Love yourself vs. losing weight

loveyaself123
loveyaself123 Posts: 15 Member
in Motivation and Support
Anyone else switch between the moods of "I like myself just how I am, I might not be perfect but hey Im fine!" and "I should really losse some belly fat...a flat stomach would suit me well!" on a daily basis?

I want to be happy with who I am and not stuck in crazy diets, but at the same time am unhappy with my 'love-handles' and chubby-ish belly...Body shaming is never okay and Im all for loving yourself, buuuuut it would be nice to loose some weight here and there...

Replies

  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,207 Member
    I don't think they're mutually exclusive, I love myself enough to want to be the best I can.
  • loveyaself123
    loveyaself123 Posts: 15 Member
    very good point! I keep telling myself IM GOOD, BUT I CAN BE BETTER!
    But just when thinking about bodies it's easy to get stuck in self hatred, anxiety and not feeling confident who we are...
  • KANGOOJUMPS
    KANGOOJUMPS Posts: 6,474 Member
    I always strive for being better.
  • thankyou4thevenom
    thankyou4thevenom Posts: 1,581 Member
    I'll never understand where the idea of loving your body means not improving it.
  • loveyaself123
    loveyaself123 Posts: 15 Member
    Laziness I guess...Its easier to say 'I like myself so I dont need to change' than facing the problems.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,207 Member
    thankyou4thevenom wrote: »
    I'll never understand where the idea of loving your body means not improving it.

    It's a funny thing, isn't it? When we go to further study to improve our knowledge, no one implies that we are suggesting that our less educated self is worthy of shame. In pretty much anything where we improve ourselves it's just known and accepted that self improvement is a good thing. But somehow the desire to improve our bodies has become linked with an assumption that we dislike ourselves or are ashamed of ourselves in a larger state.
  • Lizzy622
    Lizzy622 Posts: 3,705 Member
    thankyou4thevenom wrote: »
    I'll never understand where the idea of loving your body means not improving it.
    I never had success losing weight and keeping it off until I made peace with my body and learned to love it as it was. You need to love your body to take the time and energy to care for it and improve it.

  • loveyaself123
    loveyaself123 Posts: 15 Member
    Lizzy622 wrote: »
    thankyou4thevenom wrote: »
    I'll never understand where the idea of loving your body means not improving it.
    I never had success losing weight and keeping it off until I made peace with my body and learned to love it as it was. You need to love your body to take the time and energy to care for it and improve it.

    Beautiful said. Very true, I guess that's what I'm struggling with! !
  • ald783
    ald783 Posts: 688 Member
    Alatariel75 wrote: »
    I don't think they're mutually exclusive, I love myself enough to want to be the best I can.
    Lizzy622 wrote: »
    I never had success losing weight and keeping it off until I made peace with my body and learned to love it as it was. You need to love your body to take the time and energy to care for it and improve it.

    Totally agree with both of these. I think it is important to love yourself first and foremost. Even if you're not satisfied with your body and weight, living in a state of self-loathing isn't good for anything. But you can also still want to change things, for health and for vanity. I'm happy with the way I look and feel but I still wouldn't be devastated to part with another few pounds.
  • rumrunner91
    rumrunner91 Posts: 7 Member
    loveyaself123 wrote: »
    Lizzy622 wrote: »
    thankyou4thevenom wrote: »
    I'll never understand where the idea of loving your body means not improving it.
    I never had success losing weight and keeping it off until I made peace with my body and learned to love it as it was. You need to love your body to take the time and energy to care for it and improve it.

    Beautiful said. Very true, I guess that's what I'm struggling with! !

    This is so true! I think if you are unhappy with yourself at the most basic level, you set yourself up for failure in terms of diet/exercise because you are operating on the flawed assumption that you will reach a definitive point (a certain weight, a certain run time, etc.) and then suddenly be happy and content with yourself. If you love yourself, health and well-being are more important for the journeys that they are rather than the "end-results".

    I struggle with this too. I've started so many diets hoping that if I just reached a certain weight all my insecurities would vanish overnight. But I know deep down that even if I woke up tomorrow and was 115lbs, there would still be parts of me that I don't love, flaws I can't embrace...

    I think if you love yourself and use that love as the basis for wanting to change (rather than insecurity and low self-esteem) then you have a much greater chance of succeeding. There are so many motivational posters that talk about how many weeks it takes for you to see a change in your body and how many weeks it takes for others to see a change. I honestly think those posters are useless because if you decide to love all that you are and all you have the potential to become, that's a change you and everyone around you can see instantly.

    Good luck to everyone :smile:
  • KeepGood
    KeepGood Posts: 386 Member
    Personally I think it greatly depends on an individuals own mindset. It was hating the way my body was that tipped the scales for me and got me motivated to do something about it. For the person I am, being too comfortable with something tends to not lead me to changing it for the better, more often than not I'll leave it the way it is. I need a bit of negative to give me the push to change.

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