Self love: Don't wait until you've reached your weight loss goal to work on that.

The great thing about a personal blog is this is strictly my opinion, an opinion that does not need to be backed up with scientific studies.  All I need are quotes and memes to compliment my thoughts and I'm good to go!

I don't use the word "guarantee" much but I feel strongly enough about this topic to toss it into this sentence: If you do not love yourself as you are now, I guarantee that will not miraculously change once you lose weight.  The only thing that will change is your pant size, you'll still think some part of you is not good enough.  So how do we begin to change?  My first suggestion is to read everything you can until you find the words that resonate with you. Google "Self-Love" or "Self-Esteem" and start searching for solutions that make sense to you.  

This makes sense to me: Pay attention to your thoughts and question them.  We all have thousands of thoughts a day and they go unnoticed (and unchallenged) perhaps because we've lived with them our whole lives so we just accept them as being true.  Start noticing your thoughts, especially the negative ones.  You might be shocked at the negativity swimming around in there!

Once you've notice the negative thought, whether about yourself or a situation, question it....Why do I think or feel this way?....Why do I always blame myself for everything?....Why didn't I have a positive reaction?  The answer to all of the above is most likely, "Because that's what I've always done." It's the loop of negative thoughts your brain is on right now.  I find the questioning really helpful as it gives the logical part of my brain time to realize the negative thoughts are not based in reality, just habit.  Even if I really screwed up, that's still no reason for self hatred....I just screwed up, that's all. 

The good news is you can change it.  Just like you make changes in your food choices, you can make changes in your thought choices.  You know the food that's good for you so you incorporate them into your life.  Instead of having junk (negative) food you insert healthy (positive) food.  It's the same with positive thoughts.  When a negative thought appears, notice it, question it and then change it for a positive one.  You may think that's too difficult and you're right, it's not always easy.  How difficult was it to change your food choices?  Sometime easy, sometimes not so easy, right?  But the more you do it the easier it gets.  It's the same with negative thoughts....I guarantee it.

I imagine this applies to many of us.

So lets' try this...