For many women, the proverbial summertime blues revolve around swimsuits, shorts, sleeveless tops and other revealing garments that put the pounds you gained (or failed to lose) last winter on full display. According to clinical psychologist Lavinia Rodriguez, what should be a time of joyful abandon has become a season of self-loathing. The author of “Mind Over Fat Matters: Conquering Psychological Barriers to Weight Management” offers three simple tips that can help end summer body-image blues:
1. Stop the self-loathing. It hurts more than it helps. Many women think that if they beat themselves up enough about something they feel they’ve done wrong, it will motivate them to make improvements. The reality, though, is that the more a woman reprimands herself, the harder it is for her to accomplish her goals. Everybody needs positive reinforcement, not punishment, in order to be motivated and achieve goals. This is especially true when dealing with body-image and weight-loss expectations.
2. Forget all the “shoulds.” Start where you are. How we talk to ourselves about our bodies is important. Women beat themselves up with statements such as, “I should have lost all the extra weight by now,” “I shouldn’t be in a bathing suit” or, “I shouldn’t go to the beach looking like this.” “Should” statements make us want to give up and guarantee that we’ll find ourselves in the same emotional place next summer, Rodriguez says.
3. Practice positive self-talk. Try these statements on for size, and then create some of your own:
“It’s never too late to start positive changes.”
“I want goals that are achievable. I’m not going to set deadlines for my body. I will follow something that I can keep up for a lifetime.”
“I want to improve my body image by first accepting my body where it is and then going forward — one step at a time.”
“Thinking about the past or what I haven’t accomplished will not get me anywhere. I’ll look ahead, not back.”
