5th May 2011

To be content & growing... embrace yourself as you are. Celebrate yourself as you long to be. Mary Ann Radmacher

“Lord if you can’t make me skinny, please make my friends fat.” Did you laugh? Did you find this statement funny? How would you feel if you were bought something with it on as a gift? Would you be offended because that person is making a statement about your weight or would you laugh it off? Someone showed me their ‘gift’ last night and we had a short conversation about how they felt about receiving it, I have a similar ‘gift’ in my house stuffed in a drawer somewhere. The gift wasn’t given maliciously it was given light-heartedly in jest, unfortunately these ‘gifts’ or those comments, you know the ones, “chunky monkey”, or “muffin top”, the ones that are said jokily or with a wink of the eye or a cuddle afterwards, aren’t funny. They are damaging, they are adding to the thoughts you have that make you not like yourself and your body, it all goes in your subconscious alongside every other nasty or jokey comment that has been made to you ever since you were a child. Even if you laugh at these comments they still have a long-term negative effect on you. What’s even worse is some of you actually make the nasty, negative comments about yourselves! I’ve even seen people who have email addresses such as ‘fatpig@....’ It’s not good ;(

STOP it NOW, stop putting yourself down and stop other people doing it, if someone ‘jokingly’ says something, ask them not to do it again. If you think it’s not hurting you, imagine repeating that same comment to your daughter or a young child that you know and think about how it might affect them – you’re no different underneath all your maturity!

Moving on quickly

I love me - who do you love?

Do you love yourself? Are you happy in your skin? Most people worry that if they accept their bodies as they are now they may become complacent and gain weight. This thought pattern can stand in the way of your ability to change.

Change comes from valuing and caring about yourself enough to want to improve your life. By first learning to have a positive relationship with your body, even if that body is not ‘perfect’ you strengthen your ability to make change.

Think about it. When you feel better about yourself, you make better choices, whether it’s how you eat, how often you exercise, if you’ll quit smoking, start walking, etc. but when you’re down on yourself and your body, you’re more likely to act self-destructively. If you only exercise to punish yourself because you weigh so much, how are you ever going to learn to enjoy being active? If you eat salads only as a way of changing a body you despise, how will you enjoy the delicious taste of fresh vegetables.

Accepting yourself as you are today doesn’t mean giving up. It means learning to live in the present with the body you have, facing reality and acknowledging that you don’t have to be thin to be happy in your skin.

Appreciate what your body can do. Isn’t it amazing that your legs can hold you up, that they can help you walk, run, or dance?

You are more than just your body size!

Are you compassionate, intelligent, articulate, caring, creative, loving. Remember people don’t talk to you because of your shape; they talk to you because of your personality! I hope you attend my meetings because of what I say not how I look! Although I am gorgeous I know ;-)

From this day forward decide to eat well because you want to be healthy, decide to move more because you want to feel fit and decide to love yourself as you are now because you are amazing.

Take inspiration from something that a member has just written on the group facebook wall

“I live for today and embrace whatever tomorrow will bring. And most importantly, I am not on a diet, I have made lifestyle changes which will ensure that I give myself the best chance of achieving my goals.”

Well said Sharon xx

I’m off to live for today, why don’t you go do the same thing too.