asier reason to cope with (as it suggested the other person was shallow and insensitive). To face my own inner truths was a lot scarier than just being overweight.

Of course there are multitude of reasons for why people are fat, and each is unique to them. Far more important than coming up with a unified theory of why people are fat (from psychological reasons through to physiological ones) is deciding how you are going to respond to 'fat' in your life.

Acceptance is

This was a conversation I had recently with a client about why we manifest things like a fat on a body. My client, 'Dorothy', felt that she could hide behind fat. It allowed her a sense of freedom, a freedom from expectations (her own and those she imagined others having about her). Even though she knew how good it was to be fit and healthy, as she once had been, there was also something a lot easier about having a fatter, less fit body. It was almost seductive. It truly was a disguise - there is nothing to hide behind without fat; when you are thin there are no excuses for fatigue, for procrastination, for lack of confidence.

My client felt that fat explains and allows a lot of things. It allows you to be seen as 'lazy' and therefore there is less need to perform. It says to the world, "I am not confident - don't ask much of me."

It doesn't matter if the rest of the world disagrees with her, this is what she felt about herself. And until she heals this part of herself, the part that is shy and sad and lacking in confidence, she will continue to create a fat experience as protection, as a buffer against what she feels is a critical and competitive world.

Dr. Caroline Myss, in her book "Spiritual Anatomy", suggests that our biology is our biography: what we experience, think, and feel shows up in our body, whether this feels good or not. We create our physical ailments as symbols and expressions of our own inner emotional and spiritual ailments.

I read somewhere else that fat on a body is 'stored love.'

All of these comments resonate for me as I have experienced them myself as well as through conversations with clients. I have gained weight in the past as a way of being defiant, as a way of explaining rejection. "He left me because I was fat." This was easier somehow than, "He left me because he didn't like me anymore" or even "he left me because we grew apart". Being fat was an easier reason to cope with (as it suggested the other person was shallow and insensitive). To face my own inner truths was a lot scarier than just being overweight.

Of course there are multitude of reasons for why people are fat, and each is unique to them. Far more important than coming up with a unified theory of why people are fat (from psychological reasons through to physiological ones) is deciding how you are going to respond to 'fat' in your life.

Acceptance is o

guise - there is nothing to hide behind without fat; when you are thin there are no excuses for fatigue, for procrastination, for lack of confidence.

My client felt that fat explains and allows a lot of things. It allows you to be seen as 'lazy' and therefore there is less need to perform. It says to the world, "I am not confident - don't ask much of me."

It doesn't matter if the rest of the world disagrees with her, this is what she felt about herself. And until she heals this part of herself, the part that is shy and sad and lacking in confidence, she will continue to create a fat experience as protection, as a buffer against what she feels is a critical and competitive world.

Dr. Caroline Myss, in her book "Spiritual Anatomy", suggests that our biology is our biography: what we experience, think, and feel shows up in our body, whether this feels good or not. We create our physical ailments as symbols and expressions of our own inner emotional and spiritual ailments.

I read somewhere else that fat on a body is 'stored love.'

All of these comments resonate for me as I have experienced them myself as well as through conversations with clients. I have gained weight in the past as a way of being defiant, as a way of explaining rejection. "He left me because I was fat." This was easier somehow than, "He left me because he didn't like me anymore" or even "he left me because we grew apart". Being fat was an easier reason to cope with (as it suggested the other person was shallow and insensitive). To face my own inner truths was a lot scarier than just being overweight.

Of course there are multitude of reasons for why people are fat, and each is unique to them. Far more important than coming up with a unified theory of why people are fat (from psychological reasons through to physiological ones) is deciding how you are going to respond to 'fat' in your life.

Acceptance is

l she heals this part of herself, the part that is shy and sad and lacking in confidence, she will continue to create a fat experience as protection, as a buffer against what she feels is a critical and competitive world.

Dr. Caroline Myss, in her book "Spiritual Anatomy", suggests that our biology is our biography: what we experience, think, and feel shows up in our body, whether this feels good or not. We create our physical ailments as symbols and expressions of our own inner emotional and spiritual ailments.

I read somewhere else that fat on a body is 'stored love.'

All of these comments resonate for me as I have experienced them myself as well as through conversations with clients. I have gained weight in the past as a way of being defiant, as a way of explaining rejection. "He left me because I was fat." This was easier somehow than, "He left me because he didn't like me anymore" or even "he left me because we grew apart". Being fat was an easier reason to cope with (as it suggested the other person was shallow and insensitive). To face my own inner truths was a lot scarier than just being overweight.

Of course there are multitude of reasons for why people are fat, and each is unique to them. Far more important than coming up with a unified theory of why people are fat (from psychological reasons through to physiological ones) is deciding how you are going to respond to 'fat' in your life.

Acceptance is

ner emotional and spiritual ailments.

I read somewhere else that fat on a body is 'stored love.'

All of these comments resonate for me as I have experienced them myself as well as through conversations with clients. I have gained weight in the past as a way of being defiant, as a way of explaining rejection. "He left me because I was fat." This was easier somehow than, "He left me because he didn't like me anymore" or even "he left me because we grew apart". Being fat was an easier reason to cope with (as it suggested the other person was shallow and insensitive). To face my own inner truths was a lot scarier than just being overweight.

Of course there are multitude of reasons for why people are fat, and each is unique to them. Far more important than coming up with a unified theory of why people are fat (from psychological reasons through to physiological ones) is deciding how you are going to respond to 'fat' in your life.

Acceptance is

asier reason to cope with (as it suggested the other person was shallow and insensitive). To face my own inner truths was a lot scarier than just being overweight.

Of course there are multitude of reasons for why people are fat, and each is unique to them. Far more important than coming up with a unified theory of why people are fat (from psychological reasons through to physiological ones) is deciding how you are going to respond to 'fat' in your life.

Acceptance is one path. No longer fighting being fat, but accepting yourself as you are, lumps and all. This is a good strategy, so long as it feels good, and not a bitter resignation and giving up on yourself.

For me, the shift came in healing all sorts of self-confidence and self-criticisms. I forgave myself a lot of past choices and past experiences and let go of the attachment I had to the past. I made a concerted decision to choose a new path forward and a new me. One that felt good.

Now I have a very fit and healthy body that I appreciate and love. I have new goals: to exercise 5-6 times a week and to feel good about my nutrition choices. The size and shape and weight of my body doesn't matter as much as how I feel about my body and how I translate that feeling into action.

Accepting and appreciating my body and focusing on daily acts of self love like exercise has meant that not only do I look good, but I feel great. The absence of self-criticism and self-loathing is such a relief and a gift of gold in my book. This was the real gift for me. Losing 20 pounds didn't do it for me: self-acceptance and healing my past did.