7 Ways to Love Your Body
Why do you want to lose weight?
If it has anything to do with hating your body or wanting to look like the girls in magazines, then you need to read this now; learning to love your body is one of the keys to successful long-term weight loss.
Negative self-talk makes us feel worse and is the last thing that will inspire us to lose weight and reach our goals. Instead, be kinder to yourself and aspire to be the best version of ‘you’ that you can be, which means a healthy, happy, and successful you!
Here we show seven ways to help you love your body, ensuring a positive frame of mind which will inspire you to lose weight and keep it off for good!
1. Stop Fat Talk
If a woman complains about being fat, often her friends will put themselves down to make her feel better by complaining about their thighs or butt, leading to them engaging in this back-and-forth over whose body is worse to elevate the other person.
Even women who don’t feel negatively about their bodies will engage in this behavior, making them feel worse.
Make time spent with friends a fat-talk-free zone and focus on talking about positive things or problems that your friends can help you solve.
2. Switch from Appearance to Action
Instead of looking at your body and thinking how you hate your thighs, focus on how they allow you to do things you love.
In user fittingly commented that she went swimming for the first time in years and her self-consciousness about wearing a bathing suit soon faded when she saw that lots of people had less than perfect bodies at the pool but that everyone was “using their bodies to do what they’re made for.”
So, think about the strength in your legs and how they help you do Zumba, which makes you feel awesome, or how your arms allow you to hold your children or hug your loved ones.
Thinking positively about the strength in your body, or how it allows you to show affection or participate in fun activities, can really help you view your body in a very different way.
3. Identify Body Parts You Love
Make sure you’re also focusing on the things that you love about yourself rather than just going straight for the bad.
Some people look at themselves in the mirror and say horrible things. If they’re saying it out loud and hearing their voice say these words, then they’re underscoring the problem and bringing their negative thoughts to life.
Instead, pick a body part, or parts, that you love—your breasts, your legs, your shoulders, your butt—and talk out loud about it.
Hearing your voice saying how you look great in those jeans brings your positive words to life, making you believe them even more.
4. Be Kinder to Yourself
Why not be as nice to yourself as you are to the people you love?
Before starting a new round of negative self-talk, think to yourself, ‘would I say this to my best friend, my sister, or my mother?’ You’d never be so hurtful to someone you love, so why are you talking to yourself in this way?
5. Hang with Happier People
Psychologists have found that thinking negatively about your appearance is a crucial contributor to low self-confidence and bad body image, especially when the thoughts are repetitive and automatic.
So if you’ve got a friend who’s always bashing her looks and saying she looks fat in everything, tell her to keep her thoughts to herself.
If you carry on hearing her negative attitude, then it’s almost certainly going to rub off on you. Instead, hang out with positive people who love their bodies and who make you feel better about yourself.
6. Collect Compliments
Much like mindless snacking or never cooking, changing how you talk to yourself is a bad habit you have to break and a good habit you have to create, so it can take a month or so before it feels natural.
If you feel like you’re lying to yourself, then look to your friends for help. The next time a friend or family member pays you a compliment, ask them to write it down, then tape it to your mirror (or, if you’re too embarrassed to ask, just do it yourself in secret later).
This way, you’re getting the statements of positive people in your life who make you feel really good, combating the negative things that you think about yourself. These post-its will serve as one of the weight-loss weapons that will help you succeed!
7. Be Grateful
Psychologists have found a strong link between exhibiting gratitude and good physical health, including weight loss success.
They explain it by suggesting that if you view life in a more graceful way and focus on the little and the big things that you’re happy about, then you’ll want to live a healthier lifestyle than someone who isn’t thankful for anything.
It also works with being grateful to your body and what it allows you to do. If you go out and exercise, you’ll be more grateful for your health, and that feeling will motivate you to stick with it as you learn to love your body.
So, you heard it from us, and now you just have to tell it yourself!
Don’t think about what you don’t like about your body, think of its strength, beauty, and all the parts you love about it, be grateful for your body and what it allows you to do, and you’ll realize that it’s pretty great, and so are you!
With a positive, motivated attitude, you’ll be on the fast track to success without considering any of the negative body talks that held you back before.
Are you guilty of this kind of negative body talk? Do you feel inspired to have a more positive attitude toward your body? Let us know by commenting below!
