With or without extra weight, feeling good about yourself is all a state of mind. There is no magical weight at which someone who doesn't like her appearance suddenly starts loving it; that feeling of acceptance and eventual love of self comes gradually and with work.
It's like fractal geometry. Every part of a fractal contains smaller versions of the same pattern within it. If you're dissatisfied with your body on a large scale, you can shrink your body down and you'll still be left with the same pattern of dissatisfaction, discomfort, or even dislike. Love yourself now, at any weight, and you'll be set for life.
Some of the things that make me feel good when I'm down:
- Looking at images of gorgeous big people
- Banishing "Vogue," "Cosmopolitan," and anything else full of Photoshop from my sight
- Treating myself well
- Doing something that plays up a feature I like (a new manicure, for example)
- Trying on the clothes that used to be tight on me, but now feel loose
- Doing some yoga
- Going for a walk
And remember that you're going to feel a lot better about yourself DURING your weight loss, too, not just once you're finished losing all that you want to lose. Even at my biggest weight, I felt sexy; twenty pounds in, I really felt awesome, and now that I'm forty pounds down, I am freakin'
gorgeous. I won't be able to stand myself at 150 if I feel this great at 190ish.