So, I found myself putting this in the Weight Control section of the website, but I wasn't brave enough. I have no wish to upset my elderly parents in any way, so I have moved this content to a blog.
I am passionate about helping people to feel better about themselves in many ways and for many reasons.
Here I am going to share a little about why I want to help people feel better about the way they look. Often this is linked to weight issues. Often this is a self-fulfilling downward spiral of self-loathing and comfort eating and if you've been reading my website, you'll know that Hypnotherapy can help massively with these issues.
So, here goes, the personal stuff... I spent most of my life feeling insecure and inadequate because I was not as thin as my parents thought I should be. 'You can never be too thin or too rich,' they used to say. And they really believed it. To this day they define success as wealth, and being overweight as failure.
I was not fat as a child, but I was not lean and muscular either, I was just a normal little girl. They put me on a diet when I was around 11, because they didn't think my body was as it should be. I have no idea why. I was just a little girl.
When I married, I wore a shapeless, long-sleeved wedding dress because, despite being a size 10 at the time, I was ashamed of my body. I always covered it up because I knew that they were judging me.
This continued my entire adult life. There was always a comment, a judgment about my weight - whether it had gone up or down. I spent my life trying to be thinner, trying to be more acceptable. I even worked for Weight Watchers at one point.
I recall a particularly horrifying event when I was 51 (yes 51!), my father actually leant across the table and grabbed my tummy to feel how fat it was. I was a size 12. The saddest part was that after he had left, I squeezed my tummy myself to see how fat he must have thought I was. I cried whilst I did this, well aware of how pathetic it was.
Since then, despite having had major surgery and now having a belly which is a very strange shape indeed, I have reached the point where I am ok with myself. I have finally got past it. I am a healthy size and shape for me, my fella fancies me and my parents can get stuffed! Good God, it's only taken me almost 60 years to get here!
Funnily enough, having reached this point and no longer viewing my body as the enemy, I am taking better care of it. With the help of Hypnotherapy I eat better, I move more, I am finally on the same side as my body.
