Body Positivity
3 Mental Shifts to Help You Make Peace with Your Body
From a decades-long career in health and wellness
When I worked as an outpatient dietitian, I used to hear some version of the same statement all day, every day.
“I’ll be happy when I get to a size X.”
“I really think I’ll feel better when I lose X pounds.”
“I just don’t like myself at this weight.”
Sometimes, people gave me a different version of the message, cloaked in concern for their health: “I know it’s just not healthy for me to weigh this much…I’ve got to get this weight off before [summer, the holidays, my class reunion…]
And then the next thing so many women said is, “Can you just give me a really low-calorie diet/keto diet/liquid diet so I can get a jump start on this… and then once I take off [a very significant amount of weight], then I’ll feel better, and I’ll start eating healthy.”
Um, no.
To be clear, I’m not talking about people who could be clinically classified as obese. I’m talking about people whose weight-for-height falls just above the so-called ‘ideal’ range.
No doubt, some people have a clinical need to take off extra weight, which comes with…
