Loving your body is hard in our fat-phobic, diet-obsessed world, but it is worth every ounce of effort that you put into it. It means accepting the diversity of human bodies and recognizing that no one should be discriminated against because of the shape of their skin. Loving your body means celebrating your uniqueness, your many abilities, and finally making friends with the mirror on the wall.
- Throw away the scale. Weigh yourself only when medically necessary. Even then, you can choose to ignore the number if you want.
- Reject fatism in yourself and in others. Recognize that healthy, beautiful bodies come in all shapes and sizes.
- Invest time and money in yourself rather than the diet industry. Spend your money on beautiful clothes, jewelry, haircuts, manicures and massages – not on diets.
- Surround yourself with size-friendly people. Choose friends, doctors, and therapists who accept you the way you are and support the lifestyle changes you want to make.
- Stand tall and proud. Straighten your stance – and feel energy, strength and confidence flow from your head to toes.
- Put your mind in touch with your body. To heighten your confidence and body awareness, look in to walking meditation, t’ai chi, yoga, or movement therapy.
- Clothe your body in beautiful, comfortable clothes that fit now. Search out stores and catalogs that cater to people of your size, shape and fashion sense.
- Join groups that promote size esteem. Look for local and national organizations that provide resources and support the natural diversity of sizes and shapes. On campus, join a group such as ESTEEM - Educating Students To Eliminate Eating Misconceptions - a peer education group dealing with such issues and more.
- Read magazines (like Grace or More) that feature large, fashionable women – in all kinds of clothes.
- Be patient with yourself. Old habits die hard and changes may take a while to become permanent fixtures in your thoughts and in your life.