Body Hatred: A Love Story

(Part 4 of 4… picking up our “waiting to be thin to be happy” conversation. If you’d like, you can get Part 1 here, Part 2 here, and Part 3, here.)

My clients usually book a diet crushing adventure cruise with me because they are tired of dieting, tired of being themselves, and tired of being tired of themselves.

I always tell them the singular reason why I am so encouraged for them (and for my clients who may be reading this, yes, I do realize that’s putting it mildly) is because they are never going to be able to get away from themselves.

What I know for sure is if they could somehow manage to get any distance from how they really feel about themselves, they’ll never get that far at all in our adventure.

(In fact, as I experienced in my 20 years of yo-yo dieting, it’s our repeated attempts to distance ourselves from ourselves, that usually puts us farther from where we want to go.)

So.

If you’ve ever said, “I hate my body.  I wish I could change it, right this minute!” (or some variation thereof) good for you.

“He who is not impatient is not in love.” (Italian proverb)

If you want to get the diet monkey off your back and lose weight, being stuck – with you and on you – is exactly the situation you want to *find* yourself in.

Love is where your *problem* began, and how you’re going to end it.

What I want you to consider as you make your way out of the weigh-in, is that your impatience and hatred was born out of love.

That the only reason the diet monkey was able to get your ear, and whisper his sweet nothings, was because you wanted the person you love more than anyone else in the world to feel better about herself.

That if you didn’t love your body as much as you do, you couldn’t and wouldn’t be bothered with hating it as much and as often as you do.

(You wouldn’t be jumping all over yourself, nor would the monkey have been able to jump on you.)

The diet monkey is there by invitation only.

But.

The stronger your grip is on “diets suck, but I don’t” the more trouble he has maintaining his, on you.

Recognize and appreciate the very strong feelings you have for you.

How to leverage the determination and power and objectives of an “I can’t stand myself ” approach.

In strange but true news, I want you to appreciate your hatred.

“The best way to rid yourself of an enemy, is to befriend him.” (Abraham Lincoln)

When the diet monkey starts whispering to you,  appreciate where he’s coming from, and where he’ll end up (yelling at you out of concern) before he gets all the way there.

“Thanks for showing up so quickly!  Man do you love me!”

And as it turns out, you can – literally – smother the diet monkey… with love.

To get it gone, write it, out.

(For those of you who hang out here, you know I’m also an advocate of writing it off.)

In the morning, in your diet crushing journal, write “I am so happy that I am going to hate my body today, because so far, it is one of the best ways I know of to help myself lose weight and feel better about myself.”

After you’ve done this for a couple of days, I’d love for you to share what’s happened in the comments.

(Everyone knows I have a crush on you – my *secret’s* been out a while – so make your day by writing to you, and then come make mine by coming here, and telling me all about it.)

May your force be with you.

And if you know someone else who wants to lose weight, but is laboring under the false impression that they’re the problem, please pass this on.  Much appreciated!

Related posts you might enjoy:

• 4 Questions to Unstick Your Velcro Thinking via Life Coach Sandi Faviell Amorim at The Juicy Life… “What if, you used this negative Velcro for good, not evil?”
• You’re Not Broken via Life Coach Tim Brownson at A Daring Adventure… ” As human beings we never self-sabotage and I defy you to give me a single contrary example.”

(Photo credit: grietgriet from morguefile.comp>)

Be Sociable, Share!

•