How To Improve Your Body Image & Accept Your Body For Good
If you’re like most women, feeling better about your body is something you’re constantly struggling with. Even though the messages around us seem to be changing and #BodyPositivity is becoming more present, we all seem to still have these unwavering and sometimes unrealistic expectations of our bodies.
So for all of us who are tired of the endless efforts you have to do in order to keep your body a certain way and want to see yourself as more than your size or shape, here’s what you need to do to improve your body image and accept your body for good!
Accept What Is & Grieve What Isn’t
With diet culture and an easy google search for how to lose 10 pounds in a week or transform your body by doing these three exercises, it can become really easy to believe we have such control over our bodies.
We start to disregard not only our genetics, but even the dimensions and shapes of our bodies. Thinking there’s some kind of diet or workout that can give us a bigger butt or smaller thighs. And even if there is- do you really want to do what’s required to have those things?
Many of us think - Yes! But come on? If we really wanted to do that, we’d have done it by now.
So If you’re being honest with yourself and can acknowledge that you too have limits to what you’re willing to do for that “perfect body” you’re holding yourself accountable to - Accept What Is.
Accept your body and grieve the one you wish you had. You need to acknowledge that the body you have is currently different from the one you’ve been wishing for and accept that it might always be this way and that that’s okay.
With this acceptance, comes a grief that we may have to face hard truths about our bodies or even the state of our health. That we might never look or feel a certain way. With this process, you clear space to find out not only why your body is currently the way it is, but also where you can help your body and improve your physical self.
2. Cut Back On Social Media.
Don’t get me wrong, I do love social media (especially sending hilarious tiktoks and memes back and forth with my friends). But sometimes the content we’re watching starts to F with us. It starts to make us compare ourselves or tells us that we should look like her or whatever we currently are is the “before” picture.
When something isn’t serving us we need to cut it out. Put up some boundaries, especially if we’re vulnerable to whatever message or feeling it pushes o us.
Maybe just go through your feed and ask yourself “does this person/message serve me?” “does this person/message make me feel better about myself?”
If the answer is no- Unfollow!
Good stuff in, good stuff out is the key rule to remember and when social media makes us feel worse about ourselves, then we need better boundaries and better content to absorb.
3. Wear Your Actual Size.
This has been the biggest game changer for me personally and feeling good about myself on a regular basis. Many times when I would go shopping, it would be a day that I did my makeup and my hair and was less bloated or ate really well the day prior. I was feeling great about myself!
I’d head to the mall and pick out everything in my ideal size! Because of all the circumstances that led me to wanting to go shopping (I felt thinner, prettier that day or I had been “dieting” to ensure this shopping trip was a success), everything looked and felt great!
Later on, I’d try to put that piece of clothing on and it would feel like stuffing myself into a sausage wrapper, muffin top galore! Then I’d fall into this cycle of feeling gross, fat, ugly, you name it and then I’d move right into “okay, I need to go on a diet!” or “I’m going to start working out everyday!”
I realized this pattern not that long ago and decided to start buying the size that actually fit me on all the days, not just the once a month days.
Now I buy clothes that actually fit my body through the month and flatter my figure no matter what I ate the day before. No longer do I look in my closet and can’t find jeans to wear because they’re 2 sizes too small.
Just buy your damn size and see how absolutely incredible you’ll feel- because you’ll look amazing and realize the number on the jeans means absolutely NOTHING!
4. See Yourself For A Whole Person
Right now- go check yourself out in a mirror. Get the whole body in there - from your feet to the top of your head. Now consider this - you’re more than your thighs! You’re more than your boobs. You’re more than your stomach. You’re more than your butt. You are a whole person - believe it or not.
When you go around other people- this is what they see. They don’t see all the imperfections or insecurities that you hyper fixate over in the mirror. They just see you and all the beauty and interesting things about you!
Whenever you begin to check yourself out in a mirror and feel that lazer focus start to happen- stop yourself. Take a step back. Get the full picture. See yourself as a whole person who is more than stretch marks and love handles, and squishy thighs.
You are more than that and you don’t have time to piece apart someone so amazing.
5. Identify Your Negative Beliefs About Your Body.
Okay this is a big one! This is the meat and potatoes people for the whole “For Good” I referenced in the title.
If you want to live your life no longer equating your value and worth to your body - then you gotta look beyond your outer appearance and identify the negative beliefs you have about your body.
Ask yourself:
a. What do I believe about my body? (it’s too… it’s not enough…)
Now ask yourself:
b. What does it mean about me that my body is too… or not enough…?
And one more question:
C. Where did I learn these beliefs about myself?
This is where it all stems from. This is what lies beneath all of your efforts to be something that you currently aren’t, maybe never can be. Or all that negative self-talk inside your mind when your face breaks out or you’ve gained some weight. This is what we have to look at and we have to begin to shift away from.
Identifying the truth about ourselves, that we are more than our bodies, that our bodies are amazing and beautiful, no matter what other people think about it. It only matters what we think about it and how we go about honoring ourselves by how we take care of our bodies.
6. Be Grateful For The Body You Have.
And lastly, be grateful for the body you have. I don’t mean to be condescending and be like “You should just be happy with what you’ve got” sort of thing. I mean, really look at this beautiful, functioning body you have. Look at how hard it works to serve you and help you along in life. Look where it’s failed and still tries and tries.
Gratefulness for ourselves and what we ultimately have is the key to love. To love ourselves. To acknowledge all that we've been through and all that our bodies have carried us through.
Like that quote “you’ve lived through all of your worst days.” Your body has some responsibility in that. Even when it hasn’t lived up to your expectations.
So honor yourself and honor that incredible body of yours.
