- When you eat a large meal and feel too full, do you start
to
think you're fat?
- When you're in a bad mood, do you usually mentally
criticize your body?
- When you wear something unflattering, do you tend to
blame it on your body size or shape?
- Do you often find yourself thinking negatively about
your body when you're feeling stressed?
If you're taking the time to read this article, you
probably answered ‘yes' to the above questions.
You might also say, ‘So what if I have a poor body image?
Most of the women I know don't like their bodies!”
What most of us don't completely understand, however,
is that a negative body image actually interferes with our
ability to lose weight and achieve that fit, healthy look
that we want. To say nothing of the disastrous impact it has
on the quality of our lives.
Body Image & Weight Loss
“A negative body image interferes with weight loss,”
says Mimi Francis, MSN, behavioral health therapist at Green
Mountain at Fox Run. “When our motivation to lose weight
is appearance, it doesn't hold up. It works against
us because we get depressed. We think we have too far to go,
or things aren't changing quickly enough. When we compare
ourselves to others, we're likely to give up right then.”
Add to that our tendency to project our thoughts onto others.
For example, we might think the person at the next table is
watching us eat, questioning why we would choose certain foods
because we're fat. In all likelihood, the person at
the next table isn't thinking about us. But because
we are criticizing ourselves, we believe others are doing
the same.
There are inappropriate people in this world, however, people
who believe they have the right to pass judgment on others.
What we think about ourselves counts here, too. “Other
people's comments hurt the most when they fit with what
we already believe about ourselves,” says Teri Hirss,
MEd, therapist in health psychology at Green Mountain. “It's
up to us to choose whether we're going to take on what
others say, or brush it off and get on with living our lives
the way we want to.”
Building a Better Body Image is the Beginning
for Healthy Weight Loss
Building a better body image has a relatively simple focus:
getting and staying focused on taking care of ourselves. Because
when we're taking care of ourselves – feeding
ourselves well, moving our bodies regularly, staying positive
– we feel better, have more energy, are better able
to accomplish the things we want in life.
Indeed, the amount of time we waste criticizing ourselves
could be spent in the infinitely more worthwhile endeavor
of building a supportive lifestyle and life. When we're
actively engaged in finding fault with ourselves, we drain
away the energy we need to create a fulfilling life.
Changing a negative body image and learning to be comfortable
and content in our bodies is possible when we understand how
we've learned to judge ourselves based on criteria that
is impossible to achieve. And while it also may be virtually
impossible to have a completely positive body image in a society
where body bashing is a group sport, keep faking it until
you make it. Even if we don't ever reach our ultimate
destination, at least we're going in the right direction.
 For
more help in improving body image, consider a stay at Green
Mountain at Fox Run. Our program is dedicated to helping women
feel better about themselves now, instead of putting their
lives on hold until they lose weight or get fitter. Also check
out Thomas Cash' book The
Body Image Workbook from which we've taken the above
questions that exemplify how a negative body image can pervade
our lives.
For 37 years, Green Mountain at Fox Run has
developed and refined a life-changing program exclusively
for women seeking permanent strategies for healthy weight
loss and health. More than just another weight
loss retreat and spa, Green Mountain combines proven
science with what works in the real world, to offer an innovative
non-diet lifestyle program. Our core weight
loss program offers an integrated curriculum of practical,
liveable techniques that helps women take charge of their
eating, their bodies and their health. Unlike health
spas or adult
weight loss camps, our approach is not focused on just
losing weight but on how to keep it off for a lifetime.
Our participants' long-term weight
loss success is among the highest of any program, as
documented in peer-reviewed scientific literature. Learn more about our women's weight loss program
©2007
Green Mountain at Fox Run, Ludlow, Vermont. This information
is the property of Green Mountain at Fox Run. Permission
to use single copies for personal, noncommercial use is
authorized. For all other purposes, please see details.
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