Gaining Body Confidence (Episode #112)
Body Confidence is something that I have struggled with most of my life. The ups and downs of a mother’s body has been really tough on me mentally as well as physically. One person that has really helped me to have courage in my health goals, see my little successes, and give myself grace when I fall short is fitness trainer, Becca Jackson.
Becca @ifthecookiefits has been on this journey herself. She is a mother to 3 girls, teaches high fitness and barre, and runs an encouraging and inspiring Instagram page. Listen to her experience in using positive thinking, macro counting, exercise and all around balance to be her best self.
On a side note, Becca was lined up to be one of our presenters at The Mom Break Experience in September. Unfortunately, with all the COVID restrictions, we are postponing the event until April 2021. We are all so bummed! We were really looking forward to getting together and seeing you at the end of the summer. Ticket holders are being contacted personally to see if they would like to hold on to their tickets until Spring, or receive a refund.
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Show Notes:
Women’s bodies go through so many different stages and changes, we can often be really hard on ourselves. We have ebbs and flows in our lives that need to be adjusted. Becca was going through this phase, and after the birth of her third daughter, she realized she needed to make a change in her attitude. She had some hard postpartum feelings, a lot of anger and frustration with simple mothering tasks, and was horrified as she started seeing her daughter begin mimicking her behavior.
Becca had a day when she realized it was up to her to make a change and be her better self. She started trying every day to be a little more patient and a little more kind. She started practicing having positive thoughts and worked hard to push out the self critical thoughts.
That mental transformation soon translated into her starting a physical journey. She started small by just working out regularly at the gym. After doing that for awhile, she realized she needed some help with her nutrition. She didn’t feel like she had any balance in what she was eating and decided to start counting macros. She found so much success doing that.
When starting something new, Becca likes to use the idea of training for a triathlon. You don’t bike, run and swim all on the first day of training (well you could if you want a very quick body burn out!). It’s best to gradually add things in one at a time as you get stronger and stronger. It’s a slow process, but the best way for any fitness success. Take your journey in small stepping stones. Start one good habit, once you have that down, add in another, and then another until you are reaching your goals.
One of her dreams in life was to be a fitness instructor. With this new found confidence in achieving her goals, she decided to go for it. She started teaching High Fitness and Barre classes. She then started an Instagram account to go with it. She shares her story, her journey, motivation, encouragement to other women and mamas, and her tips for success.
She got her handle @thecookiefits through her macro counting journey. She always wanted to make sure she fit a cookie in her diet everyday. She worked hard to keep a balance between eating for health and eating for pleasure.
Macros is a body specific goal for different nutrients you need to put in your body. It helps you make sure you’re getting a good amount of carbs, fat and protein. Counting macros is a tool to get you going in the right direction. Becca counted for several months, learned about what she was eating, made some changes and now doesn’t count on a regular basis.
Before Becca was counting macros, she was starving herself, eating really low calories or skipping meals during the day, and then late at night she would eat a bunch of food that wasn’t balanced. Eating macros gave her a way to look at her food goals as a challenge to nourish and fill her body instead of depriving it.
When Becca would hit a wall and want to throw in the towel, she would ask herself, “What would happen in if I didn’t give up? I need to believe in myself!” She also likes to say, “Look at the long term, it’s not perfection, it’s progress.”
On Becca’s journey, she lost about 60 lbs over a year and a half. She was losing about a pound a week. She got to a weight and a size she had never been since she was about 15. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and realized she could see her ribs. She was worried she was getting obsessed and losing sight of her goal to have energy and feel good. She didn’t want her daughters to have a skewed view of what a healthy body should look like. This was a defining moment for her to start increasing her calories, and let go of the obsession. She saw that body size was not going to make her happy, instead, thinking positively about herself and having a strong healthy body was where she found joy.
Becca teaches that our minds are so powerful! We need to keep finding the positive aspects of life. Looking at the negative is never going to be helpful for you and your family. It doesn’t matter if someone sees you as a certain way. It doesn’t matter. You loving yourself and being okay with where you’re at is all that matters. Just like strengthening a testimony by sharing it with others, the more she talks with her girls and other people about positive body image, the more she believes it.
For more from Becca, check out her Instagram page: @ifthecookiefits
Check out Becca’s Shopify account for her macro packet and lifestyle guide:
https://if-the-cookie-fits.myshopify.com/
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