! So I started taking steps towards that. I cut out any fitness I was doing that was solely for weight loss. I started doing more yoga, walking, pilates and jogging. I loved using apps like SH because it allowed me to get a variety of things in without feeling obsessed or obligated to do things I didn’t enjoy. I stopped tracking my food and honestly ate whatever I wanted. That being said, I did pay attention to how those foods made me feel, which environments triggered cravings, and I began to form a relationship with food that was constructive instead of destructive.
I did a lot of self work and deep digging
I started looking at my insecurities and tried to get to the root of why I felt those things. I started to question my actions and intentions. I started to look back on past experiences and acknowledge their role in shaping me. I would write letters to people who had hurt me in the past and then burn the letters as an act of letting go. I would say daily intentions and write out my gratitude each morning. I would do a few minutes of meditation and a quiet time to slow down and feel centered. I did a lot of the hard work that comes with breaking down the past and rebuilding the future. In the end it was definitely worth it!
If these sound like things you want help doing and you want more tips on how to reclaim your relationship with food and your body, you can sign up for my group coaching Body Image & Confidence Course coming soon!
We will walk through a new topic and exercise each week, all geared at breaking down the destructive narratives we carry around our body. At the same time we will work to rebuild habits and thought patterns within a community that supports us living our best life from the inside out! Get on the waitlist HERE!
I am so thankful for this journey. And though it has been challenged by friends, questioned by loved ones and harder than I thought, I am so much freer on the other side. I truly feel like I’m starting to enjoy my life again because I am no longer waiting to be thin enough.
You can do this too! You can start today, shifting how you look at your body, how you think about your body, and how you show up each day. Choose to show up with love. Choose to show up with compassion. Choose to show up bravely and boldly in a world that doesn’t want or expect you too. This is where the change really happens, we just need more brave, beautiful women boldly showing up to be the change.