Do you often find yourself getting into a rut? Do you have habitual ways of behaving, or find yourself repeating habitual patterns that make you miserable?

I know I do. Every once in a while, the stress of being fat in a thin-obsessed world feels too overwhelming, and I find myself doing things that I know are bad for me.

For example, have you ever been just innocently watching TV, and then a diet commercial comes on that leaves you feeling completely ashamed, defeated, and unattractive? Usually I’m able to just shrug that nonsense off, but every so often, after the fat-hating message has sunk in, I’ll find myself thinking about the snacks that I buy for my daughter’s lunches. It doesn’t take long before I’m out of my chair, heading to the cupboard, and unwrapping “just one” of them. Naturally, just one becomes another, and another, and another…and I end up feeling like a gluttonous failure.

I am no biologist, but I have read enough to know that there are things in our brains called “neural pathways.” I could not begin to explain the scientific process behind them, but their basic function is to help you learn.

When you’re learning to drive a car, for example, your brain begins blank (more or less). It has no neural pathways for that function because you haven’t learned to drive yet. As you learn, however, and get more and more familiar with how to steer, and where the brake and the gas pedals are, you create neural pathways. These neural pathways allow you to perform a function without thinking (perhaps you’ve heard the term ‘muscle memory’). Pretty soon, you’re driving without even thinking about it, and it feels like you’ve been driving your whole life.

It’s the same thing with our attitudes. When we get into a habitual way of thinking, we create neural pathways and habits are formed. That’s why it’s so hard to change behavior. When you’ve been doing something for years, it becomes second nature to you, and you do it without even thinking about it.

I’m sure you can imagine how destructive and negative these habits are when it comes to the way we feel about ourselves and our bodies. When we allow the media or other people to influence the way we feel about ourselves - and repeatedly turn to food for comfort or out of a sense of hopelessness - we’re just digging a deeper hole.

We need to avoid the things that trigger those old, habitual patterns, and start creating new habits: loving ourselves, feeling good about who we are, celebrating life, recognizing our beauty, and being proud of the women we have become. Those sound like much better neural pathways to me.

Next time I see a diet commercial, I’m going to quickly mute the television or change the channel for a moment. A DVR is also a great solution to avoiding these commercials. Maybe I’ll even create a form letter to send to stations so that I can send it in every time these commercials come on.

What do you do to continue loving your body in our thin-centric culture?

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Gabriela Falarz is a blogger, freelance writer and editor, and size acceptance activist. She is a plus-sized woman who believes all large people deserve to be happy, celebrate their beauty and fight for their rights. She is a regular columnist for Large in Charge magazine. She also regularly blogs about fat-related issues in her blog Celebreight Yourself. She lives in Toronto and can be reached by email at gabrielafalarz@gmail.com.