Are Body Confidence and Weight Loss Mutually Exclusive?

World Wide Web | Are Body Confidence and Weight Loss Mutually Exclusive? | What is body confidence? As women and especially mums I think we often struggle with loving our bodies. Once we have babies our bodies change and stretch out of shape and they don't necessarily ping back as quickly as we would like. Developing the confidence to step out with our bodies and say to the general public, "This is my body shape and I don't care what you think" is something we all need to do.

Do you have body confidence? 

When you get dressed in the morning to you dread looking in the mirror or does it not bother you at all? I know a large number of my clients hate (yes, hate) looking at themselves in the mirror, especially before they get dressed. There are 2 points to note here; the first being that you are far more critical of your body than anyone else and also that everyone looks worse naked than they do in their clothes. But how can you develop body confidence and why should you?

It's not a quick process but here are a few things you can do to develop your confidence around your body shape and size 

Find bits of your body that you do like. Start small and don't overthink it. If you think you have nice eyes then tell yourself and celebrate them.

Build up a new 'good bit' every day. So, on day 2 remember the bit you liked yesterday, remind yourself of it and add a new one. On day 3, remind yourself of the previous 2 and add another and so on.

If you can afford it have your colours and a style analysis done. This will help you make the most of what you have by making sure that your clothes are accentuating your best bits. If you can't afford to see someone at the moment try buying a book - "What you wear can change your life" by Trinny and Susannah is a good one.

Buy a new bra. Seriously. Most of us are wearing the wrong size for a start, but even if you are wearing the right size, after a while the elastic will start to stretch and you won't be supported as well as you should be. Wearing pretty underwear will also give you a bit of a lift and you'll generally feel better about yourself.

So if you have body confidence, do you still need to lose weight?

That decision is up to you. It is possible to be confident without being totally happy with your size. You can still want to fit into your old jeans or wear a party dress you can no longer fit into, whilst feeling confident and happy in yourself. In fact, a little more body confidence can help you to lose the extra weight, it will give you that spring in your step and confidence to know you can do anything you choose to do.

I believe that you can feel confident on your journey to being slimmer. If you have a certain body shape, it may be that regardless of size you will still have to come to terms with your hips being wide or your legs being short. They are not necessarily the same problem, so developing your body confidence is a separate issue although just as important.

Throughout her adult life Rachel Swann has battled with her weight going up and down as well as emotional eating. She has tried diet after diet, slimming pills, you name it. She even worked for a diet company as well! Finally discovering hypnotherapy she lost 2 dress sizes nearly 2 years ago and has kept it off without a diet or slimming pill in sight. Inspired by this success she qualified as a hypnotherapist and now supports others in their quest to find permanent weight loss.