I have officially begun my studies through the Institute for the Psychology of Eating and I am already learning so much. I am excited to share all of my newfound knowledge with you guys over the next year and beyond. When you see yourself, what do you see? Do you pick yourself apart piece by piece, do you hate your body, or do you have a genuine love for yourself while knowing you're not perfect? Statistically speaking, 95% of women are dissatisfied with their body. That's basically every single woman walking around planet earth! And whether a women has, to society's standards, the "perfect" body, she is still unpleased by her appearance. I'm focusing in on women because the number is simply too big to ignore, and because almost every single woman is dissatisfied, they are also in a constant state of stress response because they are in a state of self-loath.
I have talked to you about the negative effects of stress on the body when it comes to your metabolism, but let me give you a few key notes to refresh your memory. When the body is in stress response it has:
- decreased metabolism
- decreased digestion
- increased blood pressure
- increased cortisol and adrenaline production, which leads to excess weight gain
What do we do now with this information though? The problem that many of us have is that we see our end result but want to take a completely different path to get there. Let me explain. We see a body or diet that we deem perfect, we see ourselves laughing and happy, trying on clothes that always fit, having coffee with friends in our skinny jeans, great love transpiring out of physical connection with someone, and just being in love with ourselves. We then use strategies that enforce deprivation, self-loath, and hatred towards the body through numerous ways such as: starving oneself, over exercising or using exercise as punishment, and by trying to beat ourselves into submission, all while thinking that a path of un-love will give us the result of something we love. Your destination will be the same as the road you take. If you take a path of hate, you will end up (even if you lose all the weight), still hating yourself.
You see this time and time again with rebound weight loss clients. They lose a bunch of weight through extreme measures and gain it all back. 99% of all weight loss clients on a weight loss diet or program will gain their weight back within one year. Again, that's a huge number! Why is this happening? Because they haven't learnt to love themselves now and everything that comes with that. When you love yourself and start to walk in fulfillment, true metabolic power breaks through because loving yourself, means letting go. Once you let go of the "perfect diet" or "perfect body" and you start to relax into who you truly are and what you were created or purposed to do, weight loss will be a by product.
It's time for you to love what is. Love yourself and watch your body transform!