1.
Accepting your body will allow you
to enjoy your holiday.
If your holiday is only a few days or
weeks away, there is very little you
can do about your weight before you
go. It doesn’t matter how much you
abhor your stomach, a few weeks of
weight loss will not change its shape
significantly. The only thing you can
alter in the brief time that you have
before you go away is how you relate
to your body. You can choose to spend
your holiday hating your tummy and
allowing your thoughts about it to
make you miserable or you can decide
to accept it as it is.
Instinctively, you may be
railing against this idea of choice –
feeling like such a choice is beyond
your control. But you do have the
choice to approach your body
differently. Like most of us, you
have probably allowed yourself to
accept an idealised version of the
human body, created by a powerful
advertising industry, and have used
this image to judge yourself. You
can choose to continue to do this,
thereby continuing to make yourself
unhappy, or you can drop these
comparisons and learn to appreciate
your own unique body. If you can
opt for the latter approach, you will
give yourself much more space to
appreciate the people and places
around you, which will increase
the likelihood that your holiday is a
positive experience.
2.
Accepting your body is the route
to sustained weight loss.
If you’re significantly overweight,
if you’re at risk of diabetes or heart
disease, if your knees hurt when you
walk and you cannot climb a flight
of stairs without panting for breath,
you would be wise to start looking
after your health. Since it is intuitive
for you to care for that which you
love (think of how much more you
give to your children compared to
your acquaintances), the natural
extension of developing a more
positive relationship with your body
is that you feel more inclined to look
after it.
Increasingly, you will want to eat
healthier, tastier food and you will be
more disposed towards moving your
body in a way that leaves you feeling
energetic and positive. In an unforced
manner, you will tend towards living
more healthily before your holiday
and this will continue throughout your
holiday and beyond.
In addition, taking care of your
body will extend to ensuring that your
summer wardrobe fits comfortably
and flatters your figure. And, finally,
accepting yourself and your body
allows you to acknowledge that you
cannot always be perfect and a little
gelato on holiday is good for your soul.
In essence, if you can replace self-
abuse with self-acceptance, you will
naturally make the healthy choices
that are so essential to your feeling and
looking good.
3.
Accepting your body will ensure
your children can accept theirs.
To a young child, his or her mother
is supremely beautiful and complete,
just the way she is. When your words
…
the natural
extension of developing
a more positive
relationship with your
body is that you feel
more inclined to look
after it.
Summer 2013
71