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Writer's pictureolivia park

Are you struggling with your body because you can’t control it with food and exercise anymore?


In your eyes and mind you’ve eaten wayyyy too much during the time in quarantine with COVID-19.


And you’ve not moved enough.


You do workout each day, but you’re worried that you’re going ‘soft’ because you don’t have weights. So you do more workouts that make you breathe really hard.


But it feels heavy because of all the undoing that needs to be done. 


You’re worried about your body changing and it’s rooted in your decision to move.


It’s easy to default to exercise as a means to progress, but it can mean regressing by keeping you stuck in these cycles.


You know this—most of the time. But it doesn’t make it easier to not do it. 


Although it might feel extremely confronting how stressful it is that controlling what your body looks like is harder than ever, you can use this time to foster freedom from the rules and expectations you have of yourself.


Just notice:


  • Where is the panic coming from? 

  • Where are the feelings of coming undone coming from? 

  • What would happen if your body did change—would you be okay?


Self talk is hard. Not taking on board those thoughts you are having as reality is hard.


You can use the control that you do have to start to release the reins and explore what that might look and feel like. Start to break the rules a little:


Go for a walk instead of feeling like you have to do another gruelling 40 min burpee workout to fix things.


Have a side of potato chips with your salad for lunch.


Notice what happens when you loosen the reigns slightly.


You might be comparing yourself to people that look like they’re crushing it at home. In your eyes their body looks better. You can have your rational hat on and see what you’re doing for your physical and mental health but in an instant that can be taken away.


You can come out of this having worked on yourself and the things that you know you’ve needed to, like being independent from diet and exercise as a way to control how you feel about yourself.


You can come out of this with a better relationship with yourself and know you’ll be okay when things aren’t in your control in the future.


Because you’re still you.


If the pandemic has woken you up to the relationship you have with yourself and exercise, you can use this time to work on that. To come out with a little more self trust. But the beautiful thing is you can do this though movement. It doesn't have to be all or nothing. Learn more about how you can still train with intensity and have it means something while honouring your body and avoiding burnout.


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