231. A Healthy Perspective on Body Image (with Rachael Gilbert)

<p>Welcome back to the show, everyone! This week, I am discussing a Real talk: I’ve struggled with body image much of my life. I’ve used food and exercise as a reward and punishment. I’ve obsessed over what I ate or didn’t eat, how much I exercised or didn’t exercise, how my clothes fit or didn’t fit, and what the number on the scales.</p><p>I’ve beat myself up when the jeans didn’t fit, felt frustrated and discouraged when the scale didn’t say the number I wanted it to, and spent way too much mental energy thinking about what I see when I look in the mirror.</p><p>I’ve always gained 30+ pounds with each pregnancy and losing it has always been a challenge. But I felt like getting back to “pre-pregnancy size” was super important — so I’ve expended so much thought and effort and unhealthy pursuits to hit that.</p><p>I don’t share this so that people will leave comments saying, “But you look great!” I share this because I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in this.</p><p>As women, we can invest so much time, thought, and money in the pursuit of what we think is the ideal body image… all the while missing that we are made in the image of God, thinness doesn’t define our value and worth, and that the Enemy loves to hijack our focus from Jesus to an obsession over our size.</p><p>And that’s why I’m so grateful for this week’s podcast episode with <a href="https://www.instagram.com/rachaeljgilbert/" rel="nofollow">@rachaeljgilbert</a> where we talk openly about what it looks like to have a healthy body image and practical ways to get there.</p><p>Yes, pursuing health and fitness so that we can have energy to do what God has called us to do and honor the body God has given us is a good thing. But the number on the scale or size on the tag of our jeans is not what defines us: Jesus does!</p><p>And I’ve learned firsthand that you can hit your goal weight and still be incredibly unhealthy mentally, emotionally, and physically. Because health isn’t just about what we put into our bodies or what we see in the mirror; it’s also about