Think You Look Really Gross in a Swimsuit?

How to love your body, and solve your fat problem.

-Jane Farrell

We’re well into pool and beach season, but it may not be working out for you quite the way you’d hoped. The 15 pounds you wanted to lose actually totaled 5, or you went to the beach last weekend, and every woman there looked sexier than you, even the ones who weren’t wearing bikinis.

In other words, autumn can’t come fast enough. And in the meantime, your summer is not looking like a whole lot of fun.

Read How to Conquer Weight-Loss Plateaus

Clinical psychologist Lavinia Rodriguez says unrealistic goals and images often guarantee that women will have a miserable summer, just when they should be having the most fun.

“Too many women spend the summer obsessing over the way they look—or more accurately, the way they think they look,” says Rodriguez, author of Mind Over Fat Matters: Conquering Psychological Barriers to Weight Management. “It’s a real shame. Instead of enjoying this wonderful time of the year, they waste it on self-conscious, frustrating, self-defeating thoughts about body image.”

Instead, Rodriguez says, think positive – remember that you’ve got the rest of the summer, and beyond, to work on your weight issues. While you’re doing that, Rodriguez suggests three simple ways to keep in the weight-loss game: