new year, same you.

So, we are here again, into the new year abyss. Buckle up. New year, new body posts start here. The challenges, the detox, the bootcamp, the overhaul. They may have gotten smarter with the wording, careful not to go straight in with the dreaded ‘diet’ word, knowing it is riddled with controversy, and of course promising that ‘this isn’t a diet, it’s a lifestyle’… 

 

It is just a new day, another month, another year. Nothing has fundamentally changed since last night, yet we all have the niggle to change something, because we are told too. We are bombarded with it at every corner. 

I want to remind you that your body is wonderful, complex, worth so much more love than punishment. 

 

Remember, the fitness industry is worth billions because we buy into it, over and over and over again. There is a way you can enjoy food, nourishment, movement that empowers you to feel good, a life that feels manageable, without taking over your entire sense of being.

 

I know it is hard. Trust me I do. But a simple step into that place is to surround yourself with people and cultures that aren’t so extreme, or shaming you / their bodies. Challenge the cliche, challenge the narrative around January diet season. If you feel triggered by Deirdre’s new ‘before and after’ pictures, or June’s ‘detox updates’, unfollow, mute, talk to them – explain why you’re taking a new stance right now, and need to set some boundaries. By engaging in the damaging narrative or being surrounded by it, it inevitably makes us question our own habits and encourage a disordered relationship with food and movement. Be aware. 

 

Sidenote: I am still here learning with you and I have to do the same. I am so conscious of who I am around, who I follow, what I read, because although I am a qualified fitness professional, entering my 8th year in this space, I am also a human being with a complex, obsessive and disordered past with my body. So I know I need to be on the lookout, and protect my brain, especially this time of year. 

 

Quick fixes don’t work – we know that by now right? There is enough real information and support there, if we choose to let it in, gain the help and support we need, and for goodness sake, enjoy LIFE without all of this taking over. We have been through enough. I can guarantee you won’t hit the unrealistic goals we are pushed into setting. You’ll get to a point that the discipline you ‘loved’ at first, becomes a punishment, you will ‘fail’, feel shit, and start a whole new extreme strategy, and so, the cycle (and more money spent) begins again… 

 

Have some movement goals in 2023? Want to change some eating habits? Great! The common misconception is that we should turn our backs on this entire theme, when in fact there really are ways we can manage our mental health, enjoy new movement, AND not let it become the absolute be all and end all reason we exist. A good example on how to start to change our own narrative is to move past the ‘I want to lose 5kg…..’ desperation, and instead think of the benefits of a new weight lifting regime, think about meeting new people at a local class, look forward to feeling ready to run that park 5km and feel the adrenaline of achieving that with 100s of others! 

 

Remind yourself every time you move that the benefits are much deeper than trying to simply become a smaller version of yourself. Instead, think of the mental health benefits, the stronger bones, the blood flow, the heart and lung health, the feeling of lifting a heavier weight than a month ago. I promise this type of satisfaction will last way longer than seeing a number decrease and increase (because that is NORMAL), on the step of shame aka scales… 

 

You got this. I am with you. In 2023, why not be part of the change, the inspiring chats, the place where we understand ourselves deeper, more lovingly, and with more acceptance than ever no matter our size. It really is contagious.