Nathalie Emmanuel is opening up about her journey to self-love.

Speaking with Women’s Health for their July/August issue cover story, the F9 and former Game of Thrones star reflects on the moment when she realized she needed to change her point-of-view on her body image and stop the negative self talk cycle.  

“You know how on Facebook it shows you a memory of yourself from six years ago or four years ago?” she says. “A picture came up on my phone, and I went, ‘I look so great!’ But I also remember that at the time [of that photo], I thought I was overweight and needed to do all these unhealthy things.”

“We just beat ourselves up constantly, and we’re never perfect enough,” adds Emmanuel, 32. 

From there, the actress explains that she “had to change how I interacted with exercise and decide what I wanted to get from it,” which shifted her focus off of measurements and onto more functional goals, like being able to do a pull-up.  

These days, Emmanuel works out with a trainer about four times a week doing body-weight circuits and running hills. Every once in a while yoga is thrown in the mix, which she’s practiced since age 18. 

“What I love about yoga is there’s no pressure to be the best at it,” she shares. “Even if you just lie on your mat for the hour and breathe with intention, you’re doing yoga.”

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