I gained 5 lbs in one day & lost my abs

This is what my stomach looks like after going out to eat with my best friend, enjoying a cocktail and actually living my life. And no, I don't have abs by the end of the day. I don't look the same as I did this morning. And yes, my stomach is bloated, but I'm not spiraling over it because the old me, she would have lost it and it would have ruined my entire night. I would have punished myself the next day, looked in the mirror, picked apart my body, regretted everything I ate and told myself I needed to get back on track tomorrow. Your body is not supposed to look the exact same 24/7. You eat food, you drink fluids, you digest, you retain water. Carbohydrates replenish glycogen, which is stored with water, and sodium can temporarily increase water retention. There are so many reasons your stomach can look different throughout the day that have absolutely nothing to do with gaining body fat. It's not possible. I didn't gain any body fat. The scale is not a direct reflection of that at all. You cannot judge your progress based on what your stomach looks like after dinner or by the end of the night. And the hardest part isn't always knowing that logically, it's learning how to sit with the discomfort, sitting with the bloating when your body doesn't always look the way you want it to and not feeling your best. It's learning how to go out with your best friend, enjoy the cocktail, eat the dinner that you love, come home feeling bloated and still not punish yourself for it the next day. No restricting tomorrow, no extra cardio to compensate it, no making yourself earn the food that you already enjoyed. You wake up, you go back to normal, you go back to your normal routine, you let your body do what it's designed to do. Because the goal isn't to have abs every single hour of every single day. The goal is to build a life where a bloated stomach and how you look doesn't dictate your mood, your confidence or whether you allow yourself to have fun. So learn to enjoy your life now, not just when your body looks a certain way. And this is exactly what I teach my one-on-one clients. Not just how to work towards their physique goals, but how to stop letting food and their reflection and how they feel about themselves control their lives.