Weight Weight Just Love Me – Five to One – Day 2
Michelle LaBrosse, CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP, RYT
The current market for weight loss products and services is over $60 billion dollars per year in the US. To earn that $60 billion dollars means the businesses in that field need to convince us we need them. So throughout the day we are pounded by messages from a wide variety of mediums (including well meaning family, friends, colleagues, strangers and especially health care professionals) that being over weight is not healthy and we need to take action immediately to avoid all sorts of potential risks and/or to be more attractive (therefore more lovable). While there is a trend in body positive messaging, the ratio of fat shaming to body positive messages is still well over 99 to 1 in favor of fat shaming.
My Dietitian Has a New Mojo for the New Millennium - Amplify Your Innate Goodness, Ignore the Rest.
Research shows, to have a happy relationship with your partner you need to have five positive interactions for every one negative interaction. In my relationships, I aspire to 100 positive to 1 negative (if there need to be any negative interactions at all). But what about the relationship with myself? Granted when you truly value yourself, others cannot devalue you, BUT, we are so ingrained by the messaging all around us including that of well meaning associations that it’s hard not to adopt it on ourselves. I even hear people in great shape talking negatively about their bodies. How are we supposed to have a good relationship with ourselves with all this external negativity, including negative self talk?
I have very much enjoyed working with my dietitian daughter Kate as she takes a much different approach than this shame and blame game. She instead focuses on all the positive things I’ve been doing to take such great care of myself. And we amplify those to experience what it’s like to truly value myself, regardless of what others see, feel or experience. Why put energy and thought form into what we do not want?
So here is my body positive self talk I’m going to pivot too every time I have a negative thought about my body and repeat these five truths about how I value myself:
1. I consistently take great care of myself.
2. My body and mind are incredible with how they help me experience so much of life.
3. I enjoy and appreciate the body and mind I inhabit.
4. It’s amazing how well I can do yoga these days and how great my body feels.
5. I am healthy, strong, confident, and have great stamina.
Thanks Kate for reminding me all the ways I’m of value and how I’m doing great with your program.
Kate’s comment: Such a shame that negative comments ever have to happen. I’m glad you’re loving thyself. Living any other way would be a waste of time! Why can’t everyone else abide by the “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all” – even if it’s simply in advertising? Also – that picture of me makes me look like I enjoy dancing in my lab coat and sterile gloves (I was taking a cholesterol sample).
Thanks Kate – I’m not sure how it would even matter to me what someone else thought about me or said about me – even an entire 60 billion dollar industry. I’m wondering where else in my life have I been as hijacked by the mass media hysteria? This is quite an interesting retrospective.
