Women's Healthy Lifestyles: Self-Esteem & Loving Ourselves

We've written a lot about self-esteem and self-acceptance over the years we've had this blog.  The issue is that we spend our time apologizing for who we are because we are ashamed or otherwise feel bad about our body size.  But for the last 36+ years, we at Green Mountain at Fox Run have been trying to move women beyond the issue of body size and women's weight loss.  We have always proclaimed that we are much more than our body size and to be successful in achieving a healthy lifestyle and living a healthy, happy life, we need to like ourselves for who we are, regardless of our body size.  Thelma, our founder, began our program with the phrase "You're going to like you!"  Sounds simplistic but is so at the core of the issue.

Pat Ballard, self-described "Queen of Rubenesque Romance Novels," recently published a non-fiction book titled "10 Steps to Loving Your Body (No Matter What Size You Are)."  Check out the 10 steps to building your self-esteem independent of body size.  Here's her tenth tip that I think rings true for all of us as we traverse this challenging journey called life.

But most of all, you have to love yourself. When you love yourself, others will love you and respond to you in the exact manner as you feel about yourself.