Weight & Body Image
The 180 Degree Shift
The weight loss industry is worth billions, and it is built on failure. Far more people fail than succeed.
I am going to tell you why - and give you a better way to think about this issue.
Assumptions Most People Have
#1 Rejection of your body as it is now is the foundation for changing it
#2 It is impossible to change your conception of what beauty is.
Let's take each assumption in turn.
Assumption #1 - Rejection of your body now = the path to changing it
This doesn't work because your Cavebrain thinks the tribe is rejecting it
Because tribal rejection means death to Cavebrain, it tells the body to go into a state of emergency AKA fight or flight AKA stress
Because you stay in this state for more than 4 minutes, the body goes into low-level chronic stress and you suffer The Nightmare 29
A major consequence of the nightmare 29 is weight gain.
This is why hating your body is the path to weight gain and ill-health.
Assumption #2: It is impossible to change your conception of beauty
Summer 2019 - The Body Confident Project
This project aimed to answer one question: Is it possible for any woman of any age and size to start to accept her appearance in one month or less?
Results
I have fallen in love with exercise (and it used to be a real chore). I have dropped a dress size, and lost my muffin top! I feel better when I go out, and I've even started looking in the mirror and saying "Hey good lookin'!"
Rachel
Elgin,Scotland
Listen to these audio clips of real women like you who did The Body Confident Project:
I have never taken my 3-year-old swimming because I was so self-conscious, but after a few weeks of doing this work I made a pact with myself that I wouldn't let any sort of insecurity stop me making these memories with her when we go on holiday this week. Before, I would have just let her Dad take her in the water.
Lynn
I'm really looking forward to it, and I have already tried my swimming togs on and told myself: You look great!"
Eire
More audio clips:
Experiment With This Idea
The revolutionary idea is that you experiment with rejecting the two assumptions at the top of the page, and see if the following formula works for you:
Acceptance + Resilience
=
Body Confidence
Acceptance through cavebrain-friendly activities and thought exercises
Resilience means you change the meaning of exercise from be less to be stronger. Cavebrain also loves this because it interprets this as you managing threat, ie being capable of fighting or fleeing threat. Even though it is not necessary for this issue, your Cavebrain doesn't know that!
This means you start telling Cavebrain it has no need to be in an emergency, and so you press the OFF switch on The Nightmare 29
🙂