We know that trying to find weight loss strategies can be very stressful, not to mention hurtful. The mainstream media is constantly pushing the idea that skinny is best and that it’s most important to know how to lose weight fast, regardless of what that means for your overall health and fitness level. That’s why we here at Genetic Direction were so pleased when we found this article published on the MyFitnessPal blog called 10 Ways to (Finally) Accept Your Body.
At Genetic Direction, we believe that the most important goal of weight loss is to improve your overall health level, not to simply be skinnier or learn how to lose weight fast. Your weight alone does not determine overall fitness level, how well your body is functioning, or how good you look! With that in mind, we think these strategies for accepting your body are wonderful for mental health and for helping you embrace your body. That’s the first step to making your body the best that it can be!
So, without further ado, here are MyFitnessPal’s 10 Ways to (Finally) Accept Your Body:
- Focus on what magnificent things your body allows you to do, rather than how it looks.
- Keep an index card in your wallet or day planner with a list of 10 positive things about yourself, excluding physical attributes. Read it over when you get “fat head” (definition: thinking you are physically fat when you have a negative feeling). When this happens, say to yourself: “Fat is not a feeling. What emotion am I actually feeling underneath this?”
- Wear clothes you like that feel comfortable, especially materials that feel luxurious against your skin.
- Throw out your “thin clothes.” Only keep clothes that fit you really nicely now, and get rid of “the ones I’ll wear when I’m size ____ again.”
- Do the activities you love to do regardless of your shape and size—don’t stop doing what you love because of what you look like on the outside.
- Hang out with others who aren’t obsessed with their size and shape, and what they eat. Spend time with people who focus more on enjoying the fabulous gift called life instead.
- Remind yourself that you are beautiful exactly as you are because you are a child of the Creator/God/the Universe/__________(fill in the blank).
- Move your body in ways that leave you feeling strong, exhilarated, flexible and centered, and do it regularly.
- Learn to tune in to your body: Eat when you are hungry. Rest when you are tired. Get out and move when your body needs it.
- Stop reading fashion magazines and following movie stars, thinking they’ve got perfect lives. They don’t—some of them have full-blown eating disorders and other addictions.
Now, this article would not be very helpful if it didn’t also give you exercises to perform in order to make sure that you’re actually using these healthy habits for weight loss. Make sure to incorporate these healthy thought exercises into your life by trying this homework:
- Write a list of 10 positive things about yourself, excluding physical attributes, on an index card, and keep it in your wallet, day planner or somewhere else you will notice daily.
Homework: Read these positive things twice a day—once in the morning and once before you go to bed. These are optimal times of the day to let new thought patterns absorb into the brain.
- Write a list of the clothes you like that feel comfortable, especially materials that feel luxurious against your skin.
Homework: Start wearing these clothes regularly, and notice how you feel in them.
- Make a list of the clothes you own that make you feel bad about your body when you look at them or wear them.
Homework: Give these clothes to your favorite charity and, for each item you get rid of, replace it with a piece of clothing that you wrote about in the previous question.
- Write a list of all of the physical activities you enjoy doing but avoid because of how you look.
Homework: Do one of these activities anyway daily, or a few times a week, and focus on the pleasure that comes from doing that activity.
Let us know how these positive changes affect your day. Do you find yourself feeling better about your body? Are you meeting your weight loss goals without worrying about how to lose weight fast? Do these tips motivate you to eat well and workout in order to make your body function better? Let us know in the comments!
