Learning to love your body is a difficult process for many of us. I know I struggle with it. I have been morbidly obese and struggled with weight issues my entire life. I’ve lost a significant amount of weight, but I have a lot of loose skin and it makes me self-conscious.

There are times when I feel really bad about the way I look. I feel inadequate and ugly. I am working on remedying that with the help of mantras related to each of my body parts. I have twenty-eight days of “I love my…” set up as reminders in my phone. I rotate them every 28 days and hope that, over time, this will create a bit more of self-love and acceptance.

Some of my mantras are:

• I love my face
• I love my skin
• I love my shoulders
• I love my collarbone

These are easy for me to agree to as I think that these are some of my best features. I take great pride in my appearance and try to eat right and exercise daily for up to an hour and a half to get myself into my optimal shape.

Some of the mantras I am working on believing include:

• I love my legs
• I love my belly fat
• I love my thighs
• I love my arms

These areas of my body are harder for me to accept, but I repeat the mantra multiple times during the day, sending love and positive energy to the body part. I have noticed that I feel better about myself, but that doesn’t mean I am complacent. I still strive to eat well and always keep up my exercise habit.

I believe that these are acts of self-love. Taking care of my physical body helps me feel less anxious, depressed and more at ease in the vessel the world sees. I encourage you to learn to love your body, or, at least, make peace with it as it is now. This does not mean that you have to abandon your fitness goals. Rather, it means that you will love yourself regardless of what the scale says or other people think.

Self-love comes from within. I hope you find your way to it as I’m working to get there too.