Loving yourself has nothing to do with narcissism (in most cases!) It is important to love yourself, because the alternative is to be indifferent or to hate yourself, which clearly isn't beneficial to anyone. If you don't love yourself, what difference does it make what you eat, whether you exercise, how you dress or who you associate with? If you don't care about your well-being, you could end up drinking too much, taking drugs, sleeping around, eating junk food, and engaging in behaviour which could be damaging in the long run. If you don't love yourself, it's hard to project yourself to the rest of the world in the way you want to, which can have a bearing on your self-esteem and confidence levels.
Indeed, if you don't love yourself, this could be because you are suffering from low self-esteem. This can be caused by your interactions with others. If you've been bullied or undermined in some way, especially over a period of time, this can affect the way you see yourself. If someone continually tells you that you're ugly, fat and worthless, there is a chance you will eventually come to believe it, especially if you're a negative person to begin with. Instead of shaking off other people's nasty words, you can find yourself internalising them and engaging in activities which could only exacerbate the problem. For instance, it's not unusual to hear of overweight individuals turning to food for comfort, which can lead to further weight gain.
Ultimately, you only have one body and one mind. It's up to you to look after yourself and you can only do that if you actually care about your own health and well-being. If you have low self-esteem you may convince yourself that you're not worth the effort, but even if you have others in your life who love you, it is impossible to be around people all the time. You can't escape your own mind, though, and so you have to deal with the thoughts and feelings you have every minute of the day. Thus, it's better to love rather than loathe yourself.
Plus, if you want to build relationships with other people, whether platonic or romantic, it definitely helps to love yourself. It's better than looking for affirmation from other people, especially if it is not forthcoming. If you can't love yourself it will be hard for you to accept that anyone else can love you anyway. Loving yourself won't make your life perfect, but it will make it easier to enjoy the highs and deal with the lows that life brings.
Although there are various weight guidelines, most notably the Body
Mass Index (BMI), which are used to determine whether a person is a
healthy weight, or not; everyone has their own ideal. According to your
BMI, a measurement which takes into account height and weight, falling
between 18.5 and 24.9 makes you a healthy weight. Anything above or
below this figure means that you are not a healthy weight and either
need to gain or lose weight. However, this covers quite a significant
range, and even if you are officially considered a healthy weight, it
doesn’t necessarily mean you’re happy at the weight you are.
Basically, it becomes important to lose weight when you’re heavy enough
for you to be dissatisfied with the way you look, so that it affects
your confidence; or it affects your health, and you are unable to live
the kind of life you want. If you find your clothes getting tighter, you
may not have to buy a whole new wardrobe if you decide to cut down on
snacks and exercise more, which is clearly the preferable option.
Perhaps you’re considered to be a healthy weight, but are at the higher
end of the BMI scale and would like to lose weight and tone up, so that
you can look and feel better in the clothes you wear.
There is definitely a superficial element to losing weight. Everyone
wants to look good and, in this society, the aesthetic ideal is that of a
slender, toned body, rather than an overweight one. Even if you are
confident in yourself, it’s hard not to be affected by the images you’re
bombarded with on a daily basis. When all you see when you turn on the
television or flick through a magazine is images of skinny women, of
course this is going to have an impact on the way you feel about
yourself. It is one thing to preach body confidence, but it’s quite
another to practise it.
More important than the way you look is how you feel and your overall
health. At the end of the day, if you’re sick because of your weight and
unable to do anything for yourself, it isn’t really going to matter
what you look like, is it? If your health is beginning to suffer because
of your weight, as is so often the case, then it is definitely worth
trying to do something about it. Heart disease, stroke, and diabetes are
just a few of the conditions which you are more likely to develop if
you’re overweight and obviously it is better to tackle your weight
before your health becomes a serious issue.
Losing weight isn’t easy and it might be tempting to put off dealing
with it, but, ultimately, if you’re unhappy with your size and it’s
affecting your quality of life you need to do something about it, rather
than continually making excuses.