On Day 10 we looked at possible ways you could be holding yourself back from moving forward with your weight loss efforts. For example, if you have repeatedly lost weight and then regained it (plus some!), been trying diet after diet, and if you have been on this roller coaster for years, you can see how you could really get down by even thinking about the prospect of losing weight yet again. After so many repeated weight loss successes followed by weight regains, you might just reach the point where you don’t even want to try anymore.

So what can you do if you’re at that point where you’ve experienced success losing weight followed by regaining what you lost, and there is still a part of you that is holding out hope that you can succeed long term? What you can start with is forgiving yourself.

Forgive yourself for overeating, forgive yourself for regaining weight you previously lost, forgive yourself for holding your past actions against yourself today. The past is the past and there isn’t anything you can do about it now. You can choose to learn from it but you can also let it go. What matters is what you do today. You can choose to love yourself today, just as you are, which includes forgiving yourself for any perceived weight loss failures in your past.

For today’s exercise, go to the mirror, look yourself in the eye and repeat 10 times, “I forgive you for regaining the weight that you lost. I forgive you for all of your weight loss failures and I applaud you for your successes. You’ve lost weight before and you can do it again. I love you just as you are today.” Speak these positive affirmations to yourself just like you would speak to your best friend.

When you love yourself now and forgive yourself for your past weight loss failures, you can move on and live in the present. Your power is in the present, and it is here that you can make healthy changes that will affect your future. By loving yourself as you are now, you can get into a positive space and make positive progress with your weight loss and fitness goals.

This exercise is part of a 31 days series in Loving Yourself Thin. If this is your first time doing one of the exercises, please read the introduction to learn their background and focus. You can also read Day 14 for a good review of the series.

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