Love Yourself and Your Body

Posted: Apr 19 in Weight Loss Blog by Staff

Losing weight and getting healthier often means investing time and attention in doing things for ourselves. Perhaps we’re giving ourselves the time to exercise or plan our meals. Maybe we’re spending a little more money on healthier foods. While making these changes can be difficult, one way to help encourage doing these positive things for our bodies is to make an effort to love ourselves a little more.

What does loving your body have to do with making healthier choices? Consider the way you treat the people in your life that you love. You probably enjoy doing nice things for them. You may even go out of your way to show them how much you appreciate them by investing a little of your time, energy, or money. If you loved yourself and your own body as much as you love your family and friends, you might find it easier (and more enjoyable!) to invest the time, energy, and money needed to get and stay healthy.

Unfortunately, learning to love ourselves and our bodies is not as easy as it sounds for many people. Some studies suggest that as many as 75% of women are dissatisfied with the size or shape of their bodies. It’s difficult to equate “love” with “dissatisfied.” We may tell ourselves that we would love ourselves more if we were a different size or shape, but perhaps it would be easier to become a different size or shape if we learned to love ourselves better first. How can you work on loving yourself before you start to lose weight?

In the same way you love other people by appreciating who they are or what they have to offer, try focusing on feeling grateful, respectful, and appreciative of who you are and what your body has to offer. Spend time thinking about and affirming what you do well. Congratulate yourself for your successes and accomplishments. Identify the things about your body that you do like, regardless of your current weight. Most importantly, try to avoid comparing yourself to people with different body types. Instead of focusing on wishing you looked more like someone with the “perfect body,” find someone who has a great self image and focus on ways to emulate their confidence.