It was one of those ‘aha moments.’ I was walking around the cabin thinking about what I could munch on. I was not hungry, but I was feeling something. Rather than address the feeling I was immediately looking for something to distract me from the feeling. For many people struggling with excess weight, that “something” is food. Rather than address the real problem, we compound the problem by eating food the body does not need, which gets stored as excess fat.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOURSELF?

How you treat or care for yourself reflects how you feel about yourself. Think about something you value dearly. What do you do? You take excellent care of that thing. My question then is, “Are you taking excellent care of yourself?” EXAMINE YOUR STORY about yourself.

1. What do you consistently tell yourself daily?
2. What do you think about yourself all the time?
3. How do you feel about yourself on a daily basis?
4. Are you constantly comparing or judging yourself?
5. What do you believe about yourself every day?
6. When was the last time you said, “I unconditionally accept me as I am”?

BELIEVING THAT YOU ARE NOT ENOUGH

You can push yourself mercilessly and can certainly be unloving to yourself. If you believe that no matter what you do you will never be enough, you will more than likely stop trying. You will give up on caring properly for yourself and the end result is that you will develop physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, and even financial problems. Many of us forget that we cannot separate our minds from our bodies. The body is a canvas that displays to the world what is going on internally. If the conversation you are having with yourself daily is unloving, your body will reflect that. It may not be apparent immediately; however, over time, you will not be able to hide your dissatisfaction or unhappiness with yourself.

YOUR EXPECTATIONS ARE UNREALISTIC

If you are a perfectionist this may be the issue; however, you do not have to be a perfectionist to have unrealistic expectations of yourself. Let us take a mother, she expects to be there for her children, to take care of them, and protect them from harm. What happens if harm befalls her children? She will believe and think that she is an unfit mother. Then she will create feelings of guilt and shame based on her unrealistic expectations. No mother can protect their children from 100% of the terrible things in life. To expect that you can is unrealistic and puts unnecessary stress, guilt, or shame on your shoulders.

DO THIS INSTEAD OF MISTREATING YOURSELF

There are so many ways we can treat ourselves poorly. Some of the more common ways are overindulging in food, alcohol, illicit drugs, work, gambling, shopping, negative self-talk, or unhealthy relationships. They all come at an excessive cost to our TOTAL HEALTH.

1. Recognize you are being unrealistic
2. Accept that you are human and imperfect
3. Know your limitations as a human being
4. Love yourself unconditionally as you are
5. Forgive yourself and let go of the unnecessary burden of guilt and shame
6. Take it to God in prayer to heal your heart and renew your mind

OUR BELIEFS IMPACT HOW WE FEEL

If you believe you are a failure, worthless, not deserving, not capable, not worthy, not valuable, not fit for anything, ugly, not lovable, or add whatever negative beliefs you have swirling around in your head constantly or the minute you get squeezed, then it is not surprising that you are now spiritually, emotionally, mentally, physically or financially unhealthy. Remember this, you are fearfully and wonderfully made, created for an amazing purpose, and loved unconditionally.