How Poor Body Image Can Sabotage Weight Loss Goals

I have found that there are often "invisible barriers" when it comes to releasing stubborn weight. We often have a very good reason why that weight won't budge even though we'd really like it to.

Is it our hormones? Is it our diet? Are we not exercising enough? Are we doing everything right but still can't seem to change anything? What is going on?

Invisible barriers as I call them exist when we say we want to do something but just can't either get into action or stay in action. They exist when everything seems to get in the way of our goal and we have out of control cravings or binges.

Some of these barriers are the accumulated emotional stress from the past that has never fully been released or from present life circumstances. Other barriers come from our negative beliefs - again both accumulated from the past or present experience.

Poor body image can be one of the greatest "invisible barriers" to weight loss there is for many women.

Do You Have Negativity Around Your Body Image?

Though it affects everyone differently in my experience, I've yet to meet a woman without some negativity around body image. The effect it has on weight can be tremendous.

The most significant way in which I see it play out in my practice is when someone feels so much negativity and stress about how they look that the impulse to diet and food restrict (and therefore often yo-yo with weight continuously) is in place.

There are many ways to approach this issue, and I'd like to give one way in this article.

First Step

Ask yourself how urgent you feel about needing to lose weight. Rate this on a scale of 1-10.
Now rate any strong feelings of negativity about your body. Be specific if you can about things you are very unhappy about and how strongly you feel that.

Second Step

Tap for the above urgency to lose weight first and then the negativity about how you feel you look, or your present body image. Believe it or not, this can be an extremely productive area to tap in if this is relevant for someone. Taking away some of the urgency and negativity about the issue itself can help to approach it with calm and objectivity and even hopefully acceptance and love. From a place of acceptance and love we tend to give ourselves what we really need instead of constant punishment (and food restriction.)

Third Step

Go to where the issue began if you can. Ask yourself when the first or the worst time was when you recall feeling badly about your body. Find specific events and tap for them individually.

I have found that when a negative body image is released, many women are able to approach weight loss from an entirely different perspective. Cravings, binges and emotional eating diminish and eating becomes more natural and has so much less judgement.

Sandy Zeldes
San Francisco, California, US
www.EatLikeAGoddess.com

From the EFTfree Archives, which are now a part of EFT International .
Originally published on March 30, 2013.