I seem to have a continuous thought loop playing in my head that says 'I am embarrassed about my weight'; so, I would like to know how I can stop this already!!!

I haven't a clue. I still struggle with my own self esteem and self image but wanted to give ya a big

The mind has a tendency to repeat, and most of the time this tendency overrides our ability to think or behave in a new way (Freud even spoke about this, 100 years ago).

If you really feel that what your thinking is damaging to you, then you could go see a behavioral psychologist - while I am certainly no expert, I think that they have developed certain methods to transform the negative self-talk into something more positive.

If you don't have money to go see a psychologist, then you could start researching different ways to improve your problem - for example, when the thought comes into your head, don't 'resist' the thought, let it happen, "I am embarrassed about my weight" Then, follow that thought up immediately - slightly altered, such as "I am a good person, and I am doing my best to become healthy". This could be a step in altering your overwhelming, negative thought problem. Of course, it will not go away overnight, it would be a new thought pattern that would have to develop and ingrain itself in your stream of consciousness.

Another way could be to change your environment. Try to be around others that stimulate you to think about things outside of yourself or try to read books and magazines that make you think about other issues. This would not stop the thought, but it would make it much more less prevalent. You would be distracting yourself from the negative thought.

Of course, this is all speculation - I have read a lot in the history of psychology and philosophy, but I don't know current practices. But it is clear, you need to change something so that you can enjoy your life more and not have this damaging thought constantly roaming through your head.

a q that came to my mind, is are you getting reinforcement of that from people around you? parents? loved ones? co-workers? the environment you're in?

I think exercise could help. maybe developing a focus on activities outside of the realm of your body and weight loss. and it's good you're aware you have that loop of thought, you can work on stopping it and replacing it. I'm sure you have things about your body and self you like.

whenever I feel ugly or something I look in the mirror and I tell myself one to five things i love about myself. It's hard because sometimes I do want to weigh myself down with negative thoughts, but I look at the positive and it helps.

I've struggled with the same thing. One thing I try to remind myself is how I dealt with it when I was pregnant (3 years ago). It dawned on me that I didn't want to be having those negative thoughts about myself while my child was inside of me. I didn't want to look in the mirror and hate part of myself... So, I had to find a way to look in the mirror and love myself. That was the message I wanted carried to her. I focused on the positive, as Mickeypnd said. And I also focused on appreciating my body for the amazing thing it was doing. Not being pregnant, I have to think about appreciating my body for the strength it gives me to live and walk and play with my daughter...
it certainly isn't always easy.
And actually, writing to you has given me a good and timely reminder.

So, thank you!

I hope you find the way out of your loop!
Just own this body and change it in a healthy way. Be proud of yourself for doing this.
i don't know how old you are, but it got better as I got older. So many people struggle with this and if you're doing something about it, you're part of a community that understands.

take care,
teresa

Being embarrassed about my weight is a big part of why I want to lose it.

If I wasn't embarrassed about it, I'd just go right on stuffing my pie-hole until I was as big as a house.

this is what I do

I'm sure there are SO many of us that have negative self talk going on. I still do. You would think I'd just celebrate my successes, but instead I am usually just so hard on myself. I hear that voice in my head saying "Well, you are never going to be perfect!" or "look at that cellulite!" or worst of all "You are probably going to gain it back eventually!". I really try to be positive, but those thoughts do cross my mind more often than I want to admit.

You have to ask yourself "would I say this to my very best friend?"....chances are what we say to ourselves we wouldn't imagine saying it to a best friend. You need to be your own best friend

Great posts. While in denial I rarely thought about my weight, and the negative thoughts, while trying to "face up" I found I was allowing a lot of negativity in my thought about myself, and don't want to go that route. Was very small earlier in life going that route, but also wasn't happy. Nice to see these posts and how others deal with it. I haven't made much progress, yet, on the scale anyway, and am working on not beating myself up for not reaching goals. Thanks

Have you seen this video, I hope this is the correct link as I cannot get on YouTube at work, if it doesn't go to You Tube and type in Jessica's Affirmations

Little Jessica's Daily Affirmations

This is what I give you to beat those self defeating thoughts, keep your chin up!