Ask Lauren: How to Love the Body You HaveHere on LaurenConrad.com we post a lot of blogs about slimming down, shaping up, and getting fit. I’ll be the first one to admit that I love to read diet and fitness tips because I think a healthy lifestyle is important. But behind all of this talk of toning up lies the heart of what it means to be healthy: Loving the skin you’re in and treating it right. One reader recently wrote a comment that really inspired me and sparked a conversation on the blog. She explained that “loving the body you have” is a great way to be confident, but that constantly working to improve our health is what’s really important. I was happy to see this interesting take on the whole idea of “slimming down” and “shaping up” because it showed me that our readers are quite intuitive about body image. In a nutshell, here’s what one reader, Halie, wrote:
[Being healthy] shouldn’t be about appearance, it should be about health. Love yourself so much that you want to be healthy. Once I let go of trying to be skinny or perfect and focused on the idea of loving my body so much that I gave it the very best treatment, I got healthier.Another reader, Hannah, agreed and wrote back with this:
Although it’s great to “be happy with the body you have,” what is even better is trying to improve and become healthier and more fit. Almost everyone I know, while of course they are worthy of self-confidence, should spend more time working out, choosing healthier meals and snacks, and making lifestyle changes rather than sitting on the couch.
Now here’s what I think about loving your body. As women, we all have things that we can be self conscious of. Whether it’s wishing our tummies were a little flatter or our arms were a little more toned (for me it’s the stubborn cellulite on my thighs), there are always those little things we wish we could change about our bodies. My approach to most things in life has always been to accept it or change it. Because of this, I have always used my flaws as motivation to work harder and stay in shape. But as I have grown, I have learned more to love my body for what it is. After all, it’s been good to me. It takes me on afternoon hikes and runs alongside my dogs in the sand. It built me the raised beds in my garden and feels strong when I workout at the gym. And, in exchange, I treat my body the best I can. I stay active and feed it healthy food. I let it rest at night and take vitamins to keep it strong. I love my body the way it is because I have treated it well and continued to exercise and feed it healthy food throughout the years. I am all for body confidence, but I am even more for living a healthy lifestyle.
This summer, remember that working toward that “bikini body” I often refer to does not mean working to fit into a certain mold. A bikini body is not a certain weight, size or shape. It simply means working hard to treat your body right, exercise, eat healthy, and then feeling confident in your bikini. That, ladies, is the best way to learn to love the skin you’re in.
Fashion designer, best selling author and lifestyle expert Lauren Conrad hosts the Malibu Island Spiced Summer Soiree at the Mondrian South Beach Hotel on July 9, 2014 in Miami, Florida.
Justin Timberlake "In His Prime" Was Her Childhood CrushLC still xo JT! Lauren Conrad told Us Weekly at the Mondrian South Beach in Miami Beach, Fla., that her childhood crush will forever be Justin Timberlake, even after he famously dissed reality TV back in 2007.
The former Hills star, 28, told Us that Timberlake graced her California bedroom walls as a child. Asked whether it was "young curly-haired Justin" or post-'N Sync Timberlake, she elaborated of the latter: "Like, the hair, license-plate-around-the-neck Justin in his prime."
Conrad's hilarious admission was made while hosting the Malibu Spiced Summer Soiree on Wednesday, July 9 -- nearly seven years after Timberlake memorably snubbed reality television onstage at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards.
Writing a new book!In an interview with 'Venue Magazine,' she responded to the question whether she plans to publish more books, "I do. Yes, very soon, I'd like to come up with a new book". She said, "I was taking a break. It was a lot. I wrote 8 books in a very short amount of time and I needed to breathe."
What factors do you think are important when it comes to loving your body?
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