| How low self-esteem makes you fat |
| Written bySandy Goldberg on 8/12/2003 |
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How many times have you tried following a healthy eating programme to lose weight and either put on weight or stayed the same? We all “know” what to feed our body, so why is it difficult or seemingly impossible to lose weight when it’s what we want more than anything?
We know that a healthy eating plan on its own is not enough – it is only when we “get our mind right” that we will start to achieve success. Losing weight needs to be looked at holistically. We need to look at the body, mind and soul. It is only when you find the balance between each of these factors that we will achieve succes?
So back to the question “How does self-esteem make you fat?” Well it doesn’t actually “make you fat” but it certainly stops you from achieving your weight loss goal.
Let’s start by looking at what exactly self esteem is. Self–esteem is the feeling of worth you have about yourself. It has two facets – your self image and your self confidence. Your self-image is your perception of yourself and it can either be accurate or quite misleading. Self confidence on the other hand is your belief in your ability to achieve the things you want to.
We have physical, emotional, intellectual and social self –images. Often we find people have high self esteem in one or more aspects of their lives and are therefore highly successful in those areas of their lives while they may have low self-esteem and therefore do not achieve in other areas of their lives.
The most important factor determining whether you make a success or not is recognizing that you have a poor self image and understanding it are the first steps in correcting it.
What is stopping you from losing weight? Perhaps it ‘s believing you can’t, that it’s your age, your hormones, that you’ve always been overweight and that is just how it will always be. Actually it isn’t any of these things it is your belief, your perception of yourself in other words, your low self-esteem in this area of your life that is holding you. Until you change your thinking, you cannot change your body.
There are a number of tools you can use to improve your self-image, visualization and affirmations are just two. Improving your self image or believing you can lose weight are skills you can acquire. The more you practice them the more you will start believing in yourself. Your perception of yourself will improve and so will your self esteem.
Start with small steps. If you have a lot of weight to lose and you don’t believe you can lose it all let your first goal be losing 2kgs. Find a healthy eating programmed that fits in with your lifestyle and lose 2 kgs. As you achieve the small goals you set for yourself your self confidence and self image will start to improve. Then set a second goal which is to lose 5 kgs. By now people will start noticing a weight loss (they usually notice after 7kgs) and will be paying you compliments. This will also improve your self esteem. You will have broken the negative cycle of a poor self image.
You can train your unconscious mind to think about things differently.
Try this exercise which can be used as a start to changing the perception you have of yourself about not being able to lose weight.
Start by making a list of all the things you have done successfully, then
Think of any areas of your life (parenting, career, work within the community, etc. where you have been successful or achieved something that you set out to do. Writ down all the characteristics that you currently have, as well as all the skills and knowledge, which you have acquired in an area where you have been successful. Looking at the list, what skills, knowledge and characteristics do you have that you could apply to losing weight?
Now paste the list up somewhere where you can see it and look at it every time you think that you cannot achieve your weight loss goals.
Low self esteem can “only make you fat” if you allow yourself to believe that. If you change your thinking you can change your body. High self esteem has many benefits. It promotes good relationships, a positive outlook and good health. You feel happier and more in control of your life.
I’d like to end with the quotation by Eileen Caddy that I used to end my book.
"The secret of making something work in your life is first of all the deep desire to make it work, then the faith and belief that it can work, then hold that clear definite vision in your consciousness and see it working out step by step, without one thought of doubt or disbelief."
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