Weight loss is never an easy journey. It can often be discouraging, challenging, and arduous. It doesn’t help that progress isn’t always immediate and goals aren’t always met, and that can impact self-love. But caring for and loving yourself is a crucial part of losing weight. Self-compassion can improve weight management and make it easier to pick yourself back up mentally when you fall. It can be hard to love yourself during weight loss, but there’s a lot you can do to help keep it up for your physical and mental health. Here are a few tips to help you regain and exercise self-love on your weight loss journey.
Shift your mindset and language
During your weight loss, you might be talking down to yourself or thinking negatively without realizing it. You might set lofty goals and then beat yourself up when you can’t attain them, assuming you’re a failure because you didn’t perfectly stick to your diet or exercise plan. You might also overlook the positives by focusing on what you couldn’t achieve even though you’ve made remarkable progress.
Instead of chastising yourself for looking or behaving a certain way, change negative thoughts into positive affirmations to help you reach your goals. Congratulate yourself for making it through half of a 30-minute workout instead of fixating on the other half that you didn’t do. Don’t comment negatively about your body, but be proud of where it’s taken you on your journey. Imagine that you’re speaking to a friend—would you enjoy making derogatory comments about them? Giving yourself the encouragement you’d offer to a loved one can help you maintain your self-love and keep you going.
Be kind to yourself
Not seeing immediate results when you’re trying to lose weight can be frustrating, but it’s precisely when you’re struggling that you need to go easy on yourself. Missing a day of exercise or not seeing a change on the scale shouldn’t be grounds for self-punishment. You may even have to follow doctor-ordered medical weight loss management strategies, such as prescription medicine, to help you treat a chronic disease like obesity. But this isn’t a form of weakness. Instead, medications help level the playing field for people whose biology makes it a little more challenging. Weight loss isn’t one-size-fits-all, and there’s nothing wrong if certain methods don’t work for you or if you need some extra help with changing your lifestyle.
Acknowledging your efforts can be a start to remembering how far you’ve come and how strong you’ve been. Whenever you hit goals, you can reward yourself with something like a favorite meal or a day for relaxing. You can also keep a journal to track your progress and how you’re feeling. That extra push from yourself can motivate you to keep moving forward even when it gets tough.
Don’t hold yourself back
Weight loss can direct a lot of attention to your body, both from yourself and others. It can feel embarrassing, and you might feel the urge to hide. That won’t help you improve your self-love, and you might feel bad about yourself even if you’ve made fantastic progress.
Rather than shy away, flaunt how far you’ve come no matter your size. You can do this in a number of ways, such as by using your style to boost confidence. Dress in a way that suits your body, find clothes that fit well and wear pieces that you love so you can feel as good as you look. Don’t let the fear of judgment hold you back from enjoying your life and loving yourself; others are sure to join in when you celebrate yourself.
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Author The Author: Lydia Jane Deera is a freelance writer who focuses on lifestyle tips. She’s mainly interested in body positivity and health and how the current culture is discussing these topics. Other than writing, she enjoys cooking alongside her husband and daughters.
