Most diets leave a person battling with hunger yet the most effective way to lose weight should not involve any struggle with hunger.

The body needs food to survive and one of the ways the body makes sure that it gets this fuel is through the feeling of hunger. For most people in developed countries, not having enough food is not a problem. Instead, people are more concerned with losing weight and controlling their eating. The body has a fine balance, however, and eating too little by ignoring hunger can lead to gaining weight rather than losing it. This is often what is behind the yo-yo pattern of weight loss and regaining typical of most dieters. Successful weight loss is not a matter of how little a person can eat, but how they balance their eating.

Not only does the body’s metabolism slow down if it’s not fed enough (leading to a body that stores fat readily and burns it more slowly), but ignoring hunger to the point of excess leads to out of control eating. Almost everyone has experienced the feeling of ravenous hunger at one time or another and its resulting feeding frenzy. A slower metabolism and overeating spell weight gain, not loss. Clearly, careful care of hunger is important in any plan for losing weight.

The mind is an important part of behavior change especially when it comes to the complicated task of losing weight.

Ten Mind Tools For Successful Weight Loss

1. Keep track of hunger - When the body needs fuel the brain will push you to eat. The hungrier you are, the stronger the push making it difficult to control eating if you wait too long to eat. A simple mind tool is to use a hunger scale from 0-5, with 0 being no hunger and 5 being extremely hungry to the point that you can’t focus on anything else. The trick is to try to eat early, when you first start feeling hungry (2) and not going beyond a 3. The sooner you eat when hungry the sooner you will be satisfied and the less you will eat.
2. Slow down eating - Fast eaters tend to consume more food. Focus on slowing down eating by savoring food – chew it thoroughly, focus on appreciating all the flavors of the food, involve all the senses in savoring the food such as noticing the textures, the colors and the smells as well as the taste. Swallow before taking another bite, take a sip of water between bites, and take the time to look around and “smell the roses.” Too many people gobble down food without taking the time to appreciate it. There are few things people do more often than eat so we might as well enjoy it.
3. Keep nutritious foods in stock at all times – In our hectic culture, if food isn’t easily accessible we’re not likely to eat it. If the accessible foods are junk foods, that’s what will be reached for first. Instead, have plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grain foods, and nutritious goodies available and the brain will go for those first instead of the junk
4. Brush teeth after eating - Brushing your teeth after eating eliminates the food taste from your mouth and the signals to the brain that encourage it to want to eat more. The fresh, minty taste from the toothpaste soon becomes a signal that the meal is over and you can go on to doing other things without urges for more food.
5. Think ahead when leaving the house - Consider whether you’ll be gone at meal time or when you’re likely to get hungry, and make a plan. Sometimes it means eating something before you go out or taking something for the road.
6. Don’t go to the grocery store hungry - It’s better to eat first or wait until after a meal when your brain will not be susceptible to the temptations.
7. Don’t try to eliminate favorite foods - This will only make you feel deprived and, sooner or later, the favorite food will be eaten anyway. This strategy only leads to compulsive eating of the same favorite foods that were being eliminated.
8. Never skip meals or go long periods without eating – These strategies only result in a slower metabolism and rabid hunger – both of which lead to weight gain.
9. Make health rather than weight loss the priority – If you strive for health, not weight, the weight will come off anyway, but you’ll find it to be an easier road.
10. Don’t take life too seriously - The more relaxed and happy a person is the easier it is for him to lose weight. Ironically, the more intensely a person tries to lose weight, the harder it will be.

By using the mind tools above and those from Ten Mind Tips for Losing Weight,the best foot is stepping forward toward health, weight loss, and fitness.

There are effective and simple ways to make the body burn more fat and boost metabolism.

Burning fat effectively requires an efficient metabolism (the calories required for the body to perform all the bodily functions, including burning fat). Most people know that metabolism is something that varies among individuals, but they think there is nothing that can be done about changing it.

“I have a slow metabolism,” is a statement that some people make as an explanation for the difficulty they have managing their weight. However, everyone can boost their metabolism! Problem is few people know the simple steps they can take to achieve it.

The Best Formula to Boost Metabolism

* Engage in Aerobic Exercise-Aerobic exercise is any exercise that uses oxygen efficiently and lasts for about 30 minutes. A person is exercising aerobically if they are breathing deeply during the exercise but able to have a comfortable conversation with someone at the same time. There should not be any gasping for air. While this type of exercise uses calories, the real benefit of aerobic exercise is what it does to boost metabolism after the exercise is over. Metabolism is increased above a person’s baseline after they have finished exercising and it gradually slows back down to baseline hours later. By exercising aerobically every day or most days during the week, metabolism is boosted time after time creating an average level of metabolism higher than the original baseline. The end result is a net boost in metabolism rate.
* Build Muscle-The more muscle a person has, the more calories it takes to maintain that muscle. Therefore, a person can achieve an increase in metabolism by building muscle. Muscle resistance exercise such as lifting weights is effective in building muscle.
* Eat Frequently-Each time a person eats, their metabolism is boosted temporarily. If a person eats 2000 calories in two meals one day and 2000 calories in 5 meals another day, all other things being equal, they will have burned more calories on the day they ate the 2000 calories in 5 meals. This is one reason why skipping meals is counterproductive to losing fat.
* Move Around-The more a person moves around generally in their lives – aside from formal exercise – the higher their metabolism. Two people may be watching a television show together but one is getting up during commercials to do something or is performing a task while watching while the other is just sitting the entire time. The active person is burning more. When it comes to boosting metabolism saving steps is not the smartest strategy.

Just as there are things people can do to boost their metabolism, there are things that can slow it down. Some of these things are usually done with the intent of becoming leaner but, in the long-run, have the opposite effect.

Things That Can Slow Metabolism

* Stringent Dieting-Typical diets that are too restrictive with calories can cause metabolism to slow down.
* Being Sedentary-If the body isn’t doing much it won’t take many calories to maintain the inactive lifestyle. This results in a slower metabolism.
* Losing muscle mass-This can happen because of strict dieting, a lack of exercise and/or inactivity.
* Skipping meals, fasting, or going long periods without eating-When the body isn’t fed properly it has to do whatever it takes to survive. One of the things it can do is to lower its metabolism to save calories for more important functions until the danger is over.
* Yo-yo dieting-This type of “feast-to-famine” approach to managing weight is also counterproductive and can lower metabolism.

A person could inadvertently lower their metabolism instead of increasing it based on the choices they make. The best formula for boosting metabolism involves exercising and eating in the right ways.

Copyright Lavinia Rodriguez. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.

People tend to expect things from themselves they’d never expect from a family member or a friend. We can accept our loved ones and friends, regardless of what they look like. Yet, too many people don’t think twice about rejecting themselves for their own appearance.

Here’s an exercise I use with my clients: Picture your child or yourself as a child. Now say the things to that child that you repeatedly tell yourself about your weight and appearance. How do you imagine that child would feel? What would she think? How motivated would she be to change?

Would you say these things to a child you love: “You’re a fat pig. What’s the matter with you? You have no self-control. Why would anyone want to be with you the way you look?”

No, neither would my clients. When they think of their own children or other loved ones, they love them for who they are. They list what they love about them without hesitation. Yet, they don’t treat themselves with the same respect and love. Why is that?

Treasured imperfections

No rational person thinks the laws of physics apply to everyone in the world – except themselves.

Yet perfectly intelligent people forget that even when applied to oneself, the “laws of life” are consistent. Praise, reward, encouragement, kindness and compassion motivate. Rejection, criticism, cruelty and general negativity do not.

And here’s another puzzle: How can it be that another person’s imperfections are endearing? Do you remember the hanging skin on Grandma’s arms, or the fact that those arms were always open to you? Maybe thinking about Dad’s bowed legs brings up feelings of affection for him. You might have inherited his legs. Do you feel the same affection toward yourself that you feel when thinking of Dad’s legs? Why not?

One of the psychological barriers to successful weight loss is how we treat ourselves, and what we expect from ourselves. If the expectations are overwhelming it becomes extremely difficult to succeed. Many people come to me saying things like:

• “I can’t accept myself until I get all the weight off.”

• “I hate myself. I’m so fat.”

• “Look at my thighs! They’re huge. I’m gross.”

Would you say these things to anyone you love:

• “I can’t accept you until you get all the weight off.”

• “I hate you. You’re so fat.”

• “Look at your thighs! They’re huge. You’re gross.”

Then why would we think that treating ourselves like this would do any good? Rigid expectations lead to negative consequences. Weight-loss programs coupled with these types of statements don’t last long, and willpower has nothing to do with it.

Changing expectations

If this sounds familiar, here are some tips to try:

• Lower expectations to levels that make sense, such as, “I’m going to work at increasing my activity level gradually until I’m doing something active on a daily basis.”

• Praise all efforts along the way. “Wow. I got my exercise clothes on today and took a little walk. That’s more than I’ve done in months. That’s great!”

• Be a problem-solver, not a critic. “Well, it seems that my planning today didn’t allow enough time to shop for a nutritious meal. What can I do to prevent this next time?”

• Be accepting on a daily basis. “I’m doing this to change what I can realistically change and accept what I can’t. I may not be perfect, but no one is. I’m pretty swell just the way I am.”

Even if it feels awkward at first, practice becoming your own biggest fan. Cheer for yourself, with goals that make sense and are achievable. You’ll love yourself for it.

By Lavinia Rodriguez
Printed in St. Petersburg Times July 31, 2010

How a person uses her brain can be the difference between success or failure with any challenge, but especially with weight loss.

A positive thinker achieves more success in life than a negative thinker. This is especially true with weight loss and fitness. Most people aren’t aware of how much their thinking affects their feelings and behavior. It’s easy, however, to learn what thoughts are getting in the way of intentions to lose weight – they’re “negative thoughts”.

Negative thoughts are typically ones that are critical and illogical. For someone to say that she can’t do anything right just because she ate more than she planned is an example of a thought that is illogical. Where is the logic that just because of one event the person can’t do anything right? This type of all-or-nothing and punishing thinking only causes a person to make more mistakes, not less.

So it’s wise to become closely acquainted with thought patterns and statements frequently used in response to behaviors and events. The more relaxed and motivated a person feels the easier it is to follow through with what needs to be done to achieve a healthy weight. It’s positive thoughts, not negative thoughts, that lead to motivation.

How to Become Aware of Negative Thoughts That Interfere with Weight Loss

1. Make a decision to listen to the things that you say to yourself.
2. When feeling a negative emotion such as guilt, anger, or anxiety ask yourself, “What did I just say to myself about this situation?” Most likely you said something negative to yourself that led to that negative feeling. For example, you might be feeling badly after having overeaten. The thoughts preceding this feeling might have been something like, “I can’t believe you failed again. You can’t do anything right. I just know I’ll probably gain weight from this.” It’s easy to see how this type of thinking can lead to negative feelings of frustration, guilt, and a lower self-esteem.
3. Point out to yourself how the thoughts, not the situation, have lead to the feelings and ask yourself, “Is thinking like this going to help or hurt me in my attempts to lose weight?” It’s logical that this negative way of thinking can hurt goals to lose weight.
4. Now think about what thoughts would be more helpful considering the situation. The thoughts might sound something like this, “I overate but it’s not the end of the world. Let me look at what might have caused my overeating so that I can prevent it next time. It looks like I went too long without eating anything and I was too hungry. That lead to the overeating. Let me learn from my mistake and continue on. No one does this perfectly. I want to focus more on what I’ve done well instead of what hasn’t gone well.”
5. Use a journal to write down negative thoughts in order to become more aware of them and then immediately write down the more positive and rational thoughts. Writing down thoughts initially keeps the brain from being distracted so that we can learn more quickly. By being consistent with working on thoughts people can change their normal thinking patterns to ones that will help at losing weight.

Thoughts That Get in the Way of Losing Weight

Here are some typical thoughts that can get in the way of losing weight:

• “I messed up again. What’s the use! I might as well forget the whole thing.”
• “I can’t believe I ate that. I can never do anything right!”
• “I ate too much. I might as well finish the whole thing.”
• “I can’t believe I didn’t lose weight this week. I’m never going to lose it.”

Losing weight isn’t just about eating less. It’s also about thinking the right way.

Weight-loss talk is heard too often these days. If there’s a new fad diet going around, you hear about it and its so-called “successes.” • Weight-loss success ought to be defined not by how much weight has been lost, but by how long the weight loss is maintained. • People who have had long-term success with weight seem to be relatively quiet. You don’t usually hear, “I’m going on 10 years of managing my weight successfully,” or “I haven’t binged in 15 years!” • There are plenty of weight-loss myths that get in the way of weight-loss success. Here are some real-life examples, with names changed to protect patient privacy:

Myth 1: The Less You Eat, the More You Lose

Jeanie walked into my office sharing her frustration at a life filled with one diet after another. “I’ve tried every diet,” she told me. “You name it, I’ve tried it.” It quickly became clear that Jeanie subscribed to the myth that you have to keep eating less in order to lose more. Her diets became more restrictive through time. After years of such diets, her body had compensated for her starvation attempts by slowing its metabolism, making it more difficult for her body to burn fat and easier for it to store it. Without her realizing it, Jeanie’s diets were contributing to her weight problem.

With education, Jeanie was able to restructure her thinking and behavior. She started to eat more often, stopped skipping meals, and avoided long periods without eating. She focused on nutritious meals that were satisfying, preventing extreme hunger and feelings of deprivation.

She learned to allow time for her body to start burning more again. After all, she had been abusing it for a long time. Those kinds of physiological changes don’t happen overnight.

Once Jeanie understood how her body worked, she was able to give up the belief that the less you eat the more you lose. Then she started to gradually lose weight. By being consistent she made these changes part of her lifestyle and was able to manage her weight successfully.

Myth 2: If You Have a Busy Life, That’s Exercise

George was a busy guy. His work kept him on the move. Through the years, his body had put on an unattractive spare tire. “I don’t understand it,” he said. “I’m busy all the time at work. Why can’t I lose weight?”

George had confused busyness with fat-burning exercise. The type of exercise that burns fat is sustained activity that gets the heart pumping, creates deep but relaxed breathing, and lasts 30 minutes or more. Most of the busyness that George thought should be fat-burning exercise was stop-and-go activity.

George decided get up a half-hour earlier to get a run in each day. He started out slowly and worked up to running 30 minutes at a time. In addition, he used the run to decompress from the stress of work. Gradually, George’s body started to show the fat loss he was looking for.

Myth 3: Carbs Make You Fat

Leni was a believer in the no-carb craze. She was proud that carbs never touched her lips. Never, that is, except when she binged on carbs several nights per week. “Why can’t I control my eating?” she said. “I know I shouldn’t eat carbs, but I lose control!”

Leni didn’t realize that the reason she was bingeing was precisely because she was trying to eliminate carbs. Although some carbs are not very nutritious, they don’t, in and of themselves, make you fat. If they did, all people who eat bread and pasta would be fat.

Leni loved carbs. Her stringent rule of no carbs was actually causing her to lose control by making her feel deprived. This psychological deprivation made her preoccupied with carbs. It’s no wonder she lost control. Once she understood why she was bingeing, Leni was able to work on letting go of her rigid expectations, eat high-quality carbs and feel satisfied. Gradually, she regained natural control of eating, the binges stopped and she lost weight permanently.

• • •

There are ways to lose weight, but only a logical approach will keep it off. It pays to take the time to be honest with yourself about approaches that are only perpetuating the problem and start down the right road to a life of leanness. Even if the weight loss is slower, it’s not nearly as frustrating as losing and regaining the weight again and again.

Previously published in The St. Petersburg Times July 17, 2010

Americans like to eat out a lot. Unfortunately, eating out can get in the way of managing our weight. There are ways, however, to lessen its caloric impact.

Eating out can be fun and flavorful but it can also be fattening. Restaurants are businesses so they are concerned with the bottom line . One of the ways that restaurants get people to return is to make the food irresistibly flavorful. How do they do this? By enhancing the flavor with fat and spices (mostly salt). Fat and salt are inexpensive ways of making food tasty.

When we eat out we have no idea of how much fat, salt, and other ingredients are in the food. We just know whether we like the taste or not. For example, we see that we’re eating chicken but we don’t know how many calories, fat, or salt we’re eating. What we think is a normal meal may prove to be the reason we are frustrated with our weight gain next week.

Restaurant Portions

Another method that restaurants have used to get us to return is by serving extremely large portions. It’s not unusual today to be served enough for four people. Because it’s on our plate we have a tendency to think that it must be a serving for one person, but don’t be fooled – it could be enough for four people.

Frequency of Eating Out and Weight

Americans do like eating out frequently. With our fast-paced lifestyles, some people eat out more than they cook at home. That’s unfortunate because the more we eat out, the harder it is to manage weight.

How to Out-Smart Restaurants

How can we still have fun eating out without ruining our goals for fitness?

• Gradually reduce the number of times that you eat out and replace with quality meals at home.
• Don’t starve yourself all day to compensate for the meal out later. It will make you hungrier and will cause overeating. Eat enough to satisfy during the day but pick foods that are high in nutrition and fiber, and low in fat.
• Reduce or eliminate how much alcohol you drink when eating out as the effects of alcohol will only cause you to eat more and will add more calories.
• Ask for a “doggy bag” at the start of the meal and save part of the meal to have the next day.
• Eliminate the extras such as appetizers and desserts. These only make your “four-person meal” more like a “six person meal.” If you really want the appetizer or dessert then forgo the entree. Decide which is most important to you.

How to Handle Menu Choices

If you’ve done your job of not being too hungry or inebriated when you’re looking at the menu, it should be easy to choose a healthier meal. Here are steps to take:

1. Decide which meal you would really like.
2. Look for the most nutritious (more fiber, more vitamins, less fat, less salt) meal on the menu.
3. Ask yourself if you’d be satisfied with #2. If yes, then order it. If no, go to #4
4. Look for a meal that resembles your first choice but is more nutritious. Ask yourself if you would be satisfied with that choice. If yes, order it. If no, go to #5.
5. If you feel you won’t be satisfied with any of the alternate choices go back to choice #1. Now look for ways to make this meal more nutritious. For example, ask for meat to be baked or grilled instead of fried or saucy, ask for a lower fat vegetable, and don’t put butter on your bread.

It’s easy to gain weight from eating out. The smart ones learn to manage it well.

How to Eat Healthy Food Without Measuring, Weighing, or Counting

Diets that involve rigid measuring, weighing or counting never last. But there are simple and fun ways of improving nutrition without becoming a scholar on the subject.

Who wants to be bothered with studying up on nutrition to eat better or lose weight? Learning about vitamins and minerals, number of servings, and what food qualities affect what body functions can get tedious and boring.

Isn’t There an Easy Way to Improve Nutrition?

You don’t have to be a nutritionist or a biologist to improve your nutrition. All you have to do is:

1. Want to eat better.
2. Understand that learning to eat better is a process and needs to be done one step at a time.
3. Strive for continual improvement rather than perfection.
4. Be willing to experiment.

The 1-2-3′s of Better Nutrition

• One: Food Groups

The first thing to do to improve nutritional intake is to have a general knowledge of food groups. Most people are familiar with what these are:

• Protein/Meat Group-foods such as meats, eggs, beans
• Fruit/Vegetable Group-all fruits and vegetables
• Grains/Cereals Group-breads, pasta, cereals

Although the particular food groups differ depending upon the source, concentrating on the three basic food groups above will get you started in a good direction and keep you from feeling overwhelmed about how much to know. Remember it’s about increasing nutrition, not about perfection. Later, if you wish to learn more and continue to consume higher quality foods you can get into more details. For now, keep it simple. The psychology of change is important to success.

• Two: Color

The most nutritious foods have bright colors. Instead of boring ourselves with what vitamins and minerals are in different foods all we have to do is focus on color in the following ways:

1. Look for foods that have bright colors such as green, yellow, red, orange, and black. Fruits and vegetables are the most colorful foods.
2. Strive to make your plate colorful. A plate that has mainly beige and brown foods is not what we’re looking for. Make it look like a beautiful color wheel.
3. As you approach each meal ask yourself, “What colors have I eaten today? What colors am I missing?”
4. Strive to have a meal where most of the plate is composed of bright-colored foods.

By following the above, your nutrition will improve significantly and you will have had fun doing it. It’s that easy.

• Three: The Comfort Group

These are the foods that give you warm fuzzies – your favorite foods. It’s important to include comfort foods in any eating program as trying to eliminate them completely makes it more difficult to succeed at your goal. It’s one of the main reasons most diets are broken sooner or later. However, the focus here should be to see how your comfort foods can be made more nutritious. For example, if your comfort food is ice cream perhaps you can add colorful berries to add more nutrition and fiber. Experiment with your favorite cookie recipe to see what can be added or eliminated to add nutrition and still keep the flavor. Don’t eliminate these foods – just make them more nutritious.

Finally, experiment with different recipes to see if you can find ways to eat those nutritious foods you don’t like by disguising their flavor with other tastes. Sometimes mixing foods you don’t like with those you like a lot will make the whole dish taste good. Chopping less liked foods into tiny pieces to mix with other foods, also can be tried. Just don’t give up on something nutritious just because you feel you don’t like it. If nothing makes a disliked food taste good don’t eat it, but search for the same color elsewhere. It’s about making nutrition easy and fun.

Disclaimer: The above tips do not replace the advise of your health care professional. Consult with your doctor.

What are the Most Effective Cellulite Control Methods?

It’s a fact – there is no cure for cellulite. However, there are proven ways of cellulite control that are realistic and won’t break the bank.

Cellulite is nothing more than fat under the skin which tends to look like cottage cheese primarily on the thighs and butt. There is no other substance feared and hated more by women. The desire to get rid of it is so strong that women will go to great financial and risk-taking lengths to be free of it. Billions are spent on products and treatment methods promising to make it disappear. Some of these products sound logical and others are down-right silly, but none of these get rid of cellulite. That’s the sad truth.

Since there is so much money to be made from products promising to get rid of cellulite, Americans will continue to be bombarded by advertisements pushing ineffective products and treatments. It’s up to the consumer to educate herself and not be vulnerable to such scams. The good news, however, is that by becoming an educated consumer there will no longer be wasted time trying things that don’t work. The time will be spent using effective methods of controlling the appearance of cellulite.

If Cellulite is Just Fat Why Does It Look Lumpy in Some Places and Not in Others?

Areas of the body where more fat tends to be deposited and where skin is thinner are where the fat will take on the appearance of cottage cheese. That is why it tends to appear mainly on thighs, butt, and stomach.

There are several factors that influence whether you will get cellulite or not. They are:

• Gender-More women than men get cellulite.
• Genetics-It tends to run in families.
• Fat-The more fat on the body overall, the more likely cellulite will show.
• Skin Thickness-The thinner the skin the more cellulite will show. Women and certain ethnic groups, in general, have thinner skin than others and are more prone to showing cellulite.
• Age-The older you get the more likely that cellulite will appear. This has to do with changes in the thickness of the skin as we age.

What are Some Ineffective Products and Treatments for Cellulite?

The numbers of products that are sold as cellulite treatments are numerous but here are a few:

• Massage-the argument is that cellulite is caused by poor circulation and massage will improve circulation.
• Topical creams-meant to “dissolve” cellulite.
• Vitamins, minerals and herbs
• Body wraps
• Spa treatments

Some products may give a temporary appearance of improvement due to plumping of the skin rather than an actual decrease in cellulite.

Neither liposuction nor Smartlipo is approved by the FDA for getting rid of cellulite. Despite any advertising or anecdotal claims to the contrary, there is no good science demonstrating that these expensive procedures are effective with getting rid of cellulite. To date, most doctors (including plastic surgeons) still recommend getting fit as the most effective way to control cellulite.

What are the Most Effective Ways to Control Cellulite?

Get fit. Gradually reduce overall fat, increase muscle mass through strength training, drink plenty of water, and eat healthily. It’s an inexpensive method and it doesn’t waste your time. There’s no magical cure for cellulite but by doing what works, you’ll also achieve other health and appearance benefits.

The Psychological Approach to Dealing with Cellulite

• Accept that cellulite is just fat.
• Think about the factors such as age, gender, and heredity that may be involved in your problem with cellulite.
• Learn how to best lose overall fat and tone muscles so that you can reduce cellulite in a direct way.
• When you’ve done all you can do sensibly, move on with life. Keep working on getting fit and have fun. Don’t let cellulite get in your way.

© 2009 Lavinia Rodriguez

Warning Signs of Body Image Distortion

There are people who insist that they are overweight when others continually tell them that they’re not. They see fat where others don’t. Who’s right?

Everyone distorts her body size to some extent. After all, people can only look at themselves from within or through a mirror. They can never see themselves from the perspective of someone else. Having some body image distortion is normal.

However, there are some people who distort their body size to such a degree that it is considered abnormal. For example, an anorexic patient weighing 77 pounds might view herself as obese in the mirror to the astonishment of those around her. This, of course, is the extreme; but generally when someone sees her body size as significantly different from how others see her body it is an indication of a body image distortion disorder.

Some Characteristics of People with Body Image Distortion

People with abnormal body image distortions tend to be:

• people with low self-esteem
• people who are perfectionists
• men in sports with weight requirements such as jockeys and wrestlers
• people with eating disorders
• people who have had a significant person in their lives who continually criticized them about their size

Warning Signs of Body Image Distortion

• No matter how much weight you lose, you still view your body as unacceptable or too big.
• People describe your size in a significantly different way than you do.
• You have difficulty accepting compliments about how good you look or how thin you are.
• You feel large/fatter on days when you are upset, and smaller/thinner on days when you feel good.
• You feel significantly heavier or thinner from day to day, although realistically you know your body couldn’t have changed drastically overnight.
• After feeling fine emotionally and physically during part of a day, something goes wrong and you react by suddenly feeling fat and or unattractive.

Steps to Recovering From Body Image Distortion

Although it is difficult and time-consuming it is possible for a body image distortion to normalize. Here are some essential steps in achieving recovery:

1. Learn to accept that you are distorting based on the overwhelming evidence coming from the outside world who views your body more realistically than you do.
2. Decide that you’re going to trust other people (the world in general – not a single person) more than yourself when it comes to how big your body is since they are more accurate than you are at it.
3. Work on accepting that although you perceive yourself and feel fat, it is not true because there is too much evidence to the contrary.
4. Remind yourself at every instance that it’s impossible to suddenly be fatter than you were a few moments ago so it has to be a distortion.
5. Use self-talk to keep reminding yourself that the distortion will change as you learn to accept yourself unconditionally and trust that the problem has nothing to do with the size of your body.
6. Focus on other things in life that bring enjoyment and activity.
7. Dare to do the opposite of what your mind is telling you. If your mind is telling you to not go out because you are fat, purposely go out. If it says not to wear something because you’re too fat, purposely wear it.
8. Trust that you can get past this and recover. Life is meant to be enjoyed not to be miserable about your body.
9. Get a life apart from your body size.
10. Leave the past behind.

A body image distortion gets in the way of a person’s happiness and is a serious problem. It is not unusual to need help dealing with it. Professional help is best if you’re not able to follow the steps mentioned above on your own. There is life after a body image distortion – a happy one.

Previously published in www.Suite101.com June 19, 2009