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A Fitness Coach and Social Influencer’s Three Tips for Healthier Self-Talk

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The term “self-love” is all the rage right now in the wellness world, and while the notion of self-love is both profound and long overdue, how can you actually learn to practice it on a minute-by-minute basis?

If you read our profile on fitness coach and social influencer Miranda Guerra, then you know just how difficult her path to wellness was. From her moment on her second-floor apartment landing out of breath and out of shape at just 20 years old to health coach, fitness competitor and influencer, Guerra has been through the highs and the lows of any health journey—including self-talk, something she shares a lot about on her Instagram.

“I used to be a negative self-talker,” Guerra says. “When I was first starting out, I would look at my body in the mirror, poke my belly fat, grab my thigh fat and say not-so-nice things to myself.”

For Guerra, this negativity didn’t accomplish anything but making her feel bad.

“It didn’t make me want to do any better,” she says. “It just made me feel bad, made me feel guilty.”

That’s when she realized that she would never say those horrible things to her husband, or to her kids if she had them, so why say them to herself?

“That’s when I realized I needed to be appreciative. Even though I might not look the way I think I want to look, I still love my body and everything that it’s capable of. I started having little thoughts like, Your body is amazing. If you get a bruise, your body heals. If you stub your toe and lose a toenail, it grows back. Your body does everything in its power to keep you alive,” she says. “It does everything in its power to keep you moving, and we need to treat it better. We owe our bodies a little bit more than we give them.”

Below are Guerra’s three tips for transforming your self-talk into self-love.

Miranda Guerra standing in the desert and smiling while holding her dog

1. Replace negative thoughts with positive ones

“It’s been years in the making, but I used to train myself that when I have these negative thoughts, I would cut it off and immediately go into a positive thought,” Guerra explains. “So instead of poking my belly and thinking, You’re looking really chubby, I would say, ‘I love my hair today. This color is beautiful.’ It might seem silly, but every time you

have a negative thought, especially about yourself, if you try to cut it off and just think something positive, over time, it’s miraculous because you naturally start to think more positive instead of negative.”

Guerra adds, “And it’s not just about yourself, it’s about other people. It really creates a better quality of life, because over time, I’ve noticed I’m so much happier and I’m nicer to other people. It kind of spreads like wildfire.”

2. Love yourself for what’s inside

“When I was heavier and then lost that weight and got skinny, I felt the same on the inside. First I was too heavy, then I lost the weight and I looked at myself and I was too skinny. I didn’t realize the problem with me was internal: I just didn’t love myself in my body. It all starts on the inside,” she says.

3. Don’t compare yourself

“You can’t compare yourself to anybody else. Everyone’s different. And everyone’s beautiful in their own way,” Guerra says. “If you start to accept yourself and appreciate yourself every step of the journey, you’re going to go so much further.”

Video and photo credit: Courtesy of Miranda Guerra

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