Don't Blame The Reflection
No one likes to hear excuses, but there are a lot of people who have been telling themselves this excuse for years: "I need to lose weight because it's just too hard to see myself right now in the mirror."
This blog post is about how you can get past that day-to-day excuse and learn how to love yourself. You'll learn about the causes of your body hatred and what you can do about it, plus what scientists discovered when they studied the effects of a negative inner dialogue on weight loss efforts.
If you've been using the excuse "I need to lose weight because I cannot see myself", stop using it now. Instead, start learning why you hit that mental barrier and how you can get over it.
Here are the reasons why you feel the way you do about yourself:
You've been brainwashed by the media, fashion industry and celebrities to have a negative self-image.
Your body image is being constantly bombarded and manipulated by external sources. If a woman is walking down the street in a size 2 dress, it's easy to say "I need to lose weight because I'm fat." But if she walks past wearing her size 6 clothes she probably doesn't think anything of it. The woman doesn't think about her weight at all until she sees a billboard for Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig, or something similar. When she sees that ad, it triggers a thought in her head that starts her thinking about her self-image.
These media schemes are used to manipulate our thoughts and make us believe that we are not good enough. The fashion industry has been accused of creating body-image issues for women since the beginning of time, and those claims aren't without merit. It's hard to find a woman who hasn't been affected by the fashion industry at some point in their life. But that's not where it stops, either. There are plenty of celebrities who have been accused of promoting a negative body image for women.
A huge part of the celebrity culture revolves around the "thin is in" mentality. These celebrities make their money by looking attractive to people. Because of this, they find it easier to accept a deal than to say "no" to a weight-loss commercial or movie role that would require them to lose weight for their part. When you take this into consideration and think about all of the nasty body-image comments celebrities make about themselves, it's not hard to see why we are bombarded with negative media messages as well.
You have no idea if you're doing a good job at weight loss because you've never been taught how your body changes as it loses weight.
Because you're so used to seeing yourself in negative media, you probably find it hard to believe that you actually look good. After all, if all of the liars in Hollywood are saying things like "Wow! I'm looking so fat!", then what possibly could make you feel like anything other than a failure?
Your self-image and confidence is very low right now. That's okay. It's completely normal to have a low self-image when you've been brainwashed by the weight-loss industry to think badly of yourself. (In case you didn't already know this fact, I'll state it once again in case there was any confusion: EVERYONE has a low self-image sometimes. It's just part of being human. The more successful you are, the lower your self-confidence tends to be. The more famous you are, the harder it is to love yourself. None of these feelings are permanent. It's just the truth.)
Here's the thing about having a low self-image: Your self-image is your reflection. So if your self-image isn't what you want it to be, then there will always be problems in your relationship with yourself (e.g. your reflection). If you have a low self-image and think badly of yourself, then you'll find it hard to enjoy anything in life because you won't feel good enough or confident enough to do what makes you happy.
You have no idea what you're doing wrong if you're not clear about what it is that you need to do in order to lose weight.
If a person has no idea how they can become successful at their goal, then how could they possibly be surprised by the amount of effort they would need to put into achieving it? Only people who think they know exactly what they need to do should be surprised when it takes a lot of effort and perseverance.
If you can't put your finger on what's holding you back from losing weight, then that shows that you have no idea how much effort it will take for you to actually achieve your goals (which is fine). The only way to find out how much effort it will take is to start putting in the work. No one else can do that for you.
You're too busy focusing on the weight loss to pay attention to things that are actually important.
Thoughts like "I can't see myself in the mirror if I weigh more than this" and "I'm not good enough" are distractions. They suck you away from what's truly important: you. If you continue to think these thoughts, then it's going to be hard for you to pay attention to tasks and goals that make you happy (e.g. taking care of yourself). And that's the last thing you want to do.
If it's important to you, then it has to be done. Weight loss is going to be one of those things that you need to start doing today. You need to take it seriously. If you don't take weight loss seriously, then you're going to fall into an endless cycle of "I'm not sure if I'm ready or not" and "I should lose weight because... I don't look good". But if you're focused on your goals and have a specific plan in your mind by which you can achieve them, then those excuses are less likely to pop into your head.
You're not in a place in life where you have the psychological knowledge that you need.
If you don't know why you're doing something (e.g. losing weight), then how could you possibly know what needs to be done? The goal of this post is to help you gain that knowledge so that you can start enjoying life again after your weight loss journey is finished. If losing weight doesn't make your life better, then it's time to find out why.
Weight loss is going to take a long time and will probably change your life forever. If it doesn't, then you're doing it wrong. You need to be in a place in your life where you are ready for the journey. If you feel overwhelmed at the thought of losing weight, then it may not be the right time for you to begin your weight loss journey.
You don't know who you are and want to pretend that this is just who you are.
Very few people realize that their self-image is so closely tied with their outlook on life (i.e. how they interpret things). If they think badly of themselves, then they tend to interpret things negatively as well.
Conclusion
There are countless other reasons why it's hard to lose weight, but I've covered the most common ones in this post. If you can figure out why you're struggling to lose weight, then you'll have a much better chance of actually losing weight and enjoying life. If you want to be happier in your life right now, then you need to start paying more attention to yourself and less attention to your fear of happiness.