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I was really glad when I heard Elizabeth Walling was writing another book titled: “Love Your Body: The Imperfect Girl’s Guide to Positive Body Image”

I loved her last book, The Nourished Metabolism which I reviewed in this post.  I heard back from a lot of you on Facebook as to how much it helped you as well! I love hearing from you guys since it gives me some direction as to what content you’re most interested in.

In this new book Elizabeth addresses a subject we don’t often talk about but so desperately need to…

Positive Body Image

I’ve given this a lot of thought over the years during my struggles with health and weight and emotional issues and the lack of self esteem all of that tends to result in.  When you have children who mirror your every move what you say and think about yourself is takes on a whole new dimension. As the mother of a 14 year old girl and a 4 year old girl I’m kept in check pretty regularly.

One of the things Elizabeth mentions in this book is:

“You need acceptance from yourself to feel good about your body.  Let your confidence show from the inside out, and others will get the message.”

I noticed this to be so true in my own life. It is basically all about confidence.

Before I lost 60 pounds with paleo (which you can read about here), I was depressed, tired, overweight and just didn’t feel like putting any effort into my appearance.  I wore what looked like hand me downs from my husband telling myself for years that I would buy a new wardrobe once I lost the weight.  I did this for years especially with 2 pregnancies back to back.

The interesting thing was that after losing all that weight although I was doing so gradually and experiencing health improvements gradually as well barely anyone noticed since I was still hiding under baggy awful clothing.  Partly because I still wasn’t happy with my body.  I postponed taking “after” photos because I didn’t think I was “finished”.  The story for why I never thought my weight loss was enough is long and off topic and would require me to pull out the DSM IV and give you some numbers, but the end result is that I was holding off on enjoying life because of it.

When I finally allowed myself to embrace this new body, which is a hell of a transformation from the previously sick, exhausted and overweight one, that I started getting all kinds of compliments.  Part of it was simply me coming out of hiding and part of it was the confidence and the smiling that it resulted in.

My body hadn’t changed, but my confidence had!

Now, Elizabeth is not saying to throw in the towel and give up on any improvements to your health or fitness or body if that’s what you’d like to do but she stresses that “putting your life completely on hold until you reach those goals” is just not healthy.

Don’t get me started on all the photoshopping in Hollywood that leads to those perfect magazine covers.  I’ve been on several of those photo shoots with the models and actors sitting inches away from me and trust me, there is a lot that goes on after the shoot to make them look that way.  I can’t say much more or I’d have to kill ya but I’d recommend you trust me on this one.  As Elizabeth notes: Those people on the magazine covers “don’t actually exist”.

When you have kids there’s a whole new reason to stop asking your significant other whether or not you “look fat in those jeans”.  I was guilty of some version of this for many years as well.  The multiple wardrobe changes, the not wanting to go out, the preference for frumpy sweaters and sweat pants to hide this and that, being too embarrassed to go to the gym…  It’s like a vicious cycle and we have to stop it before it takes over our lives.

Elizabeth’s book is part reality check, part body love manual, and part pep talk.  I needed all three.

As much as I write about health from a paleo nutrition and lifestyle perspective, this is a topic I haven’t yet tackled and I’m glad I now have a resource to recommend for it.

What You’ll Learn in this book…

How to:

• Detect and banish negative body thoughts
• Overcome thought patterns that cause body hate
• Form positive standards for beauty that empower you
• Free yourself from the body hate that holds you back from reaching your dreams
• Stop habits that encourage body hate
• Work with your body in a positive way that doesn’t get in the way of living your life
• “Talk back” to negative body thoughts so they don’t rule your life
• Learn real, actionable ways you can start loving your body and taking care of yourself right now

If you haven’t already read Elizabeth’s first book I highly recommend you do.  You can purchase it here or purchase both of them for 40% off for al limited time HERE.

What are your thoughts on Body Love?  Have you ever given it any thought?  Would love to hear from you in the comments below!