To me, committed is not just healthy eating habits and exercise. To me committed includes the mental aspect of losing weight.
This is a recent development in my weight loss journey. After a decade of yo-yo dieting, a decade of success and failure, a decade of disliking my body I have finally come to the conclusion that losing weight is as much (if not more) mental than it is physical.
My weight loss history includes attempts that I am proud of (including reaching lifetime status twice using the Weight Watchers program) and attempts that I am not proud of (a variety of weight loss pills that did not help me lose any weight). I have learned a lot in the past ten years about losing weight. I know that there are no quick fixes. I know that diets don't work and that if it is going to work then it needs to become a lifestyle change. I know that no matter what weight I am at I am not happy with my body.
That last lesson is a work in progress, and the reason that I am now focusing on working on my mind as much as I am working on my body.
With the help of a therapist, I came to the conclusion that I am a very negative person when it comes to myself and especially my body. I don't have very many nice things to say about myself and when I do it is usually lead with a negative. It's unhealthy for the obvious reasons, but for me it is also a way to make sure that I fail in any attempt I try to make at changing my body for the better.
Like I said before, I have found that no matter what weight I'm at I can find something wrong with my body. Whether it was at my lowest adult weight of 145, my highest weight (albeit I was 9 months pregnant) of 220, or my highest post pregnancy weight of 182, there was always something I could find that I wanted to change.
Which brings me to finding a book which focuses on the mental side of what I'm going through. No matter what I do in regards to losing weight, it's never good enough. I honestly cannot explain it (no matter how long this post has become to try to). The book is "Love Your Body, Love Your Life: 5 Steps to End Negative Body Obsession and Start Living Happily and Confidently" by Sarah Maria.
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| Image from Barnes & Noble |
The book is about Negative Body Obsession (or NBO), which according to the summary of the book "a whopping 90 percent of us are dissatisfied with our bodies."
The author has provided a 5 step plan to help those who suffer from NBO learn to:
- Commit to change
- Identify and detach from negative thoughts
- Discover who you really are
- Befriend your body
- Find your purpose
- Love your body, love your life
"80 to 90 percent of women, and growing number of men, dislike their physical appearance and are dissatisfied with their bodies."
"You accept less, much less, than you truly want, need, or deserve, because you feel inadequate about your body and yourself."
"We think we need to change something about ourselves in order to be deserving of love, attention, and affection."
"NBO is any and every thought, feeling, and action that makes your sense of self-worth dependent on your physical appearance."
"It is the feeling that if only you were taller, thinner, younger or stronger, you would be more deserving, more attractive, and more lovable than you are right now."
"NBO creeps in when your desires for improvement are motivated by a gnawing sense of inadequacy, a subtle belief that you are not quite wonderful the way you are."
"NBO, no matter how subtle or how acute the condition, prevents you from living you life to the fullest."
"If your Negative Body Obsession focuses on your weight, it can cause a difficult and frustrating relationship with food that can wreak havoc on your physical health and well-being."
"Fear is the root emotion of all negative responses, including phobias, panic disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and, of course, NBO."
"You will realize that you are already whole, beautiful, and perfect, just as you are right now."
There is so much more to this book and so much that I have underlined and taken from in just the first chapter. There are also exercises throughout the book that I am looking forward to doing in order to improve my outlook. I really have a good feeling about this step I am taking to improve my mental health in regards to my weight loss and how I see myself.
I have a lot of hope for myself this time and I can see this being the attempt that sticks. I have goals that I'm working towards without putting too much pressure on myself and I'm working at this from three different directions. I'm not saying I'm going to be perfect, and I'm not saying that I'm never going to trip up along the way, but I have a good feeling about this and I'm excited for the ride!
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