What To Do When You Feel Fat

Not every day is a fantastic day. No matter how much coffee you drink or how many meaningful quotes you read, there will be those days that you just feel droopy or frumpy or fat. You can eat within your plan, exercise your butt off, and ignore the doughnuts in the staff room all you want, but our minds seem pre-programmed to tell us not nice things about ourselves. We spend so much time thinking negative thoughts when we aren’t paying full attention to that mean girl in our heads. Here’s how to shut her up and get on with our fabulous lives.

Tell Her to Shut Up

The most direct way is to stand your ground and confront that mean girl voice. Poke her in the chest. Tell her to back off. Defend yourself. You are strong and amazing and so many more things than those negative words she is spewing. Confronting her will help silence her voice because standing up for yourself makes you even stronger than you were before.

Meditate, Deep Breathe, and Think Positive Thoughts

Sometimes some quiet time will starve that mean girl voice out. I don’t practice formal meditation, but I do spend time counting breaths and intentionally thinking positive thoughts. Both activities help me focus my thoughts and block out the negative. Deep breathing can also slow heart rate. A lot of times the mean girl comes out to taunt us when we are stressed or otherwise distracted. Banishing stress can banish that nasty voice as well.

Spend Time Doing Something That Makes You Feel Great

Giving yourself over to a positive activity can make you feel so much better about yourself. Everyone has a different idea of an enjoyable or empowering way to spend time, but the activity itself is inconsequential. Pick something that has helped perk you up in the past. Some people run. Others shop. Some go to the movies or the zoo. A lot of people volunteer. Others read or write. Picking one will help lift you out of a funk and can also give you a unique perspective on how great you are. That mean girl will then fade into the background.

Find Positive People to Spend Time With

Just like immersing yourself in positive thoughts or activities will silence negative thoughts, surrounding yourself with positive people will lift your spirits. Pick a friend, a loved one, or even a co-worker that makes you feel like the beautiful person you are. You will feel better, and since like attracts like, your positivity and greatness will probably rub off on your companion. It’s a win-win for everyone except your internal mean girl.  

Vision Boards

Sometimes thoughts are not enough. Sometimes we need something visual. There has been a lot of talk about vision boards lately, and I think that is for a good reason. Your brain can imagine positive things all day long, but a picture really is worth 1000 words. Clipping pictures from magazines or printing them off the internet will give your brain something to really focus on. It tricks your brain into thinking that thing you are seeing is already in existence, so you strive to find it for yourself. Putting pictures of things you consider positive where it is easily visible will encourage your brain to look for the positive and to leave the negative in the past.

These tips and tricks and ideas will help you silence your inner mean girl when she rears her ugly head. We can’t always control when and where she pops up in life but having the ability to push her back into the corner adds a lot of positivity and light to a long and sometimes tedious path. Don’t feel sorry for pushing. You are worth it every day of your life.