21 life changing techniques

21 Life Changing Techniques You Can Start Using TODAY to

Stop Obsessing Over Your Weight and Body Image

FOREVERwww.quickstartrecovery.comwww.bodyimagecounseling.com

http://www.quickstartrecovery.com/

http://www.bodyimagecounseling.com/

www.quickstartrecovery.com

Only allow positive comments when you look in the mirror.

• Spend a day and REALLY pay attention to how you talk to yourself throughout the day, especially when you look in the mirror.• Did you know that we think 95% of the SAME thoughts every day?• If 95% of those thoughts are negative, you need to work to turn them around.• Examples of what to say and what not to say.

Technique #1


Imagine directing your negative thoughts to a child or someone you love.

Technique #2

• Would you ever?• If you wouldn’t make these negative comments to the ones you love, why

would you make them to yourself?• Make a vow to always speak to yourself with love, kindness and

understanding.


Ask someone who loves you to describe what the love about you… and DON’T minimize

what they say!• Your negative thoughts about your body are like a bad boyfriend or girlfriend!• Be brave and ask someone you love and trust what they think is beautiful or handsome about you, inside and out.• Write these comments down and repeat daily!• Ask for reinforcement from those who love and care about you.

Technique #3


Start complimenting and pampering your body every day, one inch at a time.

• This is one of the fantastic exercises from The Courage to Heal (Ellen Bass).• First, choose a part of your body that you really like, and take good care of it (i.e. if you like your smile, floss and brush every day, tell yourself about your beautiful smile).• Then extend out one inch every day until you are telling yourself your entire body is beautiful.• What if you have trouble liking any part of yourself?• What if there is a part of you that you are obsessed with and feel is horrible?

Technique #4


Make a vow to rewrite history in your family by changing any negative messages you received

about weight and body image.• Think about your family of origin’s messages about: weight, your body, food and beauty.(i.e. Was everyone always on a diet? Were you told you were not attractive? Were you told you were too fat or too thin? Were you told you were beautiful or handsome?)• What were the positive messages you received from your family?• What were the negative messages?• How did your parents or caregivers talk about themselves?• Write down these messages. Vow to keep the positive ones in your life and rewrite those that are negative.

Technique #5


Realize that fat is not a feeling, and “fat feelings” are NOT about your body.

• When you have “fat” days, it doesn’t mean you have gained 50 lbs. overnight!• Retrain yourself to recognize bad body image days as signals that something else is bothering you.• The answer to fat feelings is self-care, not dieting and self-loathing!

Technique #6


Focus on how your body FEELS when you exercise, not how it LOOKS.

•Over the years, advertisers have conditioned us to focus on exercising to create a perfect looking body, rather than a body that feels happy and energized.• This perfect body is either unattainable, or requires ongoing compulsive exercise and food restriction to achieve and maintain.• Getting on the exercise perfection treadmill leads to low-self esteem, a binge/purge exercise cycle, and actual physical harm• Just like you need to listen to your body about the food it needs, you need to learn to listen to your body’s signals about exercise.

Technique #7


Set limits on the body bashing talk around you.

• Sometimes we don’t realize how much negative body image talk is all around us (in the locker room, on TV, in our families, among our friends).• It’s such a huge part of our culture, most of us don’t even think to question it.• Here are some ways to try to limit the body bashing talk around you: (tell people they are beautiful, change the subject, walk away, get political).

Technique #8


• Start to question the beauty industry with a critical eye.• Make a decision to limit the amount of media you are exposed to that encourages body hatred (i.e. beauty magazines, TV shows that only show “perfect” people,)• Placing more realistic images and dialogue around you. i.e. body positive websites, my facebook page • Stay aware of whether or not your low self-esteem improves when you limit these negative influences.

Technique #9

Go on a media diet.


Get a “love your body” buddy.

• Sometimes you can’t talk back to your negative body image messages alone.• Make a pact with a friend to not allow each other negative comments about weight, beauty and body image.• You may have to make an important decision about who you hang out with if there has been a lot of diet and weight talk, especially if it is in your family.

Technique #10


Make finding beauty in the world a focused daily practice.

• Redefine what true beauty is in the world, and make a conscious effort to find and be around it EVERY DAY.• For example: beauty in nature, random acts of kindness between people, the beauty of DIFFERENCE, not sameness!• Place images of these concepts of beauty all around you – on your walls, computer, in your surroundings, etc.

Technique #11


Be on the lookout for people who like/love themselves and observe how they talk and behave.

• I give this exact advice to people who want to develop healthy friends and love relationships.• What are the qualities of people who truly love themselves as they are? (seem comfortable in their own skin, do not obsess over dieting and weight, accept that they are not perfect and celebrate their imperfection, focus on actions not looks, are able to compliment and support others).• Try to emulate these qualities more in yourself and try to surround yourself more people like this!

Technique #12


Start to see the practice of intuitive eating and joyful movement as a lifestyle choice that is a

reflection of respect and love for yourself, and a commitment to LIFETIME HAPPINESS

• This is an act of self-care, just like learning how to be responsible with money, a caring human being, and good at your job.• Stop seeing food and exercise as a series of painful quick fixes (diet and forced exercise) – they don’t work in the long-term, anyway and will make you sad .• Just like saving pennies in a piggy bank every day, you may not see the effects right away, but over a lifetime you’ll build a wealth of happiness, peace and high self-esteem.

Technique #13


Become a media critic and a body size acceptance activist

• Start to get angry and speak up to society and the media!• Get educated about how girls and boys are brainwashed from the time they are little to hate their bodies, and how this brainwashing progresses as we age.• Write in to television shows, magazines and blogs to voice your anger and demand change.• Show them with your wallet!

Technique #14


Evaluate your environment. Is it contributing to your body hatred?

• Are you involved in certain activities that are more prone to eating disorders and negative body image? (i.e. certain gyms, sports, careers)• Are you living with people who put you down and have unrealistic expectations of your appearance?• Are you ready to make changes that will improve your surroundings and help you feel better about your body? This may not be as easy as you think!

Technique #15


Practice intuitive eating, not dieting, to reach your natural weight.

•

Technique #16

Your stomach is telling you that it’s time to eat. If you get down to level 0 or 1 you are so hungry that you feel light-headed or nauseated. If you find it difficult to eat, you are EMOTIONALLY RESTRICTING. You are not hungry and you are not full; you are satisfied. You haven’t eaten to the point of feeling sick and you haven’t eaten so little that you are still thinking about food.

You are not hungry and you are not full; you are satisfied. You haven’t eaten to the point of feeling sick and you haven’t eaten so little that you are still thinking about food.

You are uncomfortably full, and at level 9 or 10 you may even be feeling pain from having eaten too much. At this point you are EMOTIONALLY

BINGE EATING.


Throw out your eating disorder clothes!

• Stop waiting to fit into clothes that are sitting in your closet – they will just stress you out and trigger yo-yo dieting.• Make the decision to buy clothes that fit you NOW and that you feel beautiful and comfortable in.• Do a good deed and donate your eating disorder clothes to a good cause (i.e. The Great Jeans Giveaway).

Technique #17


Throw out your scale!• There is no need to weigh yourself except at the doctor’s office, and even there you don’t have to look!• If you learn to intuitively eat, you will always be within a few pounds of your natural weight (unless there is a medical issue or you are pregnant!).• Scales are like prisons – your self-esteem becomes tied to them. Don’t give your scale that kind of power over you!

Technique #18


Write down your negative thoughts about your weight and body, then change them to positive

affirmations and repeat daily.

•

Technique #19


Think about your deathbed and how you want to look back on your life.

•

Technique #20


Get support from a qualified eating disorder therapist and nutritionist if you need more help.

Technique #21


Here are more resources:

1) For more information about eating disorders, how to get better quickly and permanently, check out my low cost Amazon books at the link below. If you purchase, I would appreciate it if you would leave an honest review

on Amazon to help spread the word

2) There’s also lots of free information at my blog at www.bodyimagecounseling.com

and my facebook pageLori Osachy’s Quick Start Recovery (please “like” my page!)

3) If you need counseling, I am available for in-office, Skype and phone coaching, and so is Tracy Brown, RD, for nutrition help. Just fill in your information in the appointment scheduler (link below), and we’ll contact

you within 24-hours, I promise! 904-737-3232


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21 life changing techniques

Self Improvement

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