Another column I have written about in the past. But the conversations I have had after last week’s strong core column, I feel the need to cover this again. If you don’t love your own body, who is going to?

I absolutely love confident people, no matter what size or shape they are. They walk around and have accepted, and look beautiful in, their own body. “Love and accept what your family genetics and God gave you” is one of my favorite answers when people are trying to “change” their body. Society and social media don’t help by portraying “perfect” bodies, which are so far from the truth. Many bodies are posted with a filter for this, that and the other. My dad always said, “If it’s too good to be true, it is.”

Everyone has a certain body type that has passed on to them through family genetics. Even when your parents and siblings don’t have that “shape,” most of the time when you go back in your family tree, that particular shape will be somewhere in your family’s past. Someone with wide hips might want to make the hips smaller but when you feel your hips and you feel bones, there is no way you can make that part smaller. One thing you are not able to do is to spot reduce when working out. Especially when you are dealing with bone structure but even dealing with fat, just because you are working that part out does not mean you are losing fat/weight in that particular area. A total body workout focusing on problem areas, enhancing other parts, lots of cardio and a healthy eating lifestyle will get you on your way to lose the unwanted fat and hopefully the shape you want.

Your main focus should be health first! Not just the body, also the spirit and the mind. In my almost 43 years of being in fitness, I have seen magical body and spirit changes. With hard work, patience and perseverance, you will reach your goals. As I have mentioned before, you can not spot reduce or change the structure of your bones or genetics. However, through working out with weights you can change the size of your muscles and therefore the appearance of your symmetry. A fitness trainer can assist you with a weight-lifting program. Add cardio most days of the week, and remember from last week’s column to focus on posture and strong core throughout your workouts and the day. Hard work and determination can get you the symmetry you want while considering what your family heritage and God gave you! But always remember, love and accept your body, and patience is a must!

Ester Marsh is associate executive director and director of healthy living at the J.F. Hurley Family YMCA.