Fear of Getting Fat
Oprah has just done a huge disservice to the youth of our country. By focusing on the fear of getting fat and limiting food for children "at risk" she is encouraging kids to ignore their body's signals of hunger and satiation. They will be at risk for developing eating disorders. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia KILL people. This is highly irresponsible from Oprah, who has such power to affect the opinion of people who respect her.
Please do NOT put your child on a diet! Do not make them fear gaining weight, because that very fear is stressful and will actually contribute to their weight gain!
Unrealistic Body Image
Are you realistic about your self-judgment about your weight? This question is more slanted towards women who are in fear of gaining weight and getting fat, but not actually overweight presently. But it can also help you to consider these issues if you still have a diet mentality.
When I do a workshop on how to stop stress eating, so many of the attendees are average weight. In the beginning, I expected that the women who came to the class would have been heavier. It really shocked me. There is an epidemic of fear of getting fat. This used to be a woman's issue, but lately more men have the same fear.
Creating Disordered Eating
Unrealistic judgment about how thin you should be is a beginning point that gets women moving towards developing disordered eating. That's a lower level of an actual "eating disorder". That's how I started my weight gain. I decided that I needed to be thinner. I was already thin.
The crazy thing is that I was fooled into thinking that I could spot reduce my rounded, disproportional butt area. But of course, weight doesn't come off where you decide you should lose it! The first place I'd lose weight was on my already thin face! People would ask me if I was ill? (yes, mentally ill- should have been my answer! I was brainwashed to think I needed to lose weight.)
Get Rid of Stubborn Belly Fat
You have undoubtably seen thousands of ads about how to get rid of stubborn body fat. They are ALL lies. You can't reduce the amount of fat in a particular area. You can exercise to try to tighten the muscles that will give an appearance of losing weight. But you will not be able to to choose where you lose weight in a particular part of your body.
Diet Industry and Media Encouraging Eating Disorder Behavior
When all you see are thin role models in the media and movie stars that look anorexic this has an impact on your mindset. You admire these people and want to be like them. Twiggy was the first ultra thin model back in the 60's. It definitely started a trend towards anorexic looking models and girls who wanted to be like her.
The number of women on diets have skyrocketed with the style of ultra thin. Bloggers talk about how to get thin enough to have a thigh gap. Trolls online shame anyone who has 5 extra pounds! There is way too much support online for dieting, and far too little encouragement for women to reject this diet mentality. Trolls routinely comment about a movie star or singer looking fat. Thankfully, some of them are fighting back.
Pressure on Girls To Diet
Even worse, women are putting pressure on their young daughters under the age of five years old to restrict sweets and limit food intake. This is the beginning stage that can progress into a full-blown eating disorder.
Thankfully I never went that far to develop an eating disorder. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia KILL women. So, I encourage you to realistically look at your body and ask yourself: am I being overly judgmental? Do I really see myself objectively? Am I thinking that I need to be as thin as a supermodel? Do I want to develop an eating disorder which can kill me?
Dieting, watching your weight, judging yourself as "bad" on days that you eat certain foods... this is the actual mindset of a person who is more likely to be a stress eater.
Want to stop stress eating? The first thing to do is to start appreciating your body the way it is now. Then you'll be able to reject the concept of dieting to deal with your weight.
Get my free report about to deal with the fear that actually causes stress eating!
