This Will Help You Stop Being Disappointed With Your Body and Start Making Changes

By Rob Sulaver

A new study from The Bandana Training Journal of Derision and Bro-Science confirms that 107 percent of Americans will resolve to lose at least five pounds this New Year. That, my friends, is a staggering statistic. I’m not a mathematician, obviously, but I’m pretty sure that’s more than all of America.

Nobody is satisfied with their body anymore. Literally. Nobody. OK, that’s not true. I’m sure there are some people who are completely, whole-heartedly pleased with their reflection in the mirror. I’ve just never met them.

You might think that supermodels, professional athletes, or really sexy people are the outliers. Wrong. Having trained all of them, I can attest that they are no exceptions, often emphatically disappointed and disillusioned with their appearance. Just look at Scarlett Johansson’s recent interview with Barbara Walters. (Here’s the gist: “It’s an OK body. I wouldn’t say it’s particularly remarkable though. I don’t like my thighs, my mid section.”)

And it’s not just women. And it’s not just the overweight. We are all, to some degree, convinced that our body is underachieving.

Now let’s not confuse the issue here: There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the pursuit of “better.” Better is awesome. It’s well documented that progress is closely related to happiness. Our general sense of well-being has a stronger relationship with our trajectory in life than our station.

It makes sense when you think about it: A homeless man sitting on the sidewalk is offered $500—he is elated. A Wall Street trader 50 stories above him loses a few mil—he jumps out of the window. Objectively the trader is still in a much better place, sans a few million, than the homeless man, but he’s heading in the wrong direction (namely, towards the sidewalk). Point being, it’s the direction that matters most. We need to make progress. We should make progress. Progress is delightful.

But alas, therein lies the problem. We’re not making progress. Collectively we’re in a perpetual state of overweight purgatory. Take, for example, a sampling of typical New Year’s resolutions:

• January 1, 2011: I will get my weight back down below 170 pounds.
• January 1, 2012: I will get my weight back down below 190 pounds.
• January 1, 2013: I will not weigh more than 200 pounds this year.
• January 1, 2014: I will try to develop a more realistic attitude about my weight.

We are constantly, neurotically trying to lose weight. I suppose this begs the question: Why are we perpetually disappointed with how we look?

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Source:: Greatist