This post is actually quite personal to me because finding happiness with myself took me a long time.

And since weight loss often comes from a place of unacceptance for the way that you look, how can you accept yourself while still finding the motivation to lose weight?

Accepting yourself during weight loss.

Some people think that you need to hate yourself to lose weight. That you need to focus on all your negative attributes in order to motivate yourself to put down the pizza and see progress.

Whatever your motivation is, chances are you’ve looked at yourself at least once and thought

‘Oh God, that can’t be me.’

Possibly standing in front of the mirror doing the fat pinching thing with a disgusted look on your face.

(Guilty)

And it’s so easy to focus solely on that one area, every week (or day) poking at yourself
Sucking in your tummy
And being disappointed when nothing major has changed in the first week.

This can lead you to a very negative place.

Let’s talk about the sweat pants.

I’m talking about choosing baggy clothes over other ones for two reasons

1. You’re not comfortable in anything else
2. You’re not confident in anything else

Firstly, I love comfy clothes, who doesn’t? And I’m not a high heels and make-up kinda girl so I don’t often find myself in situations where I’m ‘dressed up’.

But not being dressed up and slumping on the sofa under baggy clothes on a Tuesday afternoon are two different things.

When I was trying to lose weight I would make these big bold statements like

“I will be a size 18 in two months”

So why bother buying clothes when you’re going to lose weight soon anyway, right?

Just wear the baggy clothes you have now and when you hit your next target THEN you can buy nice clothes.

But when you’re a size 18, you might as well aim for a size 16, so let’s just tighten that belt and hide under the baggy clothes until then.

And this was how it went, and even though people would see my weight loss in my face and in general because I took up less space overall, no-one got to see what I really looked like.

Including me!

I wasn’t thin yet.

I wasn’t ever ready to stop and accept my current body shape and size because I still didn’t feel worthy.

I looked at myself and still saw things that I hated.

I was always looking at the next step in my journey

“I will buy jeans when I’m the next size down
I’ll buy a skirt when I’m thinner
When I’m a smaller size I’d love to buy a red top
I’ll dress up more when I’ve lost weight”
Essentially telling myself every day that I wasn’t good enough yet.

Not taking the time to celebrate my new body.

^^^ THIS is so important.

Because if you can’t accept who you are now, why will it be any different when you’re at your goal weight?

If the answer is “because I’ll be thinner then” don’t count on that being enough.

How to accept yourself today

1. Congratulations.

Every day congratulate yourself for the progress you’re making overall. Even if you have a bad day, recognise that it’s not the end of the world. The overall weight loss is still happening, and you should be proud.

2. Cut out negativity.

If your weight loss started from a negative place, it’s time to turn that around. Looking at yourself thinking

‘I’m so disgusting, I need to lose weight‘

Is a lot more damaging than

‘I would prefer to look a different way and I will work towards that with good choices every day’

Same thing. Same result. Completely different mindset.

3. Take care of yourself.

Are you holding back from making yourself feel good because you’re waiting for the next size down?

If you spend all your energy focusing on the weight loss and the healthy eating but you forget to give yourself some attention, you need more balance.

Don’t hide under baggy clothes because you’re not “thin enough yet” – you’re telling yourself that your body is not worthy.

YOUR BODY IS ALWAYS WORTHY. <<<< read that again

Do things that make you feel good now instead of waiting for your next goal weight before you can reward yourself.

Go shopping
Get your hair done
Buy new jewellery
Arrange a day out with friends
Do something for YOURSELF for the way you look now.

4. Buy clothes that fit your body as it is now.

My BIGGEST downfall was going shopping, seeing something I liked and thinking

‘That’s nice, that will fit me soon’

And while I did appreciate this when I was smaller because I had clothes waiting to fit me, it’s not helpful in the short term.

If all you have in your wardrobe is

clothes that are too small
and
clothes that are too big

What are you going to wear just now to make you feel good?

Remember that clothes can always be altered or donated to charity. So treat yourself.

In conclusion

You don’t need to hate yourself to lose weight. You can accept your body as it is now and still make weight loss progress.

It’s important to learn to accept your body at different weights and different sizes and to realise that taking care of yourself is the most important thing you can ever do for yourself.

Do something each day to show yourself some love

Take steps to make yourself feel good now because that feeling will last forever.

Ainzlie x

P.s – I have some spaces opening up over the summer months, if you can invest in improving your health and body for the next 12 weeks, contact me. Let’s get started.