Abundant Self Love – August 2022 Mantras

Abundant Self Love – August 2022 Mantras

by | Aug 17, 2022 | Body Positivity, General, Self Acceptance, Self Care, Teen Health and Wellness

What does abundance mean to you? 

The opposite of abundance is scarcity. 

Fixed, rigid, all or nothing, living small, negative self-talk, inner critic, fear of missing out, scarcity mindset, like you’ve got this one chance and you better not blow it?

I bring you a mind-blowing, or in coaching talk, belief-blowing discovery.

Did you see the Webb telescope’s image back from 13 billion light years ago?  Within a snippet the size of a grain of sand of the universe, the first image closest to when time began is full of galaxies, solar systems, nebulas of dying and birthing stars.  You can feel small or you can feel, like I do, a part of the incredible expanding abundant universe.  

When you think of your unlimited potential for self-love, you can use the tools of life coaching to snap images of your self-love universe. 

For August, there’s a lot of transitions, like summer wrapping up, school starting, activities getting going.  It can be really tough to avoid feeling dread and also like you have to get all this fun stuff in before summer ends. 

Abundant Self Love Mantras

Try my IME Community Abundant Self-Love Mantras for August:

  • 8/1 When I get stuck in fear of missing out then I miss out on my fun life.
  • 8/2 Scarcity is fear in disguise.
  • 8/3 The world is full of amazing humans I get to connect with.
  • 8/4 I’m not worried about trying new things.
  • 8/5 There’s never just one chance to try something
  • 8/6 I stay away from food rules because they’re too limiting.
  • 8/7 Restricting food creates an over desire for what I’m restricting.
  • 8/8 I can create an abundance of believable self-love thoughts.
  • 8/9 I know there are endless ways I can show self-worth.
  • 8/10 The more self-awareness, the more self-love.
  • 8/11 I haven’t even started to discover all the ways I can be kind to myself.
  • 8/12 When I feel fear of new beginnings, I always have my back.
  • 8/13 I never limit my dreams.
  • 8/14 People change and grow.  Maybe this year will be a new start.
  • 8/15 I am full of abundant self-love and compassion.
  • 8/16 When I feel anxiety, I know there’s nothing going wrong.
  • 8/17 FOMO with food is a waste of my time.
  • 8/18 Sometimes, YOLO thinking helps me when I’m stuck.
  • 8/19 When I overeat past being comfortable, I know it’s because I’m having scarcity thoughts.
  • 8/20 I love to eat an abundant variety of food.
  • 8/21 There’s never just one chance to get it right.
  • 8/22 I’ve got tons of great ideas and things I’d like to try.
  • 8/23 There’s a whole universe of health opportunities out there.
  • 8/24 If I feel stuck, I create awareness of my stuck thinking.
  • 8/25 I measure my success in endless ways.
  • 8/26 I never let anyone else create my narrative.
  • 8/27 My story is mine. I own it.
  • 8/28 My success in life is because of me.  It’s never because of or in spite of my weight.
  • 8/29 A number on a scale does not determine my actions.
  • 8/30 Every change I choose is from a place of infinite self-love.
  • 8/31 Just chilling out and resting when I feel like it, is intentional self-love.

Self-love superpower,

Dr. Karla

Fatphobia Quiz – Am I Fatphobic? (Some Answers May Surprise You)

Fatphobia Quiz – Am I Fatphobic? (Some Answers May Surprise You)

by | Jul 15, 2022 | Anti Bullying, Body Positivity, General

Take this fatbphobia quiz to answer: “Am I fatphobic?” While a few of the answers may surprise you, we can start a healthy discussion about weight.

Don’t want to take the quiz? Download our free ebook, “Cut the Cringe,” and learn how to create positive conversation habits that support body positivity.

People’s body sizes are a very sensitive issue. Many people have strong opinions about overweight (or what our culture defines as overweight) people. Some think that heavier people are lazy, stupid, and unhealthy. They think heavier individuals look terrible or are bad people. These are all elements of fatphobia, and they’re just plain wrong. We’ll talk about why when you finish the quiz.

Welcome to your Am I Fatphobic? (A Fatphobia Quiz)

Do you fear or feel ashamed of being in public with someone larger than what our diet culture decides is an ideal weight or body type?

Do you see people heavier than you as sloppy, unmotivated, or unhealthy?

Is it brave for a heavier individual to wear tank tops, swimsuits, or leggings/yoga pants?

Should there be more size options available for clothing like suits, other professional business wear, and wedding dresses?

If you're seated on a plane or train and there is an open seat next to you, when you see a heavier person approaching, are you annoyed?

Is it kind to tell someone you've noticed that they lost weight?

Finding Food Freedom – July 2022 Mantras

Finding Food Freedom – July 2022 Mantras

by | Jun 22, 2022 | Body Positivity, General, Self Care, Teen Health and Wellness

Welcome to Finding Food Freedom, the IME July Self-love mantras!  I felt really free writing these mantras and hope you will feel free as you read them.  

In September, 2017, I started my weight loss and life coaching journey with Dr. Katrina Ubell, who coaches busy women physicians.  Nearly five years later, I can say it was one of the best investments of my life.  To say learning the tools of life coaching was life changing is a massive understatement.  To be successful with any change in your life, you have to start with your pain point.  Though I was clinically obese at the time, my weight was not a pain point for me.  My pain point was feeling stuck, feeling like I was living a smaller life ruminating about food, diet coke, seeking false pleasures and not showing up for my human life.  I was living an external life seeking achievements without any regard for what I really want.  Now, I have freedom WITH food and fully trust myself to not restrict or punish or use food to cope with my human emotions.  

Food Freedom Mantras

Let me know which Freedom with food mantras ring true for you and send me your own.  There’s so much power in writing your own self-love mantras! 

  • 7/1 My relationship with food is my relationship with myself.
  • 7/2 I fuel my body with quality delicious food.
  • 7/3 I commit to never restricting or depriving my body of food.
  • 7/4 I love my family’s holiday food traditions. 
  • 7/5 Food is a fun part of life.
  • 7/6 I feel adventurous when I try new foods.
  • 7/7 When I sit down to eat I intend to nourish my body and enjoy my food.
  • 7/8 I have the power to choose food that serves my body and my health goals.
  • 7/9 When I overeat, I don’t shame or restrict myself. 
  • 7/10 I am not stuck in eating patterns that don’t serve me.
  • 7/11 I am free to eat what I want.
  • 7/12 I am free to allow my human emotions. 
  • 7/13 My life is more than the food I eat. 
  • 7/14 It feels good to be free with food. 
  • 7/15 I have as much willpower as anyone else.
  • 7/16 Restricting food is the opposite of freedom with food.
  • 7/17 I am free from diet culture’s restriction of calories.  
  • 7/18 Committing to not judging my body is so freeing.
  • 7/19 When I have an urge or craving, I don’t make it mean anything.
  • 7/20 I overdesire sugary foods sometimes and that’s okay. 
  • 7/21 I trust myself to create freedom with food.
  • 7/22 My pain point is feeling stuck ruminating about food all day.
  • 7/23 I get true pleasure and reward from self-worth. 
  • 7/24 Freedom with food starts with self-love superpower.
  • 7/25 Freedom with food has little to do with food.
  • 7/26 Staying out of good or bad food thinking helps me find freedom with food.
  • 7/27 I am free to discover my body’s healthy weight range. 
  • 7/28 There is no food police judging my food or judging me.
  • 7/29 I am working with the intention to notice my attachment to my inner critic voice. 
  • 7/30 I am free to be in the moment with food. 
  • 7/31 I am free to fully love and accept myself. 

Self-love superpower,

Dr. Karla

Body Image Thoughts – June 2022 Mantras

Body Image Thoughts – June 2022 Mantras

by | Jun 1, 2022 | Anti Bullying, Body Positivity, General, Self Acceptance, Self Care

Do You Bully Your Body? Here’s How to Get Unstuck from This Habit

Welcome to summer!

Whew! So far, it’s been a whirlwind for our family with my daughter’s graduation from High School and tomorrow I’m headed to Texas to move my oldest daughter into a new house (for her) with new roommates! I’m grateful I get to do it.

IME is six months or half a year, however you slice up that summer fruit, through a year of self-love superpower mantras! This glorious month of June let’s do fun stuff and get out of self-judging and hating on our bodies.

We just wrapped up Celebrate Measures of Success in May. You get to decide how to measure your success. How’d you do? If you were busy like me and didn’t get to it, no worries (I can’t stand when the Starbucks drive-thru person says, “No worries” after I place my order), you can create your measures of success this month.

Since I’m on social media a lot and lately have been going all in with my cancel diet culture posts, helping everyone stop their pursuit of thin privilege and live their magical lives, I figure June would be a great month to focus on body image.

Do you bully your body?

Do you have a certain body part that you fixate on wanting to fix? We all do sometimes.

We all have parts of us that we would choose to change. Maybe you can and that’s okay too. Maybe once you realize you can, you will decide not to.

Any decisions we make about making health behavior change or taking action in life must come from a place of self-acceptance and self-love. We cannot hate ourselves to what we want. Lots of psychology and coaching research shows this. It’s called PEA or Positive Emotion Activation. It’s cool stuff.

After years of being a pediatrician and taking care of so many patients, I can assure you that once you decide to focus on what you want in life and you have full love and acceptance for yourself, the healthy lifestyle changes become so easy. I’ve seen this time and time again with my patients and with myself.

One of the obstacles in our way is staying stuck in negative body image thoughts or staying attached to thoughts that don’t serve us. I’m not asking you to flip a body positive switch and just love yourself all day. That’s cheesy and not realistic.

When you say the letters I M E out loud, it sounds like I aM mE. The power of you as an individual with the support of a body positive community. How cool is that?

Quick Tip to Stop Bullying Your Own Body

Wear clothes right now that are comfortable that you love and feel-good in. If you have stuck thoughts that are creating negative body image feelings and actions, try my IME Community June Body Image Thoughts to Think!

IME Community Mantras for June 2022: Stop Bullying Your Body

  • 6/1 I define beauty by actions.
  • 6/2 If I want to change something about my physical appearance, I don’t
    make it mean that I’m sacrificing my values.
  • 6/3 I am deciding not to decide right now.
  • 6/4 I am never stuck.
  • 6/5 I fully love and accept myself no matter what.
  • 6/6 I make decisions from a healthy place of self-love and
    self-acceptance.
  • 6/7 Self-acceptance is always available to me like a nice warm blanket.
  • 6/8 I don’t let society define me or make decisions for me.
  • 6/9 It’s okay to wish something was different about me.
  • 6/10 I may re-decide at any time.
  • 6/11 When I decide, there is no right or wrong.
  • 6/12 I always like my reasons for deciding.
  • 6/13 I can create a thought about myself that serves me.
  • 6/14 I trust myself to stop self-judging.
  • 6/15 There are so many beautiful things about me.
  • 6/16 I am kind to myself no matter what.
  • 6/17 I don’t have to be perfect. I just have to be perfectly kind to myself.
  • 6/18 I recognize when my brain gets stuck in a thought loop and I create a pause.
  • 6/19 It’s okay to allow sadness as part of my human journey.
  • 6/20 When something is hard, I say it, “This feels really hard right now. May I be kind to myself.”
  • 6/21 I recognize that life is 50/50 positive/negative right now and if I
    change my body.
  • 6/22 I don’t convince myself if I’m not feeling it.
  • 6/23 If I don’t feel body positive, I don’t lie to myself. That feels like toxic
    positivity.
  • 6/24 Being hard on myself is not helpful.
  • 6/25 Fixating on changing my body is a waste of time.
  • 6/26 I’m living my life and doing what I want.
  • 6/27 When I’m in a body negative space, I stay off Instagram.
  • 6/28 I don’t look for how to fix my body on the internet.
  • 6/29 All I must do is create space for self-kindness when I’m being hard on my body.
  • 6/30 I don’t like any of the cheesy love your body always sayings.

Be okay with having an authentic human experience which means sometimes you love your body, sometimes you don’t, sometimes you are meh.

Get Unstuck from Self-Bullying Your Body

I just want you to get unstuck from attachment to body negative thoughts. Let me know what self-love superpower mantra theme you want for July! Stay tuned for my upcoming Cut the Cringe Life Coaching Workshops for Parents of Teens where I will coach you to cancel diet culture and raise a body positive teen in a body negative world!

Please follow IME Community on social media and share with everyone you know!

Self-love superpower, 

Dr. Karla, ActivistMD

Abundant Self Love – August 2022 Mantras

Interview: Teen Eating Disorders Thrive in Secrecy, So Let’s Talk About It

by | May 17, 2022 | Anti Bullying, Body Positivity, General, Parenting and Teens, Self Care, Teen Health and Wellness

If you are struggling with an eating disorder or believe you may be, Go to the National Eating Disorders Association for their Free online chat, call their Help Line at 1-800-931-2237 or contact their Crisis Line by Texting “NEDA” to 741741.

Dr. Karla talks with Dr. Jillian Rigert (DMD and MD) about what teens, parents, doctors, and teachers can do to help teens recognize, get treatment and heal from eating disorders in adolescence, starting with self-worth and self-compassion.

It’s Mental Health Awareness Month and this helpful information is needed now more than ever!

You get to live your magical and FUN life! 

Dr. Rigert wrote an incredibly helpful blog for IME Community, titled, “Lessons from a recovering perfectionist”.  I found Dr. Rigert’s blog and my interview with her to be so helpful and healing.

Teen Eating Disorders Video


We’re talking about teen eating disorders in this video, so just know that if you are not feeling it, go ahead and stop listening.  Also, the video is super helpful and healing, but doesn’t take the place of going to your doctor and working with a therapist who specializes in eating disorder treatment.  The earlier you are diagnosed and receive treatment, the better your outcome.  

First, if you are experiencing disordered eating, know that you are not alone, that it’s never your fault, you are worthy of help and treatment and healing no matter where you are with your diagnosis.  

Recognize, you are not broken and you can heal and live your beautiful life.  

You don’t cause and you don’t control all the things in life.  Eating disorders are a mental health diagnosis.  They are a medical condition.  You are not a diagnosis. 

I simply love you and want you to know that you are deserving of a self-love superpower life.  

Eating Disorders in Adolescence Are Common

Eating disorders are unfortunately common, cross gender lines, and do not have anything to do with weight.  What do I mean by that? You cannot determine if someone has an eating disorder based on their weight and external appearance. 

In our society and culture, we feel entitled to comment on bodies and sizeism is a thing and so is weight bullying, weight stigma and bias, and the false association between weight and health.  It’s all 100% harmful.

Dr. Jillian and I talk a lot about social media in this helpful discussion. It’s very very helpful. 

Welcome to National Eating Disorders Awareness Week.  I mean, I guess it’s a good thing to have an awareness week? What do you think?  I spent some time figuring out how to be helpful and not just share the typical talking points that are out there on eating disorders.   

How IME Community is addressing eating disorders starts with sharing the story of Dr. Jillian Rigert and her experience with an eating disorder, but most importantly, how Dr. Jillian is intentionally healing through her journey of self-worth and self-compassion.  

Sound familiar?  It’s self-love superpower! 

Eating disorders are “suffering”, a word Dr. Jillian used many times in this discussion.  Parents, note that your teen’s weight has absolutely nothing to do with their internal mental state.  If you believe your teen’s thinness means they should be happy, you’re wrong.  If you believe your teen who exists in a larger body, needs to shrink their body and their emotional and mental health and well-being will be fixed, wrong. I’m not saying that improving health habits won’t improve well-being.  Our focus on weight being equated to health and emotional health is just wrong.  

Stop Believing the Pursuit of Thin Privilege Gets to Happiness

Silence is fuel for an eating disorder.  Not talking about it, not knowing how to talk about it, staying stuck in diet culture, focusing too much on weight and not on mental health are all ways that parents and doctors contribute to the perpetuation of eating disorders and potentially create continued harm. 

Just like many issues in healthcare, eating disorder screening and treatment is another thing we’ve not been that helpful in addressing. Dr. Jillian and I talk about how we can start by having discussions with physicians and get rid of the focus on BMI (Body Mass Index) and weight-based diagnostic criteria.  When she talks about how harmful BMI at the doctor’s office was for her, I was overcome with emotion.  Her story is very powerful.  

Here’s a link to one of the many helpful Dr. Jillian Rigert articles on eating disorders, Eating Disorders Thrive in Secrecy, So Let’s Talk About It, published in KevinMD.com.  

Next up, I will discuss the different types of eating disorders.  Parents, please let me know what needs you have for coaching on this important health issue. 

Reach out to me at drkarlaactivistmd@imecommunity.com. Teens, 12 to 18, and parents of teens, go to imecommunity.com and subscribe to the IME Community newsletter – you’ll be automatically added to the IME Community and get my coaching to create a Body Positive Community for Teens in a Body Negative World!

Self- love superpower, 

Dr. Karla, ActivistMD

Fatphobia Quiz – Am I Fatphobic? (Some Answers May Surprise You)

Celebrate Measures of Self Success – May 2022 Mantras

by | May 16, 2022 | Body Positivity, General, Self Acceptance, Teen Health and Wellness

May is an exciting and often stressful time of year.

Lots of wrapping up finals, graduations, planning for summer, all the things!

My middle child, Audrey, is graduating from Lincoln High School and, for some reason, seeing her senior pics and the pics of her friends she’s grown up with, is really getting to me.  

May can be a whirlwind mix of all the emotions.  

How about you? 

Pause and Get Centered

Don’t forget to create a pause and get centered and internal.

One of the most important tools I can coach you on, maybe the most important is that you get to measure your own success!

Does that sound radical to you?

It’s not.

Unfun (nufnu) toxic, diet culture has taught you, maybe you’ve even internalized these harmful keep you stuck habits: 

  1. put your success on the finish line 
  2. determine your success by external validation (yuck!)
  3. celebrating your own wins is selfish, self-absorbed, self-centered, all the “bad” self things (um, no).

Dropping Toxic Diet Culture Is One Way to Achieve Some Measures of Self Success

In one fell swoop, I’m coaching you to let it all go.

Drop it like a book you don’t really want to read.  You know the kind of book everyone is saying is so good, but you start reading it, and you’re like, 

“What the heck? This thing sucks! I don’t get it!” 

Challenge everything!

Drop that cruddy book and let’s discover and celebrate the power of measuring self-success!

May 2022 Daily Mantras

As always, print my helpfulness off, share my radicalness with others, and let me know how you measure success and celebrate your self-success wins!

  • 5/1: I own my success.
  • 5/2: I get to determine how I measure my success.
  • 5/3: Someone else’s measure of success means nothing to me.
  • 5/4: I love celebrating myself by trying new things. 
  • 5/5: I create my own ways to celebrate!
  • 5/6: A measure of success for me is when I stay out of self-judging.
  • 5/7: I celebrate feeling all of my human emotions.
  • 5/8: I love celebrating with and without food.
  • 5/9: Whenever I stay out of people-pleasing is worth a celebration.
  • 5/10: I celebrate my life by listing three things I’m grateful for every day.
  • 5/11: I never wait to measure and celebrate my success.
  • 5/12: No one can ever take my success away from me.
  • 5/13: I feel successful when I create healthy boundaries for myself.
  • 5/14: I never let diet culture determine my success.
  • 5/15: A number on a scale is not how I measure success.
  • 5/16: A number on a scale is not how I measure failure.
  • 5/17: I celebrate failing because it’s all learning.
  • 5/18: I measure my success by how much risk I take.
  • 5/19: I celebrate failing by never making it mean I’m a failure.
  • 5/20: I’m having a cancel diet culture party and you’re invited!
  • 5/21: I celebrate being and not constantly doing.
  • 5/22: A big measure of success for me is knowing I am always enough.
  • 5/23: Perfect does not exist is a realization worth celebrating!
  • 5/24: I feel successful when I’ve worked hard and pushed myself out of my comfort zone.
  • 5/25: I never wait to cross the finish line to celebrate.
  • 5/26: I love to celebrate my wins in the present moment.
  • 5/27: Showing up as my true self is my greatest measure of success.
  • 5/28: I celebrate letting go of seeking validation from others.
  • 5/29: Resting, relaxing, and restoring my energy are my favorite ways to celebrate. 
  • 5/30: I feel a connection to beautiful memories celebrating with people I love.
  • 5/31: I honor and celebrate the life of people who have loved me for me. 

Stay tuned for June’s IME self-love superpower mantras when I will coach you on Body Image Thoughts to Think!

Cancel Diet Culture from Your Life with Dr. Karla and IME Community

If you’re a teen, 12 to 18 or a parent of a teen, ready to cancel diet culture from your life and achieve your weight and life goals without restriction or deprivation, make sure you subscribe to the IME Community newsletter  – you’ll be automatically added to the community to get my Dr. Karla coaching!

Self-love superpower,

Dr. Karla, ActivistMD