I’ve written about my ongoing struggle with my weight, and how I manage to lose 37lbs last year, but I thought it was important to talk a little bit about how all this has affected me mentally.
As I mentioned in my previous blog... I never considered myself fat, let alone obese. Sure I could do with losing a bit around the middle, but the realisation of my actual size wasn’t until I saw photos of myself. This knocked me sideways, and was made worse shortly after, when I went clothes shopping and couldn’t find anything that fit me.
It’s safe to say that my body confidence at that time was at an all time low. Overtime as I lost a bit of weight here and there, it improved. Then in 2016, when I decided to post more photos of myself on social media, it took another hit, because once again, I was seeing the reality of how I looked, rather than my own mental image. They say ignorance is bliss... when it came to my weight, this was definitely true!
Many people blame social media for all the body confidence and mental health problems in today’s world. I might be in a minority, but I disagree, at least for me anyway. Seeing photos of other people never made me jealous. It was seeing photos of myself that affected me, and it forced me to take action!
Read more about my journey here
So has losing weight changed me mentally? In a word... massively! I have so much more confidence in myself. I’m playing with fashion in a way I never would have before. A few months back I went shopping on oxford street in a suit with a shirt and tie. There was no reason to dress up, I just felt like it. I felt so good, and the must have translated into me walking more confidently, because I started noticing people look at me, especially women... and I was getting smiles when I looked in their direction! This obviously boosted my confidence even further! It felt amazing!
I receive so many more compliments on my appearance nowadays, and every time it happens, my confidence goes up. In the past, I would have dismissed these compliments as people ‘just being nice’, but now I welcome them with thanks.
I’m still learning how to be in front of the camera for social media, but it’s so much easier now that I don’t have to suck in my tummy or worry about angles in the way I used to. It means I can concentrate on just being natural... being myself!
The other major change is that I now have a strong inner belief that I can do anything. I lost weight... all on my own! If I gain some weight, I know I can lose it again. I don’t see so many things as insurmountable anymore. Challenges can be overcome. I remember watching a Chris Pratt video about his own transformation, and he said something to the effect of ‘the time is going to pass anyway. Who do you want to be 8 months from now’. This stuck with me and has really made me self analyse who I am, and who I want to be. Not just physically, but also mentally.
Losing weight undoubtedly affected me physically, but I actually think the mental changes are far more profound! Whether you think I’m better looking or not is up to you, and to be honest I don’t care. What I know for sure, is that I’m a much better, stronger, and more complete person mentally than I was a little over a year ago!
This blog post is meant to be positive and is purely my own personal experience. I would never tell anyone they should or shouldn’t do something in order to be happy/healthy. If you’re happy how you are, great! If you’re not, I would rather you feel empowered to do something to change that, whatever it may be!