WHAT THIS BOOK IS ABOUT
Do you want to learn to love yourself no matter what your weight? Is your identity based strictly on how much you weigh? If you gain a pound, do you hate your whole body? Do you tell yourself each morning that you are going to start a diet? Are you preoccupied with food, always thinking about what you are going to eat or not eat? Do you believe that all of your problems would be resolved, if you were only thinner,? If you answer yes to these questions, then You Are More Than What You Weigh is a book that can be helpful to you.
This book is about improving your image of yourself. You don't have to be at your ideal weight in order to love yourself. In fact, you probably have to start loving your body to lose weight. Once you learn to love your body, you will less likely want to abuse it by starving, purging, or binging. You may ask yourself why you should read this book when nothing in the past has worked for you. It will give you tools to help you make the changes you desire. If you have tried to lose weight and haven't succeeded in keeping it off, have habit of purging or starving, this book will help you understand the reasons behind your weight problems. It will give you the tools to help you make the changes you desire. If you are ambivalent about changing your eating habits and weight, you can benefit by changing your thoughts, which may be a lot easier than changing your weight. Whether you are at your ideal weight, underweight, overweight, purging, or starving, this book will aid you to become healthier. It is about learning to love yourself no matter what you weigh. It is about you...the most important person. You are valuable, loveable, and worthwhile. Even if you do not believe this now, you will believe it by reading and working on the exercises suggested in You Are More Than What You Weigh. It is about expanding your view of yourself to be more than your weight.
Society has unfortunately told us as females that we need to be thinner to be better. One of the reasons you may have set yourself up for failure in the past is that you may have had your identity be revolved solely around you weight. When you do this to yourself, you are discounting many other important aspects of who you are. (See chapter heads for lists of important parts of yourself.) This book will help you learn to love and value all parts of yourself. You will learn how to free yourself from some of the traps that have bound you. You will learn how to improve your self-esteem, enhance your quality of life, and free yourself from the pressures of your weight. When you are not so consumed with your weight, you are free to experience living a new way. By focusing on other parts of your life rather than just your weight, your need for food for emotional reasons will lessen. It will feel comforting to learn to love yourself, feel healthier, and psychologically be in a better place.
This book was based on ten years of facilitating eating disorder groups. As I worked with my clients, I noted their common characteristics, concerns and solutions. What worked for them is compiled in this book. Remember, life is a process. It has taken many years for you to have developed your present thinking. Each day is a new day for you to begin to change and enjoy these changes. Many people have found they have changed their body weight by emphasing other aspects of themselves. When they no longer put so much pressure on their weight and eating, and emphasized all parts of themselves, they got to their healthy body weight. This book goes about your weight problems by emphasing all of you. I wish you well in your ventures and hope that the exercises in this book are of help in your becoming more than what you weigh. Besides your weight or physical self, you want to value and identify yourself with the other aspects of yourself. These other aspects include the following ten types of selves:
1. Physical Self (weight and body image)
2. Intellectual Self (your thoughts)
3. Emotional Self (your feelings)
4. Social Self (your relationships)
5. Psychological Self (identity and self-esteem)
6. Spiritual Self (higher power and values)
7. Sexual Self ( male and female traits)
8. Assertive Self (not passive or aggressive)
9. Stress/Relaxed Self (stress causes and remedies)
10. Career Self (career analysis).
How these ten parts of yourself influece your weight, body image, eating, self-esteem are explained in this book. For example, compare yourself to a circle with ten equal parts. Your physical being is one piece of the circle along with the other nine parts. When all ten parts of yourself are equally important, you and your life will be better balanced. Your weight will continue to be a problem when you only value the physical part of yourself.
This book is about improving your image of yourself. You don't have to be at your ideal weight in order to love yourself. In fact, you probably have to start loving your body to lose weight. Once you learn to love your body, you will less likely want to abuse it by starving, purging, or binging. You may ask yourself why you should read this book when nothing in the past has worked for you. It will give you tools to help you make the changes you desire. If you have tried to lose weight and haven't succeeded in keeping it off, have habit of purging or starving, this book will help you understand the reasons behind your weight problems. It will give you the tools to help you make the changes you desire. If you are ambivalent about changing your eating habits and weight, you can benefit by changing your thoughts, which may be a lot easier than changing your weight. Whether you are at your ideal weight, underweight, overweight, purging, or starving, this book will aid you to become healthier. It is about learning to love yourself no matter what you weigh. It is about you...the most important person. You are valuable, loveable, and worthwhile. Even if you do not believe this now, you will believe it by reading and working on the exercises suggested in You Are More Than What You Weigh. It is about expanding your view of yourself to be more than your weight.
Society has unfortunately told us as females that we need to be thinner to be better. One of the reasons you may have set yourself up for failure in the past is that you may have had your identity be revolved solely around you weight. When you do this to yourself, you are discounting many other important aspects of who you are. (See chapter heads for lists of important parts of yourself.) This book will help you learn to love and value all parts of yourself. You will learn how to free yourself from some of the traps that have bound you. You will learn how to improve your self-esteem, enhance your quality of life, and free yourself from the pressures of your weight. When you are not so consumed with your weight, you are free to experience living a new way. By focusing on other parts of your life rather than just your weight, your need for food for emotional reasons will lessen. It will feel comforting to learn to love yourself, feel healthier, and psychologically be in a better place.
This book was based on ten years of facilitating eating disorder groups. As I worked with my clients, I noted their common characteristics, concerns and solutions. What worked for them is compiled in this book. Remember, life is a process. It has taken many years for you to have developed your present thinking. Each day is a new day for you to begin to change and enjoy these changes. Many people have found they have changed their body weight by emphasing other aspects of themselves. When they no longer put so much pressure on their weight and eating, and emphasized all parts of themselves, they got to their healthy body weight. This book goes about your weight problems by emphasing all of you. I wish you well in your ventures and hope that the exercises in this book are of help in your becoming more than what you weigh. Besides your weight or physical self, you want to value and identify yourself with the other aspects of yourself. These other aspects include the following ten types of selves:
1. Physical Self (weight and body image)
2. Intellectual Self (your thoughts)
3. Emotional Self (your feelings)
4. Social Self (your relationships)
5. Psychological Self (identity and self-esteem)
6. Spiritual Self (higher power and values)
7. Sexual Self ( male and female traits)
8. Assertive Self (not passive or aggressive)
9. Stress/Relaxed Self (stress causes and remedies)
10. Career Self (career analysis).
How these ten parts of yourself influece your weight, body image, eating, self-esteem are explained in this book. For example, compare yourself to a circle with ten equal parts. Your physical being is one piece of the circle along with the other nine parts. When all ten parts of yourself are equally important, you and your life will be better balanced. Your weight will continue to be a problem when you only value the physical part of yourself.
