I am all about self-love! You have to love yourself if you expect others to love you. Loving yourself gives you a ton of self-confidence. Self-confidence leads to success! But, did you also know that self-love affects you physically as well?!?

[Tweet “When you love yourself, you become healthier.”]

How Self-Love Affects Your Health

When you don’t have self-love, your mental state begins to change. You are more likely to gain a mental or emotional disorder, such as anxiety, depression, or even eating disorders. Trust me, I know. I suffered from an eating disorder for years because I didn’t like the way I looked.

But, once you begin to love yourself, positivity begins to take control. Your self-confidence rises, you practice more self-care, and you become healthier.

When women start looking at themselves through the lens of self-love, they naturally gravitate toward healthy choices, they have less desire to choose self-destructive thoughts or habits, and they feel better in both their body and mind. ~ Dr. Deborah Caldwell

Take for example, my good friend, Heather. She started to love herself and then was successful with her weight and health goals!

There are so many ways to practice self-care to develop self-love. But, I want to focus more on ways it can help you physically rather than just mentally and emotionally.

How to Physically Practice Self-Love

Eat something you enjoy. It’s ok to indulge sometimes. You don’t always have to stick to a strict diet. Sometimes doing that makes temptation worse and then when you do give in, you overindulge. It’s smart to have some intentional indulgence.

Stretch. Even if you don’t want to do a full exercise, at least stretch. It’ll give you some time of peace and quiet. You can use it to meditate. It’ll loosen you up and relax your muscles.

Take a walk or a run. Get your heart rate going. Enjoy the endorphins. As for me, I’ll do cardio in my home. Any way to get your blood pumping and getting that workout high.

Indulge in a healthy food. Find a healthy food that you love. Allow yourself to treat on that!

Wear clothes that flatter you. You need to build your confidence. Show off the parts of your body that you are proud of. Do research on what types of clothing will flatter your form the most.

Create a mantra. Self-talk should be encouraging. When you are your biggest advocate, there is nothing that can stop you!