How Far You’ve Come With Photos

Many of my clients struggle with body image and getting a real sense of what they look like after losing weight.  Hey, you’ve lost weight – enjoy it by having an appreciation of how great and healthy you look.

When we’ve lost weight, it takes awhile for our brains to catch up with our new, smaller body size.  We still see ourselves as being overweight.  Sometimes to the point of being very critical which can derail our weight loss efforts.

I’m asked often by clients about why they don’t see their bodies smaller.  After we’ve been overweight or morbidly obese for a period of time, that becomes engrained in our mindset.  It feels as though it is part of our identity.  We’ve focused on our weight and large body size that that continues to be how we see ourselves.  Your brain will catch up with your body but it takes awhile.  It will happen.  Here are some of the strategies that I share with my clients to help that process occur sooner:

* Take photos of yourself.  Compare them to photos taken before you lost weight.  Look at them often, or better yet, put them in a prominent place (such as the refrigerator!) so you see them regularly.

* Compare some of your pre-weight loss clothes to the ones you wear now.  Notice the difference in sizes by holding them up and see the difference.  Putting on your pre-weight loss clothes now and enjoy the bagginess that you now feel versus how you used to feel wearing them.

Find a photo of yourself taken in the past.  Place it alongside a recent shot. Write down two or three adjectives to describe the “you” pictured in each photo. How have you changed?  Take photos monthly so you have a visual record of how your body has changed.  I did that as I lost weight and they are amazing.  Take the photos in the same clothes and in the same location.  A good idea is to take the photos as you stand in a door frame.  You’ll be able to watch the difference in space between your body and the frame.

Keep focused and moving forward with your weight loss and healthy habits.  Before you know it, you’ll see your body accurately and you’ll be able to enjoy and appreciate your weight loss even more.

Keep doing this as you progress to your goal weight.  Celebrate how far you’ve come every pound of the way!

Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, CLC
Certified Life Coach, Weight Loss Surgery Coach