Love & accept yourself

Do you obsess about your weight? About what you eat? Your dress size? The amount of exercise you do?

If you answered "Yes" to those questions, you're part of a large number of women who do worry about weight. Size really does seem to matter to lots of us.

It's great to be concerned about our health and well-being. Striving to eat nutritious meals and to get regular exercise—along with sufficient sleep each night—is a good thing. However, in our society it's so easy to cross a line into obsession and unhealthy, harmful eating habits and disorders. Bulimia. Anorexia. Binge eating. We are surrounded by messages that tell us we're not OK if we aren't size 2 and have absolutely no fat on our bones. I have fallen into this trap myself many times. Even now, as a Weight Watchers member, I do what our meeting leaders tell us to not do: beat up on myself if I've overeaten. I know better. I don't want to do that. I want to simply move on the next day and get back to a healthy eating plan. But those old tapes are so deeply ingrained.

Loving self is crucial. Accepting self is important. Letting go of old tapes and messages (and the ones that aren't so old and keep coming at us in the media even now) is necessary. Here's a thought: Why don't we encourage and support each other in the whole arena of self-love, self-care and self-compassion? Together, we can change our habits and live in a healthier fashion—physically, emotionally and spiritually.