I'm with kaplods on this. I grew up absolutely hating myself. My mind was filled with negative comments about myself. It was only when I told myself that it was not acceptable to hate myself was I able to do positive things for myself and lose weight. I don't let negative thoughts about myself exist. If they enter my mind, I push them away with positive thoughts.

I do love myself and believe I have to think about the positive and not dwell on the negative.

Also, are you intending to set a weight limit or jean size when you will love yourself? Anorexics can be 80 lbs and still not love themselves. Size should not dictate how you feel about yourself.

How about -"I love myself SO (not BUT), I want to lose weight so that I'm healthier."

They are two separate issues. You love yourself. You want to lose weight.


Aren't we always changing? Always looking to expand ourselves and grow? Always striving to be a better person? Hopefully there will never be a time where we feel we're *perfect* or have reached our absolute "peak". I hope to always learn and experience new things. So there is no waiting till I'm "done" with all that I want to do and accomplish, to first begin loving myself.

I love myself
 

For me...loving myself means accepting that I have an "issue" with food, body image, unhealthy lifestyle choices. I used to hate myself for those reasons. I disliked how I looked at 145lbs AND at 245lbs.

I recently tried to make peace with myself at 240+ lbs. I told myself I liked certain parts of my body. I have pretty eyes and really nices b***S. Am I happy with my whole body? No! My belly is revolting and my thighs make me nauseous. But I can recognize that I do have some redeeming qualities. Funny thing...those things I like at my size and weight, are the same body parts I liked when I was a size 10.

I don't think loving yourself has much to do with size. I hated myself at size 10. I can honestly say I like myself better now at my size and weight than I did 100 lbs ago. It's about accepting where you are and loving yourself, flaws and all.

This is how I feel. I am not losing weight because I hate myself I am losing weight because I care enough about me to try and be healthier so I can live longer and enjoy life more.

It is BECAUSE I love myself and life that I want to improve myself.

I love myself sometimes. I didn't love myself very much when I weighed 360 lbs. But then again I didn't love myself very much when I weighed 180 lbs either. My weight is a component of why I didn't love myself very much but it's not the whole reason. A large part of my problem was, I didn't allow myself to feel anything, good or bad, most of the time for the last twenty years, mostly due to the really horrible relationship I was in. And, as bad as that was, it was even worse when the relationship ended. It took me from August 2003 - August 2008 to really get over it to the point where I could start to move on. But I have now moved on, and continue to do so every day.

One thing I think is very different for me now is, I allow and encourage myself to have feelings and emotions, whether they are good or bad, happy or sad. And I am able to look back at who I was from 2003-2008--very depressed, quite unlovely and often unlovable--and I can truly say that I love her (me at 360 lbs).

It's harder to always love me now, but I am really trying. I don't think I've ever tried before. It's really hard. I think it's getting a bit easier every day though.

Hi Nina.. I used to struggle with this question too. I think that the way that it is put in the media can be confusing, and is intimidating. This idea that you have to love yourself first, before you can do anything about weight loss, can be a debilitating statement if we feel like we can't live up to it. I think a lot of people here have given you great advice, but I just wanted to add.. one way to make it less of an intimidating idea is to think of loving yourself as an ongoing action, rather than an emotion or state of mind. Loving yourself every day means treating yourself well, treating your mind and body with respect and care. This is something that fits right in with living a healthier lifestyle. :)

For me it's a matter of loving myself enough to know that I need to live a healthier life than this one.

At least for me, NOT loving one's self is how I got to this point. Some of us punish ourselves for not being worth the effort to be healthy. When we love ourselves, we will recognize that we deserve to be healthy; and that will enable us to feel better, physically and, hopefully, emotionally. Years of accepting the notion that we weren't worth much, left many of us not caring for ourselves physically as we needed to be. It doesn't make it any one else's fault but our own for accepting and acting on the notion; but we let it hurt us, nonetheless.

Ladies (and men), love yourselves enough to take as good care of yourselves as you would your closest family member or dearest friend.

Read Overcoming Overeating by Jane Hirshaman(spelling) It is my bible and it expains for people who diet,is pushnishing ourselves. If no one accepts of Who you are, that person got problems. It took me years that dieting does not work and just causes extra problems.

Invest in a mirror, start loving YOU.and lose weight naturally. I am prove since I lost 17 Lbs and am eating the foods I love.

Best wishes!!

Liliann:)