Fight Your Fear And You Can Fight Your Fat

Julia Buckley knows the struggle well. When she first decided to get in shape, her fear of being judged at the gym proved to be her biggest obstacle. It is a real issue for many women and Buckley wants to help.

She’s written a book called The Fat Burn Revolution, in which she offers a 12-week program that can be done at home with minimal equipment. The book also encourages you to conquer your fear of judgement and learn to love working out and by extension, yourself.

“It took me many months of learning to exercise at home with workout videos before I had the courage to even step into the gym,” Buckley says. “Once there, for literally years, I would stick to the same few exercises I knew, mainly because I was embarrassed to try something I might not be very good at in front of people I thought would sneer, or worse, feel sorry for me!”

I’m sure many of you can relate! What Buckley figured out is that more or less, people are judged no matter what. “Any time you try to do anything even vaguely proactive in life, there will be people who will want to criticize and judge,” she says. “The answer is not to hide away in fear of these people.”

Might you be awkward at first but it is essential to remember that you will only get better if you keep going, keep working. Your workout should be about how it makes you feel, not about how it makes you look.

Maybe it isn’t fear that keeps you out of the gym, but it is something. An inability to hit the gym, whatever the reason, shouldn’t stand in the way of you getting fit and Buckley’s book ensures you have the tools you need to do it at home.

Buckley’s most important message encourages women to work out because they love their bodies, not because they hate them. “If you have excess fat you’d like to shed, or a lack of muscle tone you’d like to do something about, fine. By all means, get to work,” Buckley says. “But the best way to motivate yourself to achieve these changes is by appreciating how lucky you are to be able to move around and be active. So please, appreciate it, enjoy it, move it and love it.”

Buckley has some valuable words of advice to help you get started on your physical and emotional transformation right away:

1. Stop judging yourself. If you’re constantly telling yourself how awful you look, how unfit you are, how terrible your performance is while you’re exercising, you’re bound to expect others to think the same. However unnatural it feels, work on thinking more positively about yourself. Give yourself credit for getting on with it. Exercising isn’t always easy, but you’re doing it and you’re getting fitter and stronger with every session.

2. Stop judging others. The meanest critics of women are often other women. Be honest: Do you sometimes make harsh judgments on women exercising? Don’t feel bad. It’s a shame you’ve been conditioned to think that way about women, and therefore yourself, but you can choose to break out of it. Instead of critiquing them, think how brilliant it is that they’re active, how much it will benefit them and those around them, and allow yourself to admire and be inspired by them.

3. Reassess your reasons. When I promote my online fitness club and book, I talk a lot about how the workouts are awesome for fat burning and sculpting sexy bodies. That’s what draws most people to start exercising. But along the way, my members and readers discover benefits ranging far deeper than getting leaner and hotter. Although those things are great, they become more like happy byproducts. It’s the way exercise makes us feel that keeps us coming back for more. Making exercise less about changing your looks and more about how it makes you feel will help you be less focused on your appearance during your workouts. Then you’ll be free to enjoy those glorious feelings of pride, strength, confidence, vigor, vitality, aliveness, relaxation, self- respect and self-love.

4. Get a support crew. Surround yourself with people who love to be active, whatever shape or size they are. Today, it’s easy to hook up with people of whatever mindset we’re interested in engaging with via the Inter- net. There are literally thousands of people waiting to support and encourage you and share your journey. For starters, you’re welcome to join my Fat Burn Revolution Facebook group. I’m biased, of course, but if there’s a more friendly, supportive and inspiring online group, I don’t know about it! I pop by myself every day and try to answer as many posts as I can.

Sounds like great advice to me! Have you conquered your fears? Share your story with us!

Source: Austin Woman Magazine

 

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