The Art of Loving Yourself: How Loving Yourself Can Lead to Weight Loss?

I'm a few days late but Happy Valentine's Day for all those celebrating!

Valentine's Day is celebrated every year on the February 14th for people to express their love to their significant other. People celebrating it by buying greeting cards, flowers, chocolates, or jewelry. But Valentine's Day is not just for couples who can have all the fun. This day is a very good excuse to be lovely to yourself all day, don't you think so? Whether you are single or in a relationship this Valentine's Day, remember to love yourself.

In honor of the month of love, I am doing recap of my old post about loving the most important being in your life: YOU! Loving yourself in this context doesn't mean you're being narcissist. Self-love is not selfish or shallow, it's totally opposite of narcissism.

What Does It Actually Mean To Love Yourself? How Loving Yourself Lead to Losing Weight?

1 - Loving yourself mean you appreciate yourself
Stand in front of the mirror and name things you like about you. It could be your nice long curly hair, or your unique monolid eyes. It could be your sweet smile or your lean arms. It doesn't necessarily your physical appearance that you could love about yourself. It could be other qualities like your positive attitude and your sense of humor.

When you appreciate yourself, you will not resort to any dangerous diet that could harm your health. When you love yourself, you will not let negative thought control and intimidate you.

2 - Loving yourself mean you take fully responsible on your body
No one is responsible for your body and your health, only you are responsible for it. We all know that we need to make new, healthy lifestyle changes to lose weight but sometime we tend to blame our busy schedule to skip workout or use boredom or feelings of emptiness as an excuse to eat crap.

Loving yourself mean you take responsibility for your own choices. Take a moment to make a list of your choices each day. What, when and how much you eat, whether you exercise or not. When you take responsible on your body, you will watch closely what you put in your mouth. You will eat only healthy foods. You will make effort to find at least 10 minutes each day for a quick workout.

3 - Loving yourself mean you embrace your uniqueness
I remember watching this famous Korean talk show called Happy Together where Hwang Shinhye was one of the guest. Hwang Shihye is a popular actress and the host of "Let Me In", a famous plastic surgery show in Korea. One of the topic discussed was about plastic surgery. The host of the show asked Hwang Shinhye whether her model daughter ever mention about getting a plastic surgery. Shinhye did suggest her daughter once that she might need to fix her eyes or nose but Jin Yi, her model daughter refused the idea. She is very confident and wants to keep her unique look.  

 Gorgeous celebrity mother-daughter:
Actress Hwang Shin Hye with her daughter Lee Jin Yi for SURE, October 20th issue.

What I'm trying to say is this - many people these days are trying to fit themselves into the image of what other people's standard of beauty or ideal personality. Maybe you want to sound sensuous and gloriously breathy like Marilyn Monroe when you speak. Or you want to have Gwen Stefani's flat abs. But the thing is you can't copy and paste the perfect body together from parts into a whole. You can't live yourself being someone you're not. This 'unhealthy habit' could damage your confidence and self-esteem. There's nothing wrong with being yourself.

When you love yourself, you will try to find the beauty inside of you and learn to be kind to yourself. When you love yourself, you will want to focus on your uniqueness and positive qualities instead of your flaws and failures. Instead of feeling sorry for yourself, loving yourself gives you the opportunity to start fresh and discover your strength, what you're capable of which will further help you accomplish your goals.

Let's discuss about this: What have you done to foster self-love? Please share your experiences in the comments below.

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Fitspiration Friday: Kajol's Weight Loss Secrets Revealed!

Today I choose Kajol for Fitspiration Friday.

Kajol

I first watched her on Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) and became an avid a fan ever since. I became super excited when I heard Kajol is making a comeback for Dilwale (2015) with Shah Rukh Khan. Aside from looking very fair and lovely compare to her dusky skin in prior years, her appearance hasn't changed much. I'm impressed! How does she stays in great shape, especially after having two kids?

Kajol's Diet Plan
- keeping her mouth zipped
- eating from home before going out
- having 4-5 meals a day to 3 heavy meals.
- consume enough amount of water and have a diet rich in protein. She eats fish, eggs and chicken in good quantity.
- not have any kind of junk food.
- keeps discussing her diet plan with the dietician as and when required and coordinates it with her schedule.

On Screen Romance:
Kajol and Shah Rukh Khan in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai 1998 (Left) and Dilwale 2015 (Right)

Kajol's Fitness Plan
- she weight training. She lifts weights and can handle 150 pounds and more in what is known as the ‘dead lift’
- high intensity and calorie burning workout
- Kajol also does endurance training, yoga, lifts and squats as part of her fitness regimen.
- makes sure to workout for around 90 minutes daily.

And when you start working out, you realise you’re calmer, you’re nicer. People are reacting to you differently. Not because you’ve lost weight but because you’re calmer, your perspective has changed. All the angst we have, the stress we have can be controlled, if not completely eradicated, just by working out.

- Kajol

Kajol's motivation to stay in shape
Kajol shares to iDiva that every decision made in life matters, "Some people say — have that beer or have the French fries, nothing will happen with one French fry, eat that cheese popcorn, it doesn’t matter. But it does matter. Each decision you make in life matters, each meal matters. That’s the kind of thinking you should have where work is concerned, where a relationship is concerned. That applies to everything in your life." 

She adds: "Whether it’s your husband, your next meal or your work. If the small things don’t matter then you miss out on the big picture. Make that extra effort for every relationship. Whether it’s with your parents, your children, your husband or your friends. It makes a difference to them."

"I try to give my kids alot of solo time where I play with them, talk to them, listen to them. Similarly, you give time for your workout. You slot a time for it, no matter what."

Kajol's word of wisdom to people who want to lose weight
You have to take charge of your life. If you want to lose weight, you have to be obsessed with it. You can’t depend upon your dietician, your trainer or various health aids that you have. You have to be organised. And believe me it isn’t that difficult.

The first 10 days are terrible because you have to break the lifelong habits that you have made. Also, when you go out with friends you have to order from the menu.

Now I want to hear from you: What is your opinion on celebrity weight loss? Is their diet and weight loss tips make sense to you?

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