Weight Loss and Self Love: 7 Important Tips When Starting a Weight Loss Program

Yes, it is true, your weight does not determine your worth.

Unless your weight is now a health challenge – the number on the scale doesn’t have to mean much.

It doesn’t determine how valuable or lovable you are.

There have been numerous great women and men in history (and some in the present, with much more to come in the future) who weigh more or less than their peers. How you see yourself is what matters most.

There are a lot of qualities we don't consider that contribute to making a person lovely to people they meet, and very important in the society they find themselves in. Some of those qualities include: 

• Creativity, charisma and resilience
• Intelligence, loyalty and wisdom
• Empathy, ambitiousness and trustworthiness
• Kindness, consistency and respectfulness
• Knowledge, imagination and altruism
• Truthfulness and manners

When you look at that list, you find things that are truly rare, beautiful, and incorruptible. Our physical appearance is only but a small, often misleading, aspect of who we are – it is a wrapper for the candy, and not the candy itself.

Read this next: Commit to No More Body Shaming

What if You Don't Like Your Body? 

On the other hand, if you’re uncomfortable with your shape or size, and you intend to go up or down the scale, your love for yourself should still come first.

Yet, trying to love yourself while attempting to change your weight seems a bit counterintuitive.

Intuitively, you must think that the logical conclusion of wanting to, for example, lose weight is that you hate your body. But this is a misconception.

Think about it, do you hate yourself when your nails overgrow, or your hair gets too long?

True, you may not want it that way, but it does not mean you hate your nails or hair. So also your body is yours to love, and yours to treat as you please.

Starting a weight loss program is a sign of self-love, and continuing in it is a form of self-care. And like all self-care practices, weight loss takes time and commitment. 

So, it is crucial that you begin this journey from a place of love and acceptance because that is what can pull you through the thick and thin.

Embarking on a weight loss program (with self-love being your key motivator) would help you set realistic goals, and stay resilient in the face of setbacks and disappointment.

It turns the challenges into an adventure, and each stumbling block becomes a stepping stone – as you embrace the totality of the experience, pushing through sweat, fatigue, and nausea.

In this journey, your mindset can become your greatest foe or ally. Below is a list of approaches that can turn it into an asset for you!

7 Things You Must Keep in Mind Before Embarking On a Weight Loss Program

1. Treat Everyday Like A Pixel In An Image

When you look at a beautiful landscape on your phone's screen, it is indeed a beautiful spectacle.

But when you look closer (not digitally zooming in, but physically moving your head/eyes closer to the screen) you would discover that it is made up of thousands of tiny boxes (known as pixels), each with a different color.

This is the same with your life, and all the goals you plan to achieve within it.

Looking at the mirror each day hoping to have lost half your weight is a surefire way to make you want to quit before you even begin. You must begin each day on a sort of blank slate.

You must do your best to make sure each day was properly utilized – that you did your best, that the pixel shone its color. And yes, some days are bad; but remember that it is not all the pixels in an image that are brightly colored.

You don’t have to condemn yourself and give up because you didn’t see results, or didn’t appear to lose any obvious weight on day one. You have to believe and trust the process. Eliminate the negative self-talk, and do your best each day.

2. Engage In Positive Self-Talk 

It sounds ludicrous at first, but it really does work.

There is a reason soldiers receive pep talks before going to battle and laying down their lives with pride. Comrades don’t discourage the soldiers, rather they motivate them, and remind them of the reason they got into the army.

So you too must speak positively to yourself – encourage yourself for even conceiving/considering the idea of the program in the first place, then you must motivate yourself to push through. 

3. It Is About You

The program isn’t intended to change you.

I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free. - Michelangelo

It is not designed to turn you into a Photoshopped Instagram model. It is designed to bring out “you” – your beauty, shape, size. It is about you. You are fine-looking in your unique way, and all you are doing is trying to express that beauty.

4. Prepare For Pain

Continuing with the metaphor of a sculpture and a sculpture, Alexis Carrel accurately noted that,

Man cannot remake himself without suffering, for he is both the marble and the sculptor.

Trying to run away from pain is the wrong approach. It is what leads to buying into countless programs that don’t work, or leave people worse than they were.

If you are going to do this, accept that it is going to be long, tedious, and painful – but, also totally worth it.

5. Set Attainable Goals

Good things take time. You can’t rush in and out of a weight loss program. It would require time and the more ambitious your goals, the more time it would take. Some “body goals” take months to attain, and a lifetime to maintain.

This is what reality is. It is what is attainable.

6. You Will Need Motivation, Lots Of It

Going solo may work, but having a support system works wonders too.

This could be as simple as getting a gym membership, committing to visiting as scheduled – thereby helping you find a community at the gym to draw inspiration from.

Or, you could find online communities that encourage you to keep pushing yourself even when the going gets tough.

There are quite a number of famous people who encourage millions of people worldwide to get in shape (Whatever that shape may be). 

7. Make Use Of Punishments 

If you find yourself unable to commit, you might want to enlist the services of an accountability partner.

All you have to do is hand over something you cherish to them (maybe some amount of cash) and tell them they can keep it if they discover you missed any day of exercise.

You can tweak the punishments and conditions as best suits you, but the punishment should be painful enough to dissuade you from quitting.

Of course, remember that you are more than a number on the scale, and it is entirely your choice to weigh whatever you please. All things being equal, loving yourself is one of the most important duties you owe yourself and the world at large during these trying times. So, keep loving yourself. 

Photo by Gabriel Santos Fotografia from Pexels