Olympian Ilona Maher on what she tells herself when she's not feeling body confident: See video
Ilona Maher is opening up about what she does when she isn't feeling positive about her body.
The Olympic bronze medalist, who is currently competing on "Dancing with the Stars," shared a vulnerable TikTok video over the weekend in which she talked about how she wasn't feeling "body confident."
"I like to keep it real with you all, so I wanted to just let you know I'm not feeling too body confident right now," she began. "But that's OK, that's OK -- and I know you all are gonna hit me up."
"But just remember, the mind be playing tricks," she continued. "It be telling you different things. So, I think I'm making this video more to help myself out, and if it helps you, even better, a win."
Maher said it's normal to "not love your body all the time and to think it's just so amazing," and she said it's something she struggles with from time to time. However, she said when she gets into that headspace, she reminds herself of three things.
"I try to remember what my body does for me, how strong it is," she said. "How strong it is, whether it's I go for a walk or I go on a run, I go lift weights, I go dance."
The second thing she said she tells herself is that bodies change constantly and "will constantly change the rest of our lives."
"Doesn't matter whether we're in a different part of our cycle, you know, whether [we're] eating more, eating less, working out more -- I'm not working out as much as I usually do, so that's why my body is changing a little bit," she added.
The final thing she said she tells herself is to "give yourself some grace," which she said isn't always easy to do.
"I think it is hard for me this time," she said. "My whole workout schedule has been off. I'm just dancing and not, like, running, you know, 500,000 meters every day."
Maher ended her video by telling her followers to, "take a breath, remind yourself you're beautiful, it's OK if you're going through [this]."
"It's gonna be ups and downs [for] the rest of your life," she added. "I love you, and thank you all for loving me."
Ahead of her "Dancing with the Stars" debut, Maher, who helped the U.S. women's rugby team to a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics and also became the digital cover star for the 2024 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, told "Good Morning America" that she wants to show people that rugby stars are multidimensional.
"We go out there on the field and we're beasts, but I can be a beauty, I can dance and do all these things," said Maher, who added that she wants to continue her message on body appreciation during her "Dancing with the Stars" journey.
"My new goal for this is to show that all body types can dance and express themselves out there through dance and feel sexy and beautiful when you're out on the dance floor," she added.
