Are there times when you don't like the answer the mirror gives you?

When I started this blog, I really had no intention of writing about anything but lifting. I just wanted to try to convince every woman out there to lift heavy weights. And I definitely didn’t plan to spend any time talking about “body image.”

But of course, I’ve now realized that you can’t convince women to lift heavy without discussing the “body image” issue.

Because lifting in and of itself is meaningless. For most women (and most men), the main reason to workout and diet is because they want to improve their body and feel better about how they look. (Yes some people just workout to be healthy and some people do it because they love it…but let’s face it…we all want to be the best versions of ourselves so will do everything we can to achieve that!)

That’s right…more than looking good for other people, we want to love the person we see in the mirror. We want to be able to look in the mirror and say, “Damn I’m sexy.”

So what is stopping us from always looking in the mirror and thinking we look amazing?

I’ve found that it stems from two main issues – the Ugly Duckling Syndrome and the Evil Queen Complex.

I definitely find myself at points suffering from the Ugly Duckling Syndrome. When I was in junior high, and even at the beginning of high school, I was a bit pudgy. Not fat, but my middle was soft and I had chipmunk cheeks.

I lost the weight, but sometimes when I look at pictures, or even in the mirror, all I can see are chipmunk cheeks. Or when I try on shirts, I get super focused on how my stomach looks.

It doesn’t matter that I know I’m not at all pudgy now because sometimes I’m just  so stuck on the fact that at one point I felt I was an “ugly duckling.”

Since I began lifting super heavy and eating Primally, I find I have an easier time moving past my doubts about how I look. I know that the way I’m living is healthy so there is no way I can be out of shape. I repeat that to myself when I look in the mirror and start to think about chipmunk cheeks.

Did you go through a period you consider an “ugly duckling” phase? Do you sometimes only see what used to be there?

And, the second issue…the Evil Queen Complex.

Ever look in the mirror and focus on the fact that your hips/arms/stomach aren’t as perfect as that of a model/actress/friend’s?

If you’ve ever compared your body to that of someone else’s and wish that yours was better than theirs, than you have suffered from the Evil Queen Complex.

We all have people that we think have perfect bodies – that represent our standards of what is beautiful.

The thing is we can’t focus on how our bodies compare to theirs. We can’t look into the mirror and ask, “Who’s the fairest one of all?”

We will never EVER have the exact same body as that person. We can only make our body as perfect as possible and be content knowing that we are living a healthy life by eating well and lifting heavy weights.

Have you found yourself falling victim to either one of these body image issues? What do you do to move past them?