Guest post by PhD Linda Bacon

Linda Bacon, PhD, is a professor, researcher, and author of Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight (www.HAESbook.com). Learn more about Dr. Bacon at www.LindaBacon.Org. Visit the HAES Community Resources (www.HAESCommunity.org) to show your commitment to these principles and find community.

''Embracing YOU and Your Amazing Body Living in this culture its way too easy to believe that a thin body will right everything wrong in your world. It won’t. Moving towards increased self-acceptance and taking power away from your weight will do much more to improve your life.  

Think about what you have believed you will gain from being thinner. Fill in the blank with your fantasies: When I’m thin, _____________.  

These were some responses from participants in a research study I conducted: 

•    When I’m thin, I’ll be more attractive to others. 

•    When I’m thin, someone special will love me. 

•    When I’m thin, my sex life will get hot. 

•    When I’m thin, I won’t have diabetes.  

•    When I’m thin, I’ll be more athletic. 

•    When I’m thin, I’ll be a rock star.  

Once you consider the extent of the magical thinking that tends to be tied in to the fantasy of thinness, you can understand how threatening it is to consider the idea that you may never get the thin body you crave. It means that you never get to become the person you want to be. Wow! No wonder it’s so painful to let go of the drive to lose weight. Accepting your body is not just about physicality, it’s about accepting who you are, not continuing to wait until you become the person you imagine being.   If there is one message to take away from my book, Health at Every Size, it’s this: Start living life fully now, in your present body, because waiting until you lose weight is a big old waste of time. Your fantasies are available to you, right now.   It’s a big leap of faith to move on from the “when I’m thin” fantasies. But when you change the question to reflect what you’re really looking for, your fantasies become more achievable."