Change Your Thinking - Change Your Shape -

Daily Motivation Tips - You are looking fat today

If there is one thing that can wind anyone it is being told you are looking fat! While it rarely comes out so bluntly except perhaps from family members, it may be said in more subtle comments. 

There is only one response you can have to such a situation so you are able to handle this suggestion – that is, you must know your exact current statistics, an evaluation of where you want to be and current rate of progress. If you are without these then you are at the mercy of other peoples’ opinions and that is an absolute disaster! You must know where you are, if you do not, their opinion becomes as valid as yours. Therefore when they deem you are fat, you feel awful, then end up eating rubbish and before long you are as fat as you think they thought you were! (if you can understand that last bit)

To know where you are at now is easy, take a measurement then say to yourself “I am a great person with body fat/clothes size of ___.” Do not say to yourself “ I am a fat waste of space and an idiot who is ___ body fat or clothes size.” (as most people do) Your body fat does not equate to how great a person you are, if you think it does, then achieving this goal is going to be VERY tough because your ego and self worth are involved. That makes any goal many times harder to achieve.

The key is getting hold of the facts of where you are now and where you are heading. Opinions are nothing but trouble, this is because they depend upon:

The other person’s evaluation of what looks good – Different people have different views of what an ideal look is to them, what being ‘fat’ is and what they expect from you in terms of body fat.

The other person’s evaluation of how they look – The opinion of what a person thinks about their own body affects how they see others in the world. If they are much leaner they may view you as fat (and everyone else).

The other person’s opinion of how their evaluation will affect you – The person may want to be nice to you or annoy you. This may be a factor in their comments / opinions.

Comparisons to how you looked before – The human mind is very poor at looking at absolutes values. Therefore it has to make a comparison against something. This may in comparison to other people but more likely your previous self. So I could go up to 15% body fat and be called fat even though the vast majority of the population is above this.

Comparisons as to how they looked before – If they have changed body shape recently it will affect how they view others. If they have lost some weight recently they may look at you as being fat as they jump up on their high horse. If they gained weight they may be looking to see who else has joined them.

Assumptions they have made about you / health etc – Their opinions on health will influence any comments.

Their ability to communicate – Simply, some people are poor at articulating their point of view. The more they care about you the worse their communication will be.

Your interpretation – You may interpret badly a well meaning comment or vice versa.

Look at all those factors affecting opinions! KEEP TO THE FACTS! Know your body fat, know what you are aiming for, know how you have progressed over the last few weeks. The key is to always be accurate with your judgment. Most people deny results, pretend they are not right, ignore them or use the weighing scales over body fat. Ensure you know your measurements exactly so you can deflect any overweight comment.

Mind-body change exercise

• Obtain an accurate measure of body fat. This could be done using body fat calipers, using one or more bits of clothing which fit the different circumferences on your body. Make a note of this.
• Retest each month and chart your progress.
• Ensure you truly accept your results both initially and thereafter.
• Role play in your mind how you would respond to someone saying you are looking fat. Find a way to turn this into a motivating factor.

Helping you Change your thinking and change your shape...

Ben Wilson

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