It Does Not Matter What Your Body Looks Like Now
When you are very overweight oftentimes the last thing you want to do is to look at yourself in the mirror. It can be downright stressful, discouraging and just an overall unpleasant experience. If you are like me, your eyes go to all your imperfections, and it begins to really set off an array of emotions. In my case I was disappointed, angry, and frustrated with myself. These emotions were sometimes very intense and seem to all hit me all at the same time. So, I just tried to avoid mirrors at all costs because I hated looking at my man boobs and my belly, which meant shaving with my shirt on, purposely steaming up the bathroom with my shower so the mirror would be covered with steam giving myself no chance of catching a quick glimpse of my body. And you know what, just the act of avoiding the mirror was downright stressful and disappointing.
Is this you as well? Are you letting the sight of your overweight body hijack your mind for the day, week, months, or even years? We tend to base so much of our self-worth on our weight and appearance. The more your weight exceeds your expectations, the more disappointed you feel, and the greater the potential your mind becomes dominated with very disparaging thoughts toward yourself. Think about how hard it is to stick to a nutrition and exercise plan when you are dominated by negative thoughts. All you seem to see are all the things wrong with your body.
The real mental danger, however, is that over time, you may start to get comfortable feeling miserable about yourself and you accept your current condition as the way it is going to be. I know it can also be very intimidating and defeating to look and mirror and think “How am I going to lose all of this weight”? It has a crushing effect on your mind; it can be hard to see a path forward when you really get down on yourself.
You know that weight has nothing to do with the joy and value you bring to your family, friends and community but unfortunately the very harsh reality is that somehow, we start to lose complete sight of that thought as we get older and lose control of our bodies. In no way should being overweight or the sight of your body cause you do beat yourself up mentally, but the reality is – it does. So that is where we find ourselves. We are not going to ignore it. We are going to deal with it.
Enough of the doom and gloom!
We are going to start the process of getting out of this place mentally.
The first step is to stop letting how you currently feel about your body get you off track mentally. How? By learning to take control of your thoughts. This is not an easy process, but you can do it. Like anything else you get better with practice. I am going to give you three strong strategies to help you start to take control of your thoughts.
The first powerful strategy to take control of your thoughts is to remind yourself repeatedly that your weight and your body are going to change. Practice consistently telling yourself that what you see on the scale and in the mirror on day one is not what you are going to see in thirty days, what you see in the mirror is not what you are going to see in sixty days and not what you will see in ninety days and so on. You must keep reminding yourself that your body and how you feel physically is going to change every day, so it does not matter what you see in the mirror right now- Your final chapter has not been written, not even close! The reality is that you will have to keep telling yourself this until it really sinks in and becomes part of your mindset.
I do not know anyone that can change their mindset overnight; it takes a lot of practice and hard work. Professional athletes must practice and work hard to get better and so do you. Practice looking in the mirror and tell yourself “Don’t worry about it. You will not feel or look like this thirty days from now”. And repeat this statement at sixty days, at ninety days, and so on. Say it even when you have setbacks and have to start at day one again. Remind yourself that even though you are not happy about the way you look now you are changing it - no matter how long it takes!! And guess what, your mindset slowly starts to change and get stronger. Your vision of yourself in the future is very powerful.
The second powerful strategy is to understand when you commit to a weight loss journey your body is changing on the inside even though you may not see it on the outside – it is getting healthier. So even when you look in the mirror and see little changes in the beginning of your journey, some rather fantastic changes are happening inside of you. Please read more about that here.
The third powerful mental strategy is from the awesome American lawyer, television host, author, and motivational speaker Mel Robbins. She created what is called the High Five Habit which I absolutely swear by. It is a strong mental strategy that will absolutely change your life. I highly recommend you implement the High Five Habit in your lives.
Well, there you have it. It is time to look at yourself in the mirror, no matter where you are in your journey, and realize the It Does Not Matter What Your Body Looks Like Now!