Friends and other women tell me they need to slim down before being photographed, so I am here to help. Are you ready? Here are six straightforward steps to lose weight weeks before your photoshoot.

If you’re in my generation, you probably spent the 1990’s being told that your weight was a problem. Remember all those Jenny Craig commercials back then? They generated over $400 million in annual revenue, which was invested in advertising. Remember all those diet supplement ads featuring very thin women? They were all to convince ordinary women like us to buy an impossibly narrow beauty ideal. Most of my girlfriends tried to lose weight during that time, and most joined a program or a gym. Do you remember, how you felt through the 1990s? I certainly remember hating body.

Are you ready to lose weight? Here we go!

Drop 120 lbs in five minutes.

Discard the companion, family member, or friend who makes you feel lousy about yourself because of your body, and remove 120 pounds in a hurry. If they are not there to support you at any weight, they have no business being in your beautiful world.

Cut back on opinions.

I’m talking about those opinions about how you should or should not look – including your own – is what’s holding you back from doing something extraordinary. Gravity has no bearing on your relationship to weight.

Consume no passive body shaming.

Too much content reinforces the notion that only certain bodies are worthy of love and respect. Movies, TV shows, books, music, and more are all examples of this. Be on the lookout for passive body shaming.

Rather than following accounts that promote a single body type, seek out accounts that celebrate a wide variety of body types. Seeing a wide variety of body types documented is crucial – the more you see it, the more you’ll believe it.

Cut out the belief that you must be a certain weight to be photographed.

It is just not true. Magnificent photographs of yourself are within your reach. I have taken pictures of many bodies in all sorts of conditions, and I can tell you that this is not the case.

Increase your intake of gratitude and positive self-talk.

Recognize that your body is a temple, a vessel of beauty in and of itself. It’s capable of great things beyond appearance, so love it. Redefine what beauty means to you. Start being kind to yourself by redirecting your thoughts. When you tell yourself that you’re not thin enough to be photographed, those thoughts keep you from experiencing something phenomenal. Here’s an article with tips on distracting yourself from negative thinking.

Hiring a personal…photographer.

It’s not a personal trainer that helps you exist in exquisite photography, it’s a professional photographer who understands the complex intersection of body image and photography so that you can feel confident that they will treat you and your body with the respect that you deserve is important.

You can finish these steps quickly to lose the weight of negativity and thoughts holding you back from having a photo shoot that will boost your self-acceptance and love. Want to talk about it? Reach out to me.