Promoting Positive Self Image

Korrie

Korrie

Moderator
Ok ladies, we all want to loose weight right? I think we all need to take a good long look at the other very important aspect of loosing weight. Your Self Image!! How you feel about yourself is probably the single most important thing in your life. It effects getting a job, going out w/ your family, and much more.

I'd like to see everyone posting about how they see themselves and what you can do to improve your self image ect.

Self image IS NOT your weight. It is how you feel about yourself as a whole.

I will do some looking around online and see what I can come up with. I just wanted to get this thread up and running!
 
I think this is a great idea Korrie!! I for one need help with my self image. I know how I see myself and I know what everyone tells me but unless I can see it for myself losing all the weight in the world isn't going to help me.
 
I understand Angela!

I had a similar understanding myself not too long ago. I though to myself "What is actually going to change w/ loosing weight? I'm going to have the same job (kinda) the same hubby, same house, same bills, ect"

So while weight loss is important, its not everything. It was a "wow" moment when I realized that
 
I feel it's harder than most people think. When you have low self esteem you were right in saying it effects your job, your personal life, goodness everything. Where does one begin to grow their self image? I think mine started for me a little over 7 months ago, funny enough that's also when I met my fiance'. I started evaluating who I was as a person and what I brought into peoples lives that I came in contact with. I started to realize I made people happy. Which made me smile and with that I realized my smile isn't half bad ;) I don't think it's an overnight process it's a long one, but each day I'm realizing something new and I've actually started to say thank you when someone compliments me instead of making a joke about it or saying whatever :)
Sorry about rambling but it's nice to express myself here and there :)
 
Thanks for sharing that Angela, it was a beautiful post and one i'm sure alot of people will see themselves in. I do!

Self Image is a hard one b/c your self image is really something that you aquire as early as possibly your infant years? I mean, you have this idea of yourself and you have it for years.

I guess once you realize you may have a problem w/ self image then you can pick a thing or two to start trying to change. For me, I think I may have a pretty healthy self image for the most part, but there are things I struggle with. I don't know if they will ever truely get fixed, like I dotn' feel like I'm a great wife, mother,or christian. I dont' know if you ever get to the place where you can say "yes, I'm a great wife" maybe you can? I dont' know. But I know I can just try my best at it everyday. If I can go to bed knowing I did my best, than thats great. If I don't think so, then I try harder the next day.
 
This is a very interesting subject to discuss. Extra weight and low self esteem go hand in hand, because it is hard to accept yourself if there is something as essential as weight makes you not like how you look and how you feel, and it is very easy to project it to the whole person in general. So, I think it takes enourmous amount of work for most of us to have normal positive self-image and self-esteem.
 
Absolutely! I think that one should work on it first and formost, even before loosing weight! Because all in all, the quality of one's life depends a lot on self-image and self-esteem, even more then on one's weight. Although being over-confident is not good either, it is best when a person's opinion of themselves is close to reality. :) It helps not to make foolish decisions and not to let opportunities pass you buy.
 
I have a pretty low self esteem. Not as low as it has been though. I just don't like me on he insdie or outside.
 
Hi, Sara!

I have to admit, I used to have very low self-esteem too, but I worked very hard to increase it! Its a mental kind of work, and it takes years, but soon you realize your own self-worth and you begin to make decisions and do things that you never even dreamed possible. You have to look at yourself very objectively and analyze what it is you don't like about yourself (other then weight), and what are your good qualities. Remember to ask your friends and family too, because we may not see ourselves as well as other people see us. And you know what, just being a good person with good intentions is more then enough! It does not mean that you never make mistakes, it just means that you learn from them. If you look closely, you will find things inside you that you will like, its just most of the time we ourselves don't notice those good things because we are concentrated on the big things and failures and errors and things we don't like.

I hope you start feeling better about yourself, just take is a small step at a time, and find some support and help you need!

I also wanted to add that you can change anything you want about yourself. That's a wonderful power we have, ability to change and ajdust! Even if you don't like something particular about yourself that really bothers you, you can change that! It is not an easy work, but you can really reach a lot of goals, if you only set your mind to it!
 
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I agree totally NTL!!

Sorry u feel that way sara!! You really should work on it hun. I'm sure you are a beautiful woman w/ many skills...God wouldnt' have made you any other way!
 
Wow, I really like this thread. Excellent idea!

Personally, for me, self-image and weight-loss sort of go hand in hand. Or should I say self-image and weight-gain go hand in hand! I am an emotional eater. Through this process I am gaining a better understanding of why I eat what I eat etc. Its funny, I've lost weight.. probably the same 20lbs or so quite a few times! And I don't think I really until the last year or so began to focus heavily on to why I was eating this way etc. In fact sometimes the real "ah ha" moment for me is when my FH has stopped and said "Do you really want that? Why do you think you want to eat that? What's really bothering you?" And then its when I have to admit to myself, Yes I really think I want this bowl of ice cream, why?because work was a real pain in the arse today and I want to reward myself with this ice cream." Uh, ok. Yeah, but that ice cream as tasty as it might of been, for that "immediate gratification" I still had to get up and go to work the next day!! ;)

So all in all, with this weight loss process I'm in a mode of discovering myself and what I want to do with my life. I'll admit, I'm in a dead-end job, that they gave me a raise recently in. Which is wonderful, but I am not satisfied. So I'm looking internally for what it is I really have a passion for and what I'm good at. :) This is a good boost to my self-esteem because I have to acknowledge my skills, my capabilities, my positive assets, etc. :D Its a slow process. Just like TooCute mentioned, things like accepting compliments instead of making a sarcastic crack in response, takes times. I am gradually learning.. learning not to insult myself in jokes, not to eat a donut or cookie whenever I feel sad, frustrated or stressed. :) Cause all that buys me is two seconds of happiness not a life time :)
 
Korrie you're so right about the change factor, we can change things about ourselves that we don't like. For instance, I notice I am horrible about getting upset with something that happens at work or with someone close to me and keeping it all in, which like Dana leads me to eat. In the last couple of months I've tried to correct this. Lately if I get upset or hurt by someone I'm trying to express myself more or I go for a walk, by the time I get back from my walk I feel much better, I've cleared my head, I've gotten in some exercise and it's 400 calories less I was going to put into my mouth. We recently did some team building at my work and I think that's the best thing that could have ever happened to me. We discovered that I take on the mother role and that I have to make sure everyone is alright and in doing so I'm don't take care of myself. I discovered that just because someone is upset or down doesn't neccessarily mean that I'm the cause of it, they could just be having a bad day.
These little revelations have really helped me in my work environment and I'm trying to incorporate them into my daily life.
Just a little note from the dorkett of the forum :p
 
That was a nice post angela..your right, the key to changing is recongizing your problem and taking the baby steps it takes to change them.

I wish more people would get in on this topic
 
They will Korrie, and if they don't I could just go on and on and on....well you get the point :) People just have to remember that losing weight isn't the real problem, realizing how and why they got to that weight is the real answer. If more people realize like Dana that you could always lose the weight but unless you get to the root of the real problem it's going to eventually come back on.
 
Self image and self esteme its a tricky one. I know for years that I have had a very low self esteme, and that it was caught up greatly with my weight. when I was slim I was confident when I got bigger that dissapeared. I also have come to the conclusion that it is influence by people we have around us as well. My mum, who I know loves me was very distructive and still is, she sees the way to motivate me as constantly pointing out everything that is wrong with me, now to her thinking she is pointing out what I am not seeing (other wise I'd be skinny lol) Now while I can understand where she is comming from when I am doing nothing about it its very upseting when You are dieting and she still keeps at it, oh 1kg you need so much more then that. SHe means no harm because that was the way she was raised so she repeats it. But I have come to the conclusion that I cant have her in my life to a great extent. As sad as that sounds I realised I dont like the person she sees when she looks at me. And for a long time I beleived I was that person, I now know better. She is my mum so she will always be in my life, I just have certain subjects off limits like my weight, and only talk a couple times a month instead of every week. We have to be careful not to let other peoples opinons of us effects us because we need to look into our selves for who we really are. And if were honest with our selves we are good people who deserves the good life that we all want.
I think you have to make a decision to think the best of your self and look at the potential with in us. I think for most of us, low self esteme is something we will always fight with, but small changes in the way we talk to our self and cutting out the negitive infulences we can change it. Its definitly not something we have to put up with forever.
 
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