Quick! What is the most powerful tool used to create a healthy lifestyle?
The food you eat? No.
How much you workout? No.
More powerful than any food you eat or any exercise you do, are your feelings about yourself.

Think about that for a minute. The MOST powerful tool you have to change your life- is your brain and how you feel and think about yourself.
Ever hear of a self-fulfilling prophecy? Basically, if you think it- you will achieve it. You think you’re a fat, ugly, loser? You’ll become one. Think you’re a fit, fabulous, fun, energetic & healthy woman and mom? You’ll become one.

Sounds simple, right? Just change the way you think about yourself? Well, if you’re anything like me, the way you think about yourself is something that began early in your childhood, was magnified 10 times in adolescence and young adulthood and is now simmering beneath the surface. What can we do to change how we think about ourselves? Lean Mommy gives us some ways to start:

1. Focus on Strong Points
If you’re going to pick apart your body, pick a part and think about how much it does for you. I have big legs, but MAN are they strong. They help me run up hills, play ‘froggie’ with my daughter and entertain my family with my ‘beautiful’ interpretive dances.

2. Be What Your Loved Ones See
Have you ever seen the bumper sticker “Please let me become the person my dog thinks I am” - well BECOME that person. Your kids think you are the most beautiful, fun, smart person in the world. BE that person. Create a ‘rosy’ picture of yourself- don’t let your kids see you worried or doubting yourself. Don’t talk badly about yourself in front of anyone, especially your children.

3. Look Gently in Mirrors
If you avoid mirrors- stop! Look at yourself, but look at yourself kindly. Instead of focusing on the bad parts- check out how proportionate your body is- your bum wouldn’t look as good on anyone else. :)

4. Keep Scales in Check
Weighing yourself weekly can be a great way to keep yourself on track, or in check BUT if you find yourself weighing yourself obsessively or having an emotional reaction to your weight- throw that scale out the window! As Lisa Druxman says, “your tombstone is not going to read, ‘Judy Smith, mother of three, weighing in at 155 pounds’..”

5. Reframe Self-Defeating Thoughts
Don’t like your body? Don’t let it know that! Trick yourself into loving it by telling yourself you love it- whether it’s daily affirmations in the mirror or just being kind to yourself- respect & appreciate your body & you’ll want to treat it better. Think of exercise as FUN not TORTURE and it will quickly become fun!

6. Watch What You Say
Each & every negative remark ingrains body-bashing deeper. Don’t allow yourself to make negative comments about your body or talk obsessively about dieting or calories. Talk about yourself they way you want your kids to talk about themselves.

7. Change Your Tapes
As we learn in LEAN and as LEAN Mommy describes- Our EVERY behavior stems from the desire to feel good or to avoid feeling bad. Make good eating something you love- make it pleasurable. Instead of thinking about exercise as something you ‘have to do’ think about how you feel afterwards.