As I travel, spreading the word about permanent weight loss, I often speak to middle and high school girls about health, body image, and the negative impact of dieting on weight. It’s always very touching for me to look out over the classroom and see the young women as I speak. Many of them (according to some statistics, about 50%) are already dieting and associating being thin with deprivation.

Thin = Deprivation

Wrong!

Most of them can’t look ahead to see how their current behavior and stringent dieting will lead to frustration, anger and excess weight in their twenties and thirties. It takes many years to see the real equation:

Dieting and Food Avoidance = More Fat

If I could do one thing for these girls, who deserve a healthy future free from disordered eating, it would be to freeze them right where they are.

Why?

If I look back to my high school days, when I weighed in the mid-150s, I think: “If someone had just been there for me and taken me by the shoulders and told me: “YOU ARE FINE. DON’T LOSE OR GAIN ANOTHER POUND AND YOU’LL BE HEALTHY ALL YOUR LIFE. DON’T MEASURE YOURSELF BY OTHER PEOPLE’S IDEAS OR THE INSURANCE COMPANIES’ IDEAL WEIGHT CHARTS. NEVER DIET – IT’LL RUIN YOUR BODY’S RESILIENCE AND ITS NATURAL METABOLISM.”

If someone had said that to me, I’d be the weight I am today but I would have avoided 30 years of severe depression, loss of confidence, battles with diet mentality, various health problems including severe hypoglycemia, and the feeling of utter failure over and over in my life as I literally lost hundreds of pounds and regained them.

I’ll tell you the truth. It was hell. It colored every aspect of my life. It held me back from many of my dreams.

So, I find myself wanting to take each and every one of the young girls in my audiences and look them in the eye and tell them: “The truth is your weight now is what it’s probably meant to be. Accept it and accept yourself. Trying to be a weight that is unreasonable for you is only going to lead you to obesity, and maybe even severe health problems.”

When I talk to parents who are concerned for their children’s weight, I tell them this too.

When I mentioned this to one of my classes, my lovely client Judith was particularly affected by this concept. She just sent me these pictures and this note:

VivaciousJudith18

Hi Pat,

I came across the attached in some old photos of my Mum’s and I thought you might like to see what I looked like when I thought was dreadfully overweight at age 19/20. I am holding this as my vision of the future for myself as I work gradually towards regaining my rightful body weight.

I have also added a picture of me taken recently, rather glamourous and without your work I wouldn’t have had the nerve to have pictures made at the size I am, but hey, I am on the road to a new body just in time for the next Olympics! It will be my own Olympic gold medal.

GorgeousJudithNow

I have become much more conscious of what I am eating and I have a clear vision of what I can look like (not what I think I should look like, but what I know I’m meant to look like). I feel wonderfully positive each day about the future and less worried about food than ever.

Thank you for your huge contribution to turning around my life and my weight.

Always a disciple, always a friend,
Judith

(Read about my Discover Your True Core Body! CD to see what Judith has learned!)

Why was I so unhappy at 155 lbs? Well, as I mentioned, the diet guides and insurance charts said I should be 135. And I didn’t look like the actresses and models I considered beautiful. It was all a comparison game.

And there was no one to tell me any different. I am here to tell you there is a different approach.

So, if you know a young woman, encourage her to accept herself. Love her as she is. Never compare or criticize – it is unloving. Encourage her to own her own life and take responsibility for it. And praise her for who she is. As you can see from Judith’s picture, she was vibrant, beautiful, lively! And that has not changed, nor will it!

This blog was featured on “Prevention Not Prescriptions!” Find out more and share information for “Prevention Not Prescriptions” at The Kathleen Show here.

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