Mental part of weight loss...

ocsoanita

I think we don't pay enough attention to the mental side of weight loss. We just count calories, make a dash for the gym, track our food and exercises, watch the pounds jumping up and down... but sometimes forget about the matter that all of our problems with our body roots in our soul!!

Accepting yourself and loving your body is also very important!! You should consider your body as a TREASURE, no matter it's shape or weight. As long as it's more or less healthy it's really a treasure for you. It deserves caring and paying attention, feeding it with healthy and valuable foods, giving it the movement and rest what it needs.

And another thing... One of the most useful advices I've ever got was to consider my body as a SEXY thing. If I can think of myself as an attractive, desirable, sexy person, it will improve my self-esteem widely and makes it much easier to hold my body healthy and well-shaped.

Of course I know this isn't so easy to change our thoughts of ourselves - I went through hard times with really negative self image and very low self-esteem... but I could improve it self-directed and with the help of my friends and mostly my amazing husband. So it's possible for all of us - just try, try and try it again...!!!

Buff2022

I totally agree. Now that I have lost some weight. I can see the changes. That really helped me to enjoy this process. I saw a picture from last year and WOW did I look huge. Of course I was next to my tiny BFF but you know what I LOVE THAT picture. Even if I did not look my best. I was HAPPY in that picture.

I look so different now my face is thinner, my tummy is smaller. I can move better. I do feel sexy even if I still am way to heavy. But I know I carry myself different.

Yes love your body! Really if you can't love you then you can't really love anyone else either.

Pearsquared

This is honestly one of the things I struggle with. I've never seen myself as part of my own body in that way. For the longest time, I've had a weird disconnect with it - I definitely would get lost in my mind, which is very easy for an introvert to do, and I think I wanted to forget about my body. Sometimes I have felt attractive, but I don't think I've ever felt sexy (I think this has more to do with my struggles with hair growth rather than my weight, but all the same).

ocsoanita

Yes, it's really the hardest part for introvert people... I must say I was too shy in my younger years even to think of myself as a desirable person. I read a really interesting book about body image (written by Gabriela McMenemy) - she says that fat body is often a protection against being sexy, because it can be scary for a shy woman to wake up men's desire . I think we have to reach a certain age to overstep these feelings. Anyway, it's easier not to fear of men if you are closer to menopause than teen-age ...

toscarthearmada

The first step of my weight loss journey was to change the way that I thought about food. Food is not love, food is not comfort. What actually changed my outlook on food was The Hunger Games.

What a great post!

rocket_ace

mental is huge. I have the problem that I can't accept myself (or love myself). not yet. also, the long period of being focused on weight loss really does take its toll. but that's why its always recommended to make lifestyle changes that you can live with, but even still its hard.

and as per accepting oneself - I agree you should, and kudos to you if you can, but I just can't...not until I can feel comfortable with how I look, which I fear won't happen until I lose most of the weight.....getting closer everyday....but its the journey of 1000 steps...and each steps gets harder and harder it feels sometimes.

ocsoanita

I agree, we often use food as a replacement of something else... love, friends, warmth, pampering, etc. For some of us it's the first and hardest step to break away this feelings and consider food as it is: the simple (but enjoyable) way of keeping our body alive...