Good morning!
I have an amazing video for you guys to watch this morning. Let’s just say if you are trying to find motivation to get excited about your workout today you just may find it here!
Eric and I are considering doing that for our try-a-tri. :tongue:
Onto break the fast.
Apple Pie Parfait Vegan Overnight Oats
Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup regular oats
- 3/4 cup almond milk
- 2 tbsp unsweetened applesauce
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
- 1/2 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/8th tsp each nutmeg and ginger)
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 of an apple, peeled and chopped
- Banana soft serve: 1 frozen banana, 1 tbsp milk, 1/2 tbsp cashew butter
- Topping: Sucanat (or brown sugar)
Directions: Mix above ingredients with a whisk and place in fridge overnight. In the morning, make banana soft serve in the food processor. I added 1/2 tbsp of cashew butter at the end of processing to bring out a nutty flavour that would blend nicely with the apple pie flavour. For the topping I used 1/2 tsp Sucanat.
Simply Delicious!
Updates:
- Email notification for comments is fixed. Big thanks to Julie! You will now be notified again when your comment is replied to.
Sports, Exercise, and Body Image
Yesterday I made a discovery.
I was in the change room at the pool putting on my swim cap. I looked at my body in the full length mirror and I saw someone who was strong, healthy, and confident. I had a little twinkle in my eye.
It occurred to me that this was one of the first times that I have not felt self-conscious about myself in a swimsuit. I had no negative feelings trying to discourage me. Thoughts and critiques about the size of various body parts were not present in my mind. In the past, I could not put on a swim suit without feeling anxiety or being critical of myself. When I had to be in front of other people with a swimsuit on, I did not feel confident because I had all of these negative thoughts about my body floating around in my head.
Something changed when I started swimming laps.
The purpose of the swimsuit was no longer to flatter the figure or to hide supposed flaws or to boost or to nip or to tuck or to distract someone’s eye. The swimsuit now served a functional purpose– to help me swim and to carry me to my try-a-tri in June. The swimsuit was a catalyst for a stronger me.
One the first day of swimming I was nervous, not just about swimming, but I was nervous about wearing a swimsuit in front of others on a regular basis. I felt like I would be judged, but what I discovered is that the only judge I had to beat was myself.
Learning to swim again has helped me conquer my fear about wearing a swimsuit in front of others. When I put on my swimsuit, I feel proud, and I now walk confidently. I praise my body for what it can do for me (‘wow these strong legs are helping me speed up my freestyle’ or ‘What strong lungs you have’) instead of supposed ‘flaws’.
After making my discovery I wanted to tell Eric and hear what he thought. I asked him if swimming has improved his body image at all, and he simply smiled and said, ‘I don’t think I have looked at my body in the mirror for weeks.’ :lol: The simplicity of my husband never ceases to put a smile on my face.
Today’s question- Have you ever participated in a sport or exercise that improved your body image? What about a sport/exercise that you felt made your body image worse?
Not too much on topic, but I really appreciated a friend sending this to me. It is quite applicable to what I’m going through currently with my job and life!
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/05/12/stress.mother.voice.call/index.html
Running and lifting really made me realize that my body was more than just being thin. Even with a slight weight gain (that is now gradually going down, with a return to regular exercise), I still feel positive about myself. I’m not sure that exercise –> positive image. I think that exercise is a *challenge* that is uniquely body-focused. Meeting challenges provides a sense of empowerment.
Men really are clueless about the amount of self-criticism going on in women’s heads about our bodies. They’d probably be very frightened to even hear one day’s worth!
To answer your questions:
Playing soccer made me feel good about my legs, because they were my catalyst for the entire game! I loved to be able to run faster than others and shake off big hits (I think when I was playing, I took it as a personal mission to prove it is a contact sport! lol). Playing softball made me feel good about my arms being strong because it meant I could hit better and throw harder. I used to flex to myself to see how my biceps & triceps were defined. (I don’t play either sport anymore which is why I’m using the past tense.)
In regards to the negative, yoga actually sometimes makes me feel “bad” about my boobs! That’s really only because sometimes they get in the way when I’m doing poses so I get annoyed and wish them away in my head! =P At the same time, however, yoga makes me proud of my flexibility and other strengths, so the boob thing is rather minor in comparison; I hadn’t really thought about it until I read your question and realized it is true!
Yes!!! I signed up for my first 5K and it is in 2 weeks. Running to make me stronger for the 5K instead of running for weightloss has really improved the way I see myself. I see myself as a strong, capable woman instead of an insecure, trapped person. I think any type of excercise that is done for the joy it, not for some type of physical betterment such as tighting or weightloss, will improve body image. We as women need to focus more on the other aspects of ourselves and others. The media’s standards of super skinny beautiful should not be our ultimate goal in life.
Props to you on your newfound confidence! That’s wonderful that you’ve achieved something that so many of us are still striving for.
Since I’ve started running and doing routine BodyPump classes, I’ve noticed a good change in my body – more toned & tight, which in turn, makes me more confident! :)
While I never participated in a sport or exercise that made me feel worse about my body image, I did used to model which had a profound impact on my overall body image. Luckily, I have worked through many of those issues, but I still have some lingering that I work on everyday.
Ange, It’s so funny you posted the video of the guys running on the water. One of my co-workers just sent it to me the other day as well. So cool! I totally think you and Eric should make that your next challenge together! :)
So happy for you about the bathing suit – it’s amazing isn’t it? It’s funny, I started swimming at 6 months old (seriously – Mommy & me lessons) and swam multiple times a week until I was about 17.. I never felt super uncomfortable in my racing suit – it was more of a uniform to me, though bikinis were still tough!
Lifting has totally changed my body image, I will admit (though embarassing) that while alone in the gym this morning I rolled up the sleeves on my shirt so I could see my arms while lifting and it was awesome! My arms looked amazing and I was soo happy :)
Love your blog and the posting today. The video about walking on water is awesome! Also, love how you talk about body image issues. I am very athletic and have been healthy my whole life and overall I have a healthy body image but I still have negative self talk when I look in the mirror. I do find that when I look in the mirror when I am being athletic or after some activity – swimming, yoga, running etc. then I see my body for all it is capable of – my strength, flexibility, tone, and power. Women need to come together to change the negative self talk that is almost ingrained in us. Thanks for contributing to the conversation.
That was the RADDEST video ever!! I wanna run on water!!!
Onto your question:
RUNNING – has given me the best body image ever! Can’t pinch an inch on these legs!
BALLET – gave me the worst body image, never never skinny enough..so I quit and started weight lifting :-)
Boo-yah!
Working out at the gym and walking to work and back has helped building muscles, but I think it’s definitely yoga that has finally helped me come to terms with the fact that I will never be all tall and lean. When I see my legs in the mirror, I don’t see cellulite (although it’s still there, bugger ;)), I see strong legs. I will never be skinny, I’m not meant to be, and it’s ok!
Hi Angela,
This is my first time commenting, but I have been reading your blog for some time now. You are so inspirational!!
Like you, I have struggled with body image for many years. I am not yet at the point where I can look in the mirror and love what I see, but I think I’m finally on my way. I’ve always been so horrible at athletic/competitive sports, so that kind of thing has always just drawn attention to what I don’t like about myself. About two years ago, I discovered yoga, and that has helped a lot. It has made me so much more aware of my body – I’m actually amazed by what it can do!!
PS – You’ve got me hooked on vegan overnight oats – I’ve had them almost every morning for the past week. I want to try them with the banana soft serve!
You are truly an inspiration. Plain and simple. You do good work on this blog — sharing, encouraging, and giving us a new way to think about a healthy lifestyle, food, fitness, and ourselves. Clearly you are getting great feedback, just by the number of comments to your posts. I hope you keep it up. I am so inspired every time I read your blog!
I swam on my high school team, so the swimsuits always served a function, it was my uniform. We were a coed team, so we were crammed together in our lanes. The workouts were so strenuous that nobody cared how they looked in the suits. This may sound gross, but we were all little snotty teenagers with stupid swim caps trying to complete the sets without the coach screaming at us to go faster. Since then, I don’t look at a swimsuit as something flattering or sexy! I go into “competitive mode” when I get into a suit! However, I love my body in a tank and running shorts!
I am sitting in house all alone and when I watch that video I was literally shouting “No! What?! I can’t believe this! No! No!” at my computer when I watched that video. I’m going to do it.
Running does it for me. It doesn’t even matter if I’m the same size as when I am not running. When I’m in training-mode I find it impossible to pick apart my body. I just love it!
haha silly people that video is fake
http://www.mediaite.com/online/great-moments-in-journalism-local-news-team-duped-by-walking-on-water-hoax/
Yes, unfortunately, it’s not actually possible for humans to run on water like this. You can see the boards right under the surface of the water at certain points in the video. :) I wish it were real, though!
Agreed, Adam, I wanted that video to be real! However disappointing it may be that it isn’t real, that video is GREAT marketing by Hi-Tec!
OMG!!! let’s just say i’m definitely sharing this video on Facebook. :) I love it!
I was surprised how much sports like kickboxing and karate (which I took in high school) made me feel strong and confident. I didn’t think I would be any good at them – but they were empowering, and made me feel good about myself. Not to mention they are good stress-relievers, as well
Oh wow! That apple pie parfait looks soooo good! I definitely need to make this banana soft serve ASAP (freezing bananas after I hit submit)! Can’t wait! I’ll have to omit the chia seeds, but I still think it’ll be great!
I keep forgetting that you changed your layout and love it more every time I click out of my reader!
I saw that water walking thing too. Cah-razy. But honestly, I can believe it took this long for some crazies to try to turn it into a sport ;)
I had a very similar experience while doing my triathlon in my swimsuit. It was really crowded as we lined up to jump in the lake on race day. Normally, being in a bathing suit around so many people would make me freak out. But instead I felt strong and confident. It was no longer about what my body looked like in that suit, but what it cold DO in that suit.
Oh, and weight lifting has totally changed the way I look and feel about my body. I used to look in the mirror every morning and hate what I saw, even after I lost all my weight. But weight lifting completely transformed it, and now I love what I see. Plus, it makes me feel strong :)