How to Lose Weight by Approving Of Yourself NOW
Today’s exercise in Loving Yourself Thin is to keep this affirmation running in your head: I approve of myself. When you go to the mirror today, look yourself in the eyes and say, “I approve of you. I approve of you no matter what you weigh, or how much you eat”.
At some time today, grab your notebook and write 10 times, “I approve of myself”. If you have any responses that come up when you write this affirmation you can jot those down. Doing this exercise will probably bring up some unconscious negative beliefs and the more you can become aware of them, the better you will be able to see what beliefs are running your life (another topic, please refer to this or this post for some more information).
After writing that affirmation, follow it up by writing 10 times, “I approve of myself no matter what I eat or how much I weigh”. How is this affirmation going to help you lose weight? Well, if you approve of yourself no matter what you eat or how much you weigh, then you aren’t criticizing yourself. No one feels good when they are criticized so by releasing self-criticism you will automatically start feeling better.
If you are feeling better about yourself and you would normally eat to try to make yourself feel better (not for physical hunger), you won’t have as much of a motivation for emotional eating. If you are feeling better because you are releasing criticism, then you are able to love yourself more, and feel the power in your hands that you could eat better, you could exercise.
Can you see how this works? The better you can feel today, which you will achieve by loving yourself just a little bit more each day, accepting yourself for who you are now, forgiving yourself for overeating and gaining weight, and releasing self-criticism, the easier it will be for you to naturally want to take better care of yourself. When you love and approve of yourself, when you are your own best friend, you will naturally want only the best for you, which includes living with high energy, joy, and full health in both body and mind. 
You can find a full list of all current exercises in the Loving Yourself Thin series here. Day 1 and Day 14 give you the background and foundation for these exercises.
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Great post JoLynn. I am one of the worlds worst when it comes to self criticism, which is silly as it harms your self esteem so much. I will definitely be trying out this tip. Cheers.
Yes, the exercises that i do, really gets me hungry and i can’t obey from not eating until i think it’s enough.But if i’m gonna be a little carefully i will not gonna have any problems about my weight !
Hi, thanks for your comments!
@Catherine, I know exactly what you mean about being self-critical, I have had that issue, too. I am experiencing a shift since starting and doing this series of exercises, though. Let me know if you notice a difference, too!
@Watch Heroes, it sounds like you get hungry from exercising and then you overeat? Do you then criticize yourself for overeating? If you are criticizing yourself I’d support you in letting go of that and approving of yourself NOW. That doesn’t mean that you cannot make some changes and be sure to eat a healthy, pre-workout meal (w/protein, whole carbs, and fruit), but it won’t help you in a positive way to criticize yourself for overeating today.