I lost 45+lbs to hit my goal dress size …and I’ve lost none since💋. I mean, ive maintained my goal dress size happily & gained incredible strength, flexibility… but my focus shifted from weight loss to maintenance and just treating my body well some time ago. For good reasons!!
I decided to work even more on my core & lower body strength for awhile after some hip pain last year remember? , 😩…and then at the same time refocus again on intentional rest and emotional eating. I have had some personal things hit me that for sure impacted my mindset… which had made some days harder than others not to lose myself in a package of chewy chocolate chip cookies 🍪🍪🍪 as I ran myself into the ground with anxious thoughts & a knot in my chest from worry. Every evening I was up late with thoughts, and every morning I willed my body to move and work and sweat instead of cry… then I’d collapse into God’s arms after and ask Him what was I to do next. I knew it wasn’t a season to chase hard on fitness goals. It was a season of spiritual goals, so I went into maintenance mode 🎯
I still was eating my big salads for veggies most, using my containers for portion control & keeping my energy up, drinking nut shake for gut health and nutritients, drinking all my water in a day and then some, using my workouts as therapy as I mentally and emotionally worked through worrying thoughts with my Creator as I lifted and stretched… just being free enough to not HAVE to be “on the wagon” or “off the wagon” 🙄👊🏼😘
Mamas… why do we say such things? There is no “wagon” for health and doing good by yourself. There is just LIFE and living it well from one season to the next. ✅☀️
I am aware of those who would prefer to put me in a box and say that because I’m a coach and instructor I need to feel pressured to look a certain way ALL THE TIME. 💙
But wearing those titles actually just helps me layer in more accountability to living in my best self – my healed self – to say and live in God’s heavenly perspective that YES, “it is well” with my mind, my body and my soul 🥰💃… no matter the season of life I’m in.
The titles are outward expressions of a transformation that first happened on the Inside of me before ever showing up outside. It was a decision I made based on knowing I was worth every effort and would continue to live at a less fulfilled state if I didnt. Not a proclamation of pursuit of perfection. 🙅♀️
Mamas… it is okay to just feel good about your journey and explore a little more balance in the pursuit to your healthiest self…❤ My journey isn’t about my leanest abs ever or somehow achieving a cellulite free set of legs. It isnt and actually never was about the hours of cardio or the plates of food…
It was about what I had learned to depend on when life got crazy or love felt scarce. That’s where the real work was for me. 💯💕
I did not & dont need to pursue a BMI as much as I need to hold steady the habits I’ve acquired over time to be the healthiest me in the face of the rest of life gone haywire. I need to know I can trust myself to choose life 🍏🧘♀️ when the stuff gets hard or just out of my control.
Does that thought make you see me differently? Or does it comfort you or scare you for your own journey?
I’d love to hear from you!!
♡,
Angel
Angel Ballance 