I remember thinking when I was 100 pounds heavier, I was so big and fat. All I could think about is how could I ever have gotten this way, what is wrong with me; I was ashamed and embarrassed for how I looked.
I believed that I could only love myself, my body WHEN I got to my goal weight.
I remember reading articles on body positivity telling me I need to love my body for exactly how it looks. All I thought was there was no way I could love this body, how could I!!!
I thought, how could I love the extra fat on my body because if I did, then that meant I had to accept looking this way and being okay with the excess weight. I was not remotely open to accepting this at all.
I had such fear that if I loved my body with this extra 100 pounds, that would mean I had to stay at that weight, and there was no way that I wanted that to happen.
What I realized was you can learn to love your body at the weight it is at AND lose weight.
Loving your body exactly where it is doesn’t mean you don’t get to lose the weight.
The thing is when I lost 100 pounds, I still didn’t love my body, I had no problem continuing to pick it apart. Now it wasn’t about the extra fat, but the loose skin I was not happy with. I never felt like it was good enough.
So when we learn to love our body right now before we even start losing weight, we lose weight not because our body is not good enough, but because we chose to lose weight.
We need to stop beating ourselves up to lose weight!
If you waiting to love your body when you hit your goal weight, you will get there, but it still won’t be good enough. You will look at the cellulite with disgust wishing and trying to get more weight off and continue to be disappointed, which is when we end up sabotaging ourselves.
So what if right, where you are at right now, is good enough?
When you think that where you are at right now is good enough, you will continue to do the work in losing weight because the thought of “it is good enough for now” is an empowering thought which will only lead you to continue to take the next step.
I know for me I didn’t do the work along the way in the beginning, and when I lost the 100 pounds, I struggled with gaining and losing about 20 pounds for years. The reason why this happened was I had been beating myself up, shaming myself, looking in the mirror, saying, “When I lose the weight, I will look better,” but better never came! I kept on beating myself up, so no wonder my weight continued to be a struggle.
Another thought I had was, “when I get to my lower weight, it will be all be different, I would be different. “
BUT yes, my body size was different, but the thoughts about my body never changed.
Funny, I thought that being 100 pounds lighter, a miracle would happen, and I would love myself, love how I looked, but that didn’t happen.
So how I learned how to keep the 100 pounds off was to love and accept myself where I am in each and every moment knowing that I have a choice to stay where I am or lose more weight, but whatever choice I made, I loved myself no matter what.
Love all of what you call your “imperfections” because you can’t change them by hating them or wishing they were not there. You change them by loving them, loving you. Hating them and yourself only gives that negative thought more power, so as you accept and love where you are at right now, you will then be able to make the choices that will lead you to your weight loss goal.
I do understand the body positivity movement now. It is all about no longer beating ourselves up for how we think we look but working on shifting our thinking about ourselves that we are good enough right now.
Just imagine if you no longer were looking in the mirror so unhappy with what you are seeing, how would you feel? What actions would you be taking?
Do you need help and support learning how to love yourself so that you can lose weight for the last time? I know I couldn’t do it alone, how could I, I knew no other way. So if you are ready to no longer continue to beat yourself up and be so unhappy with where you are at right now then click here to book a free strategy call to see if my program is a good fit for you
You are worth it!
Karen
P.S. Click here to join my facebook community of Successful Women losing weight for the Last time where you can get more information and support.
