The Perfect Reduction Plan

Step right up, Ladies and Gentlemen!  Come right this way!  You too can shed that unwanted weight, lose the very thing that is weighing you down and keeping you from happiness!  That's right, I have discovered the Perfect Reduction Plan!   And you know what?  I am GIVING it away for free!!!  You heard right, folks, I'm not charging one red cent for this Perfect Reduction Plan!  So listen up and get ready to give it a try at NO RISK TO YOU!!!!

I can hear you now.  "But Lys, I thought that you decided that diets were not the way to go, and that Health at Every Size was the logical way to approach your life?  Now, suddenly, you're advocating a diet plan?"

No, I'm not.  I'm advocating a reduction plan.  Though I will admit that it is one of the hardest plans I've ever tried.  I am advocating reducing the central tenet of life from four words to three.  Let's stop living the religion of "Eat Less, Move More" and reduce that down to three words.  What words?

"I am beautiful."

One of the heaviest weights that a fat person can carry around is the guilt that they feel for being fat.  Our society has made this one of the greatest burdens we know right now.  We blame way of life, we blame our parents, we blame our circumstances, but mostly we are given the message over and over again that it is our own choices that lead to the bulkiness of our bodies.  Television, books, magazines, radio and movies all throw it at us over and over again that if we would only shake off the self-hatred that keeps us stuffing our faces with bacon double-cheeseburgers and chocolate, and if we would get our fat asses off the couch and walk a few hundred steps more per day, we would find ourselves slimming down to a size that is more acceptable to be viewed by others.

That's the thing, really.  It isn't that other people want fatties to be healthier (though that is the "concern" that they use as justification for fat-bashing in its many forms), it is that they don't want to look at fat people.  To them, fat is an uncomfortable thing.  Fat isn't pretty to look at according to modern Western standards.  Fat people make others uneasy because they're afraid that it may be catching.  The fear that they may get fat someday too, and then be on the receiving end of the hatred rather than handing it out, that is a paralyzing thought for a lot of people.  Women have been known to say things like, "If I ever got that fat, I would kill myself."

Really?  You would rather DIE than live a happy and healthy life as a fat person???  What is wrong with our society that this kind of attitude is not only prevalent, but lauded?

But that's all right.  As I said, I have the answer.  Everyone, no matter their size, needs to start looking in the mirror every day and saying three words. 

"I am beautiful."

I can tell you from experience, they're not easy to say.  As a matter of fact, it is probably one of the hardest life-changing habits that I have tried to develop.  Living on 500 calories a day was easier than looking myself in the eye in the mirror and saying, "I am beautiful."  Even harder is looking in the mirror, saying the words, and believing them.  I have been told my whole life that I'm NOT beautiful.  Yes, there have been a few who have said that I am, and I have never believed them.  But now I am making an effort to believe them, to believe me, and to know that I AM beautiful just as I am.  Should I lose weight, I will be beautiful then, too.  But right now it is more important to know that I am beautiful as I am, and if I decide to eat less it will be because I'm not that hungry.  Should I decide to move more, it will be because I've found a type of movement that is fun and I enjoy and it makes me FEEL good.

So there you are.  The world's most Perfect Reduction Plan.  Lose the weight of shame, guilt, and "Eat Less, Move More".  Reduce it down from four words to three. 

"I am beautiful."

Say it.  Believe it.  Live it.  Because you know what?  You ARE beautiful.  Just the way that you are. 

Oh, and if you have a hard time with it, just imagine me standing next to you, looking into the mirror with you.  We'll say it together every day.

"I am beautiful."