I’ve been thinking about this for the last few days. I’ve seen a good bit of talk about loving yourself as you are, or loving your body now in order to succeed at weight loss, and I wonder if this really possible. Speaking for myself, I absolutely hate my body. There’s no getting around that. And I think doing what I’m doing (trying to live a healthy lifestyle) is a form of ‘loving my body’ but I can’t honestly look in the mirror and say, I love my body.
Is there some sort of nuance in the phrase, love your body as it is that I’m missing? To me is seems, sort of, disingenuous to be honest. I mean, the whole reason I’m doing this is so that I can love my body and continue to treat it the way it deserves to be treated, but I wouldn’t say that I love it now. And I certainly wouldn’t give ‘love your body now’ as weight loss advice. What are your thoughts?
Hmm. Interesting question. I'm definitely a fan of the 'treat your body with honor and respect' approach. Self-hatred doesn't really help anyone, and it doesn't help at all with weight loss. At the same time though, I hate being overweight and feeling unattractive and sloppy.
I think I would revise the 'love your body now' thing to something along the lines of: always treat yourself and your body with respect, honor your body for what it does for you, and love the potential it possesses.
That gets us off the hook for having to fake love for something that often seems ugly, without falling into loops of self-loathing and hating on the body.
I think you can find things about your body NOW that are great and you can love. And the list will probably change as you lose weight.
When I was at my heaviest, I still loved my booty and my calves. I have always loved my hands and slender fingers. I have pretty eyes.
Now that I am at goal, I love those things, but also like my legs now and my stomach is way better. I love my muscular, defined arms.
BUT...I STILL don't love every little thing about my body. Who does??
Losing this weight brought up a few minor issues that I really don't like. For example, I have always had horrible stretch marks all over my thighs and butt. No problem when I always kept them covered up! LOL but now that I like the shape of my legs, I shave more so I can wear shorts and a swim suit. Shaving over all these stretch arks makes me prone to ingrown hairs by all that scarring. So even though my shape is good, I can still feel yucky sometimes!
So make a list of what you DO like, and be realistic about what you hope you will look like after the weight loss. Many things will be much better! But a few might still not be what you dreamed of.
Last edited by ChickieChicks; 06-08-2012 at 02:51 PM.
Good observation. Being disgusted with one's physical state is one thing, but there has to be something that keeps one from giving up. The body needs to be treated with respect, and in my mind that respect comes out of love for the body. Not necessarily love for what is reflected in the mirror, but love for oneself. The mind and body are one.
I agree with you, I don't have one part of my body that I *love* (although my DH does). About the only part I'm not unhappy with is my calves. LOL. But that being said, I'm working on liking myself and hopefully that will cause me to respect myself enough to take care of my body better (i.e. eat better, exercise consistantly, etc)
I love my body. I love what it is capable of. I love what it allows me to do. I love that it is allowing me to undo what I've done to it. I love that it lets me push it. I love that it gets stronger. I love the muscle my body is building. I love the fat my body is losing. I love that it has allowed me to bear two children.
I do not love the way it looks, but it is allowing me to change that. But I love so many other things about it, so overall, I do love my body.
Our bodies are so much more than the way it looks. I think the trick to begin loving it is to start to love things about it that are beyond the aesthetics.
The body needs to be treated with respect, and in my mind that respect comes out of love for the body.
I do agree with this - to a point. I think BODY IMAGE and SELF IMAGE often get confused. They are not really the same thing at all. When I say "I hate my body" (in those occasional fits of fat-days) I am NOT hating "me" - the essence of who I am. I'm just hating my flabby thighs, poochy belly, and bat-wing arms. I still am WHO I AM, still witty, wise-cracking, passionate-about-life "me."
Quote:
The mind and body are one.
I do not agree with this - to a point It sounds more like philosophical touchy-feely new-agey craptastic yadda-yadda-yadda. The body can go on WITHOUT the mind (i.e. people who have mental disabilities, brain injuries, etc.) and the mind CAN go on without the body (i.e. people who are paralyzed from the neck down, etc.) It is much more preferable for the body and mind to work together as was intended by nature.
I do hate my body (some days). Some days I am quite impressed with my body. Some days I am blase about my body. Some days I figure "WTF, I'm just aging & these things are to be expected... can't stay young forever... why bother" etc, & blahblahblah.
But this is something that IS just as much "mental" as it is "physical" for me, because even when I was young, very firm, and quite thin (115) ... I STILL FELT FAT. One of life's conundrums I suppose.
I agree that it's disingenuous to say you love your body when you actually don't. I interpret the phrase in a broader sense: love YOURSELF now, and don't wait until you've hit your perfect weight to start living.
There are parts of my body that I don't like, but I try to avoid using the word 'hate'. I did this to myself, and my body is me. I am not just my mind. For me this is more of a self acceptance/awareness thing. Even when I lose all of the weight I'm not going to be a super model, I'm not going to be perfect and I'm sure there will always be things about myself that I don't like. So if I say that I love my body it's about loving myself. All of myself. I'm trying to keep these things connected and accept all of myself. Hey, I have to live with myself so we might as well get along.
I think it means love your body in that you should treat it well, not love the way it LOOKS
You know, I’ve never gotten the impression that it was meant that way, to be honest. I mean, I do appreciate my body. I appreciate that it works; I’m able to work out, hear, speak etc. But these are things everyone should appreciate, no? What I’m talking about here relates mainly to the weight loss journey, and tips/advice that I’ve seen. For instance, I’ve seen people say, if you don’t love your body now, you won’t love it at X weight. I quite disagree with that, I suppose.
But if it’s meant in the sense of, love your body and what it does for you, I can see the merit in that.
Love your body now....?
It sounds more like philosophical touchy-feely new-agey craptastic yadda-yadda-yadda. The body can go on WITHOUT the mind (i.e. people who have mental disabilities, brain injuries, etc.) and the mind CAN go on without the body (i.e. people who are paralyzed from the neck down, etc.) It is much more preferable for the body and mind to work together as was intended by nature. 
