My therapist from Tampa wrote a book about her overweight problem, the tittle of the book is "M.I.N.D. over weight How to stay slim the rest of your life" Yesterday I was looking for a book for the small thesis that I'm doing and I found it, I have totally forgot about it and I started reading it and found some notes that I underline that I want to share with you!


".....you first have to understand that your body is a reflection of your own unique self-image, that is, your concept of yourself. It mirrors in a real way your ideas about what you are and who you are as a person.

Just as you have opinions about other people, you have opinions about yourself. Think of your self image as being your opinion of yourself. You may not be consciously aware of it, but it's there nonetheless. This image is constantly with you, like a photograph.... You behave according to it. You feel things b/c of it. It determines how you look, how you act, how you see your life, and your ability to make a success of it....

Self image is not merely a surface concept.It is deeply embedded in your mind..... It took its shape from all the beliefs that took root and grew during your earliest years.... many of this beliefs came from people who were closest to you-your family, your friends, your teacher, etc. Eventually, all of these beliefs became your own... Your self image is the sum total of all these beliefs....

....Your beliefs are that powerful. That deep rooted.( note appart: she was making an example of the roots of a tree and how deeply the roots can go in the earth ...) However, they are only as strong as your desire to change them. You have the ability to change your beliefs whenever you want to, just as you have the ability to dig into the earth surrounding the tree in our analogy to find the blocked root that caused the dead limb. Similarly, you have the ability to dig deeper into your mind-deeper than you ever thought you could- to find the faulty belief that's causing your overweight self image. If you remove the faulty belief that you'll always be an overweight person -freeing you to believe that you really can be thin-you'll begin to adopt a healthier attitude toward food. You'll stop eating compulsively.You'll start to feel better and look better. You'll be in control of your mind, your body and your weight."

---- Then she start giving some excercise for your mind to help you change your way of thinking. It's a very interesting book. I can't believe that I just forgot about it!

Well, girls, hope that this words help someone in something the same way that is going to help me! We can do this!!!

Milca - Wow - How powerful is that!!! and sooo sooo true - I've never had a great self image and it all stems from the way my Daddy and Brother talked about me and my weight. My brother always made fun of me. My brother always made fun of me - calling me Hefer instead of Heather - so needlesss to say - the sadness drove me to eating more junk. I was always athletic - but still always the bigger one!! But now - due to committing to working out and eating right - my image is soooo much better. I'm so much more confident in myself. I think the "fat girl" image will always be in there "rooted" like that tree - but hopefully I can keep it buried and it will eventually disentegrate!!!

Thanks Milca - great post

Milca, thanks for the post! It is all soooo true. My first "real" boyfriend ruined my self-image. He was totally possessive but I was 14 and too you and naive to know it. After we started dating, we went skating with a bunch of his friends and after we left I asked him what his friends thought of me. He said they thought you were cute, but your butt is big! Looking back on it now, I could just shoot him! But at the time, I believed it...and the stories go on and on...

I meant too young, not too you...

Milca - great article - Thanks!!
Very timely, yesterday I was wearing an old pair of pants that were big and unflattering. That on top of eating too much roast beef and voila.....I felt 40lbs heavier again.
I is sad how hard it is to shake the 'heavy person' image of yourself
One day at a time I guess.

-S

Girls:
I am very happy that this article help you in something... My grandmother is the one that always have to point the fact that I'm overweight, not only me, everyone in our family that is overweight she said it straight to their face, in that area she's very rude, that grew up on me too, like it is a "sin" to be overweight, like I'm not normal, or that I'm different. When I was 19 years old I lost a lot of weight, I weighed 133 lbs. and I'm 5'6'' tall, but in the mirror I never, ever saw a skinny person, I allways saw an overweight woman, even my family, friends, everybody that just knew me told me that I was skinny and even asked me if I was sick, but I couldn't see it, now I know why, and is not gonna happen again, not this time!!!

Milca, that article was a lot of food for thought (no pun intended... )

For me, I was a tall kid -- 5'8" when I was 12. I was not heavy then, but being tall, hitting puberty, and not being overly active led me to gain some weight. I was by no means overweight then, but compared to the stick-figure girls at that age (who let's face it, are basically child bodies, but I was further developed), I looked GINORMOUS. I can remember in junior high school sitting in class in front of some really hateful boys and having them tell me how fat and disgusting I was. It really rocked my confidence -- if I was being told I was fat, then I began to believe it, and soon I was not at a healthy weight. I had no one to teach me how to eat right and a mother who grew up poor and felt "well-off" if the fridge and cupboards were stocked to the hilt with food (bad food, at that).

Anyway, not to go into my whole boring life story, but that article was really, really good. I think it's time all of us started believing that we are desirable, that we are valuable, and that we are beautiful!!!

Amen Christie!

So true - so very true - I'm glad you typed that out though - maybe I can remember that!!!