Why Showing Grace To Your Body Works — A Christian Guide

You deserve a weight loss journey rooted in self-love. Discover how showing grace to your body unlocks lasting results, inner peace, and better overall health.

Have you ever felt like your body is the enemy in your weight-loss journey? When the scale isn’t moving, when you’re in the struggle between what you want to eat versus what you know you should be eating, or when you’re waging an uphill battle of sore muscles and fatigue with exercise? Sometimes it can feel like you’re fighting against yourself.

This is when grace comes in. Grace is God’s unmerited favor, compassion, and forgiveness extended towards us. And He desires to extend that grace towards you in every area of your life—even your weight loss journey.

This differs greatly from the shame-based weight loss many of us are used to. Shame-based weight loss says that you are a failure. Losing weight is impossible, and you’re just too far gone to even try. Shame-based weight loss leaves you feeling powerless, defeated, and alone.

On the other hand, grace forgives. Did you mess up? It’s ok; get back on track. Have you gained too much weight to lose? No, take it one day at a time. Are you alone? Of course not. You are surrounded by people walking this road with you. 

Grace lifts you up out of the pit and sets you back on your feet. It keeps you moving forward. This is why showing your body grace will give you lasting and more sustainable results. Keep reading for more on how to put this into action.

Understanding Grace in Relation to Your Body

Biblical foundation

Let’s start with our creation and what God (our creator) has to say about us. 

In Psalm 139:14, we read:

“I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.”

Psalm 139:14

We are fearfully and wonderfully made. All of us. You were handcrafted and intricately designed by the Master Himself. The psalmist says, “wonderful are Your works”– that means YOU!

In 1 Corinthians 6:19–20, we see:

 “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.”

1 Corinthians 6:19–20,

If you have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of you, your body is His temple. Not only have we been wonderfully made by God, we are also the temple in which His Spirit resides. 

God loves you so much. He designed you in a beautiful and complex way. You are unique to you and unlike anyone else. Rejoice in that diversity. Revel in the knowledge that God only made one of you. Thank God for making you wonderful and for allowing you to be His holy Temple here on earth.

Allow God’s grace to remind you of how much you’re worth to Him.

Challenging diet culture

We’ve all been inundated with diet culture. Diet culture gives you a list of rules. It tells you that some food is good, while other food is bad. Diet culture focuses on thinness and food restriction, seeking to control weight and food.

It’s time to challenge diet culture. It’s time to break free. It’s time to allow grace to seep into the cracks of our ideas and give ourselves a chance to find healing, acceptance, and lasting change.  

Body image and self-worth

You are valuable. When you allow yourself to show grace to your body, you take the first step in separating your own self-worth from your appearance. 

In our culture, we are told that being thin is the ideal and true beauty is tied to the number on the scale. Grace says your value comes from Christ and Christ alone. You are valuable because He says you are valuable, so much so He died on the cross for your sins.

Your worth is not tied to how you look or the number on the scale. Remind yourself what God says about you and show yourself kindness and grace in this area.

For more on this topic, check out The Holy Mess article regarding 5 Ways for A Christian Woman to Improve her Body Image.

Practical Benefits of Showing Grace to Your Body

Mindset shift

It’s time to make a mindset shift. In order to show grace to your body, you need to reframe “failures” as learning experiences. This will help reduce guilt and shame-spirals that we all too often fall into.

We are going to “mess-up” when it comes to our weight loss journey. But it’s okay. Instead of letting shame tell you that you’re a failure and you might as well give up and stay in your hole, allow grace to flow over you instead.

Grace says, “Yes, you failed, but get back up. One set-back does not determine your future.” And it certainly does not override all the wins you’ve had along the way.

 For your own mental health and inner peace, allow grace to transform the way you think.

Sustainable motivation

Have you ever been doing really well with losing weight? You’re eating the right foods, you’re keeping up with your exercise program, and the scale is moving in the right direction. And then you “fall off the wagon.” Whatever the road block was, you have now lost all momentum and you find you’re having a hard time getting your groove back. 

When you try to keep momentum based on external pressures or your own will power, you will find yourself stalled more times than not. Instead, show your body grace and allow self-love and forgiveness to naturally keep you motivated. 

Grace doesn’t allow a set-back to derail you. We are all going to make mistakes and have challenges along the way. Grace pulls you back up and keeps you moving forward.

Intuitive eating

Show your body grace through intuitive eating rather than following rigid rules laid out by diet culture. These rules are often very strict and usually keep you from one food group or another, thus intensifying your desire for that very thing.

Intuitive eating works to build a positive body image while helping you to listen to your body and make peace with food. You will learn to follow your body’s cues when it comes to hunger and listen to your physical needs over a list of do’s and don’ts. 

You will learn to recognize feelings of fullness and understand when you’re eating in an emotional way rather than a physical way. And you will learn to do all of this with grace. Realizing weight-loss is a journey, not a one-stop destination.

Stress reduction

Learning to show your body grace will give you space to develop coping mechanisms when it comes to dealing with stress. Instead of turning to emotional eating during times of high stress, you will be able to find other outlets to deal with those moments in your life.

Things like positive self-talk, prayer, and self-acceptance are ways that, in addition to grace, can help relieve stress points in your life.

Applying Grace in Your Journey

Small steps, Big Impact

While all of this might sound really good, the natural question becomes: how do I put this into action? What are some practical ways I can begin to show my body grace in my day-to-day life and invite grace into my weight-loss journey?

Here are some ways that might help:

• make a list of what God says about you and keep it close. When self-doubt and negative thoughts creep in, practice showing grace by reminding yourself of your own self-worth.

• celebrate non-scale victories. Clothes that fit a little looser, subtle positive changes you see from week to week, a stronger self-will. Make a big deal about those things.

• forgive yourself for any perceived failures. Start over right then and there. Don’t allow yourself to wallow in self-pity or feelings of failure, and don’t allow those feelings to get you off track.

• recognize and celebrate progress. Remember, this is a journey. 

Movement with joy

We need to move our bodies, but that doesn’t have to look like some brutal and excruciating form of exercise. Show your body grace by finding enjoyable forms of exercise and emphasizing your body’s capabilities over just burning calories.

This might look like:

• dancing
• walking your dog
• a fun aerobics class with friends
• gardening
• swimming 

This can be anything you find enjoyable that also gets you up and moving. You don’t need to be throwing around barbells or sweating blood for an activity to be considered exercise. Show yourself grace and celebrate the amazing qualities God has given your body.

Community and support

As with anything, finding a community of like-minded people for support and encouragement is crucial to your well-being. Do not neglect this aspect and try to journey alone. It’s so much easier to show yourself grace and empathy when you have a group of people lifting you up.

If you’re not sure where to start, check out this free Community for Christian Weight Loss.

Also, for more on grace in your weight-loss journey, click here to read what Becky says about receiving God’s grace as you work to lose weight.

Overcoming setbacks

Set-backs are going to happen. Life wouldn’t be life without them. You are going to have moments where you overeat or when you choose to binge-watch Netflix over moving your body.

This is where you need to exercise grace. Forgive yourself for the moment, recognize where you went wrong, receive grace, and move on. That’s it. Do not allow a spirit of condemnation and accusation to allow you to remain trapped in a vicious cycle.

The Transformational Power of Grace

Personal testimonies

I’m still a work in progress here; in fact, I’m writing this article to myself! I get, firsthand, just how hard showing yourself grace is and just how real it is to be trapped by the lies of the enemy. 

Because it’s real, the enemy wants you to feel defeated. He wants you to feel like a failure. He wants to keep you knocked down and ineffective in all areas of your life. If he succeeds at that, he’s won.

Don’t allow that to be your story. I will not allow it to be mine. Let’s allow God’s redeeming grace to wash over our hearts and lives and let’s walk in the freedom that comes through it. 

Beyond weight loss

Showing yourself grace is so much more than just in your weight-loss journey. It’s required in every area of your life. And when you can allow grace to flow through every area, you will find freedom from stress and a greater overall sense of personal freedom.

Your overall health will thrive, your energy levels will rise, and you will learn to love and forgive yourself in ways you never thought possible. You will be able to walk in the abundant life Christ died to provide for you. His love. His forgiveness. His grace.

Grace as a lifestyle

Beyond the physical aspect of showing your body grace, the benefits extend past the physical realm into the spiritual. Satan is the accuser of the brethren, and he is working overtime to accuse you.

He wants you to feel like a failure and keep you ineffective in God’s kingdom. If he can succeed in that, you’re not a threat to his plans. 

Don’t allow it. Choose God’s grace in all aspects of your life. Walk in the freedom that comes with accepting His gift of grace. This is where ultimate health and wellness will come into play. When the physical and the spiritual meet, choose grace in both areas.

FAQs about Showing Grace to Your Body

Show yourself some grace. In all areas of your life. You will find that it benefits you physically, in your weight loss, and also spiritually, in your walk with Jesus. 

The world is going to tell you to do all these things. Don’t eat this, make sure you eat that, exercise this many days a week, etc. Grace says it’s not about a list, it’s not about checking boxes, and it’s not about following rigid rules. It’s about having a relationship with your own body and with your Savior. 

This doesn’t mean you’re going to change overnight. Like anything else, this is a process. Start small. Baby steps. Show yourself some grace in one area of your life and see if it doesn’t change things for you in ways you didn’t know were possible.

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