31 Days of Loving Yourself Thin
One of my favorite authors and metaphysical teachers is Louise L. Hay. If you’ve been a reader of The Fit Shack for awhile now, you will remember that I’ve written about her and her teachings before (to date, 12 articles). If you aren’t familiar with Louise Hay, one of the basic principles she teaches is that love heals; no matter what problem you might have in life (financial, health, relationships, home, etc.), it can be solved by loving the self more.
I believe this, and since you can solve any problem in your life by loving yourself more, we are going to apply this principle to the problem of overweight and weight loss. How can the level of self-love you have affect your overeating and overweight? I’m sure that you know how easy it is to suggest to your loved ones to take steps to care for their health, to eat better and to lose weight in order to avoid further health complications. However, do you take your own advice, or do you treat your best friend better than you treat yourself?
If you were your own best friend, you would treat yourself with care and love. Therefore, the more love you have for yourself, the better you will treat yourself. The more love you have for yourself, the less you will need to force yourself to change, to eat better and exercise. The more you love yourself, the more you will be naturally motivated to care for your body.
I am speaking of sincerely loving your self more; not vanity, or the presentation you give to others in an effort to cover up your lack of self-love, but honestly loving and accepting yourself exactly as you are in this very moment.
What I’ll be doing over the next 31 days is posting a daily exercise for you to do, exercises to help you love yourself more to make it easier for you to naturally want to lose weight and get fit. Many of the posts will be on the shorter side, so for the most part, I will still write a “regular” Fit Shack post for those readers who don’t want to do the Loving Yourself Thin exercises. Of course, I do suggest that each of you do them, because diet and exercise just isn’t enough for the majority of people to effect lasting, lifelong change. If it were, why are there so many people who are repeat dieters? 
I encourage you to just do the exercise, no matter how simple it might seem to you. Additionally, I will update this post each day with a link to each exercise for you to refer to if you would like to go through the cycle again. After all, these 31 days will be a start for you in loving yourself more, but it is an ongoing, lifelong process, one that will give you many positive rewards in return. 
Going beyond the 31 days, I also suggest Louise L. Hay’s book You Can Heal Your Life
- Day One: Love Yourself Now
- Day Two: I Can Lose Weight
- Day Three: Love Yourself Thin - Day 3
- Day Four: Body Appreciation Day - Just Say Thank You
- Day Five: No Matter What You Eat, Love Yourself
- Day Six: A Day of Mirror Work to Love Yourself Thin
- Day Seven: A Day of Gratitude For Your Body
- Day Eight: Don’t Wait on Your Weight, Love Yourself Today
- Day Nine: What Is Your Greatest Fear About Losing Weight?
- Day Ten: Forgive Yourself for Past Weight Loss Failures
- Day Eleven: Love Yourself Out of Self Sabotage and Lose Weight
- Day Twelve: Criticizing Yourself For Overeating Won’t Help You Lose Weight
- Day Thirteen: Today Is Thank Your Fat Day
- Day Fourteen: Review Day in 31 Days of Loving Yourself Thin
- Day Fifteen: Are You Shoulding All Over Yourself to Lose Weight?
- Day Sixteen: Love Your Body and Regain Your Health
- Day Seventeen: How to Lose Weight by Approving Of Yourself NOW
- Day Eighteen: Release Your Resistance to Change
- Day Nineteen: Forgive Yourself for Gaining Weight
- Day Twenty: Positive Affirmations, Sing and Dance Them!
- Day Twenty One: Give Yourself a Break From Thinking About Your Weight
- Day Twenty Two: How To Stop Eating and Love Yourself
- Day Twenty Three: Stop Sabotaging Your Weight Loss with Negative Thinking
- Day Twenty Four: Lose Weight by Healing Your Fears With Positive Affirmations
- Day Twenty Five: What Do You Really Want From Food?
- Day Twenty Six: Love Yourself Thin - Is It Really Possible?
- Day Twenty Seven: How To Lose Weight by Meeting Your Needs Without Food
- Day Twenty Eight: Lose Weight by Making Yourself a Priority
- Day Twenty Nine: Forgive Your Past Actions to Lose Weight Today
- Day Thirty: Loving Yourself Thin - The Power of Mirror Work
- Day Thirty One: To Lose Weight, Keep On Loving Yourself!
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Wow! I’m glad to have stumbled upon your blog. Yesterday I found it it was Love Your Body day and actually blogged about how I hadn’t fully connected with the body image issues that are perpetuated by the advertising industry. We’re taught to love an image rather than the reality of who it is we are.
I’ve never read anything by Louise Hays but am off to buy her book on Loving Yourself Thin. Nice timing. And looks like you are just on day 3?
Thanks!
Hi coventina, thanks!
I didn’t even know it was Love Your Body Day, but it sure fits with the 31 Days of Loving Yourself Thin!
Right now we’re on Day 19, but you can read the intro (this post) and jump in at this point, going back to the beginning when we reach the end. Day 14 is also a good one to read to in addition to the intro.
Louise Hay is just wonderful, I highly recommend anything by her, she has both books and CDs, and at least one video. As far as I know she doesn’t have a book that is on the specific topic of loving yourself thin, I came up with that based on the principle that any problem in life can be healed by loving the self more….so why not apply it to the problem of overweight?
I would recommend the books above though, which are specifically on the topic of loving the self, which includes the health of your body.
Those of us who are moms should actually find it easier to love our bodies, considering they gave us the most precious gifts in our lives - our kids. Sadly, it isn’t always the case. Great post.
Hi, that’s a really good point. I don’t have kids so I don’t tend to think from that perspective, but that is so true, and also so sad that more mothers don’t love their bodies for that reason. Thanks!
This is a great post, I absolutely love Louise Hay and I am glad that you were inspired to create this program!
Kudos
Hi Smiley, thanks!
Louise Hay has had a huge influence in my life, I’m glad that you love her, too!
I just found your website and I have been on a diet for 22 years since the birth of my first daughter The exercise for day one seems so easy if i look in my eyes I can say the affirmation the longer i look at my body the harder it gets and I dont believe what I am saying I pray in 30 days it wont be so hard say a prayer for me because loving myself is very hard
Hi Fawn, I’m glad that you’re taking the first step towards loving yourself just a little bit more each day.
Here’s something to consider - 22 years is a pretty good amount of time to be in the habit of a “diet mentality”, which is the same habit that many of us have been in for our whole lives - thinking that a diet will solve our problems.
Every day it will get easier to love yourself exactly as you are now so that you can begin to treat yourself just like you would treat your own best friend, a best friend who you love and care about. At the end of 31 days you will notice a difference and while miracles do occur, you’ll want to keep on consciously loving yourself each day after that…..just a little more each day.
I’m still working on this myself, so I’ve done multiple 31 days and I am seeing changes in myself - I’m not as critical with myself if I don’t eat perfectly on my plan, and because of this I don’t binge to punish myself.
That’s just one example. Just look at this as one day at a time, and if you keep a journal you’ll be able to look back and see how much progress you’ve made.
One last thing - if you have a day that you find it really hard to love yourself, focus on this affirmation - “I am willing to love myself just a little more today”. Focus on being willing to love yourself.
I said a prayer for you before I wrote this so you’ve got some good vibes coming towards you.
And just let me know if you have any other comments or questions along the way.
This is the first time I come across this site. I will read all the posts starting today and do them daily. Thank you for the inspirational and motivational exercises.
Hi Rells,
I hope you’ve been enjoying my 31 Day Series in Loving Yourself Thin. Just let me know if you have any questions, and keep on loving yourself just a little bit more each day!