As a body image expert, this time of the year I find many people super motivated to achieve their health goals. After all, most of us are conditioned, from early on, into habits and the new year means resolutions, a clean slate, and getting healthier always tops the list.
So I find that many new students come to me ready to once and for all lose the excess weight they carry around day in and day out.
Emotional Weight Loss
When people come to me they know they want to lose physical weight and they also have an idea that they must deal with the emotional weight for it to be sustainable. The latter is the part of the equation where the heart of my work lies.
As someone who was once where they are, in my 20’s I weighed over 200 pounds on a 5’4″ frame, I understand how overwhelming it can feel to try, once again, to achieve a healthy body weight. The roller coaster rides of losing and gaining weight not only can have deleterious effects on their physical health, it can also wreak havoc on their emotional well-being as well.
And as we approach inauguration day, some of my clients have spoken of their sadness regarding how in the past presidential campaign, they felt personally attacked by comments from our incoming president. Comments which made them feel as if they are worthless simply because they are not the lean yet buxom female or the rocking-the-six-pack male.
Standards which, quite frankly, are unattainable to the vast majority of our society, including those who make such comments!
Our Body Image, Our Bodies, Ourselves
These images which are held up as ideal in our society push aside the much more important characteristics which should define who we are as human beings. The qualities of kindness, compassion, gratitude, generosity and forgiveness just to name a few.
Every day I work with my body image clients to appreciate those attributes which they have in their hearts so that they may begin to love themselves for reasons beyond what we weigh or how we look on the outside.
And while I can’t change overnight how this country chooses to judge its fellow human beings, it is my hope that the discourse over the past year will awaken a bold and powerful new paradigm of thought which will encourage us to all live by the Golden Rule, which simply asks us to treat others as we would have them treat us.
Treat others as we would have them treat us. @laurafenamore (Click to Tweet!)
That is my wish for 2017.
What is your wish for 2017?
Please share with me below.
Laura Fenamore, Body Image Expert, Coach and acclaimed Author is on a mission to help women around the world end the constant battle with their bodies and start adoring who they see in the mirror. Her approach walks students and readers through the heartfelt journey to self-love at any size or age by unlocking the secrets to a lifetime of emotional, physical and spiritual health. After overcoming a lifelong battle with addiction, obesity, and eating disorders, Laura released 100 pounds – keeping it off for more than 28 years. She chronicles this journey to self-love and health in her widely acclaimed book, Skinny, Fat, Perfect: Love Who You See in the Mirror. Learn more about Laura’s programs, or invite her to speak by visiting SkinnyFatPertect.com.
Image courtesy of Brigitte Tohm.
