It's All In Your Head: 5 Steps To Combat The Days You Feel Fat

Oh, the I-feel-fat-days — they can be enough to have you wanting to curl up back into bed and not leave the house for a week. Maybe you rethink your outfit choice to a looser-fitting dress, not because you actually look any different (note: you don’t, but we’ve all been there), but because you just know you do. 

So how do we get out of that funk and keep doing our thang?

1. Write a massive list that highlights good things.

Write down every positive thing that you can think about yourself. Think about that new promotion at work, hitting a new personal best at the gym, resisting dessert the other night or your aunt not being able to get over how much you’ve changed since last year. In other words, take some perspective back!

2. Explore the Triggers.

What actually caused this feeling to manifest? Explore what triggered it. Often, it’s a deeply embedded self-limiting belief. When you start to feel like you’re reaching higher things, that not-so-cool voice in your head tries to bring you crashing back down to some (fake) reality.

3. Immerse yourself in positivity.

Spend some time with positive girl friends or the guys from work who love to have a good laugh and chat about mundane things. Go spend some time with your dog or borrow a friend’s dog and play with it.

4. Look back at old photos and memories.

Have a look through old photos on Facebook or old photo albums. Remind yourself of your roots. Maybe you think you look better there than you do now, but if that’s the case, explore why it is. What were you doing at that time of your life? How did you feel about yourself? What changed?

5. Make the biggest, healthiest smoothie possible.

Jam-pack your blender with so many greens, super foods and nutrient boosters that your body won’t know what hit it and drink it. Now who controls whom?

Just remember, days you feel badly about yourself can be temporary buzz kills, but they aren’t accurate reflections of who you really are. Generally, regaining some perspective will do the trick, but if you find yourself feeling like this more often, then it’s time to get a bit more serious about why you continuously feel the way you do. Take serious steps to learn how you can take yourself from this not-so-good place, to one that is great.

Helen Walker is a Health and Fitness Coach who is passionate about working with women to push past their limits and create their best life. You can visit her online at www.helenwalker.com.au and be one of 2,000+ women who have completed her free online eCourse – 6 Days to Leaner Legs. Helen can usually be found in one of Melbourne’s many cafes, Macbook and long black coffee in hand.