Self Love

This blog post is going to be a bit different from our usual posts. I am not sure really where to begin. I’m not great at opening up, especially about myself. But this blog is going to be about self love. Not directly about LCHF but in-directly, and share with you how it has changed me as a person.

 

I grew up with four sisters and it was hard for me not to compare myself to them. I am the second youngest, so I saw three of them grow up before me. We all have different body shapes, heights etc, and I always felt like a little bit of an ugly duckling. It was not what anyone had said, just something that I had felt. I was always on the chubbier side growing up, and heard numerous times that I had not lost my baby fat yet. In fact, I had one very old family friend used to grab my checks every time we saw each other and pinch so tight and would say “yum chum”. Even writing this I can still remember it!!

 

Anyway, my weight has always fluctuated. I had clothes in my wardrobe from size 8 to 14. But even at my smallest I have never loved body. There was always something that I hid with clothes e.g. a scarf during winter or a bigger handbag. I remember someone saying to me around the time when I got married (let me just say that I was at my smallest then size 8), “oh wow, you don’t have any back fat in your dress). I just smiled and kept on going. I’m great at not telling people about what is bothering me!

 

Fast forward to 12 months ago, when I started my LCHF journey. It was 17 months after having my second son and felt horrible about the way my body looked. It was probably the worst that I had ever felt about myself. I hated having photos taken with my kids because I could not stand the way that I looked in photos, but I also knew that it was not fair on my boys not to have any baby photos with their Mum. I could look at every part of my body in the mirror and could criticize it. Because, hey, guess what, I am my biggest critic. Not good I know, but constantly being not happy about how I looked (and really too lazy to make a total change) will do this.

 

So I embarked on my journey. I had done a stack of research. For those who don’t know me, I’m a nurse and I still practice, so being able to read the research and understand it for me has really helped me change my life and my families. But loving my body has taken a very long time. I lost my initial weight of 20kgs pretty quickly, I want to say within the first 6 months, but I still did not like the way I looked. It is only in the last six months that I have been able to say to myself, that I am happy with where I am at and that I love myself. I attribute that to loosing the weight, but for me LCHF has also helped with my mental state. I cannot remember the last time that I felt ‘the blues or depressed’. I have really changed on so many levels. Sure, I still have my ‘Mum pouch’ as I call it, and do you know what, it’s Ok! I never thought those words would come out of my mouth. But I have finally accepted myself for who and I am and what I have become. I no longer weigh myself daily and no longer have negative self-talk about my body. I sincerely hope that everyone’s journey becomes as positive as mine, and we all can say to ourselves that you are amazing for what you have achieved and I love you. This is really one of the first times in my life that I feel that I can say this.

 

Yvonne xx

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