“You can’t hate yourself happy. You can’t criticize yourself thin. You can’t shame yourself worthy. Real change begins with self-love and self-care.” — Jessica Ortner
Body positivity is a social movement focused on the acceptance of all bodies, regardless of size, shape, skin tone, gender, and physical abilities, while challenging present-day beauty standards as an undesirable social construct. (Wikipedia)
Body positivity has become another way for people to express body acceptance. There can be body acceptance for both men and women. It’s important to practice body acceptance regularly. This is because it plays an important part in the way you view yourself. It motivates and makes you feel more positive which helps when fighting against depression, anorexia, and bulimia. According to Gregory Jantz “early research reports note that anorexics with bulimic behavior “are more frequently given diagnosis of depression and are more suicidal than non-bulimic patients with anorexia nervosa.””
“Anorexia often stems from a distorted body image, which may result from emotional trauma, depression, or anxiety.” On the other hand, “someone with bulimia may develop an unhealthy relationship to food over time. They may get caught up in damaging cycles of binge eating and then panic about the calories they’ve consumed. This may lead to extreme behaviors to prevent weight gain,” according to Ana Gotter. Unfortunately there are two types of bulimia. One, which involves purging and the other that doesn’t.
Body positivity is a form of self-love and self-care.
What is body positivity and why is it important?
Body positivity is guided by the understanding that feeling positive and accepting of appearance can improve mental health, reduce the risk of eating disorders, and allow someone to function at their best.
How can I improve my body positivity?
10 ways to Practice Body Positivity
1. Positive affirmations.
2. Think healthier, not skinnier.
3. Compliment others freely.
4. Surround yourself with positivity.
5. Focus on the things you like about yourself.
6. Stop comparing yourself to others.
7. Cut out negative self-talk.
8. Absorb body positive messages.
9. Do something nice for your body.
10. Focus on your whole person.
Body positivity is not all about how you feel about yourself on the outside. It is about appreciating what your body does for you, which does a lot more than you think. Although February was dedicated to body positivity, it should be celebrated year-round.
5 Strategies to Accept Your Body
1. Make a choice to accept it and set your intention.
2. Practice positive self-talk.
3. Stop comparing your body to others.
4. Show your body you love it.
5. Make the most of body acceptance resources.
What are at least two things you could do to improve your body image?
The Top 8 Ways to Improve Your Body Image
Identify and challenge negatives thoughts.
Recognize the underlying motivation for criticism.
Appreciate your body for what it can do.
Practice focusing on the positive aspects.
Avoid comparison.
Challenge media portrayals.
Identify non-physical traits that you admire.
Surround yourself with body-positive people.
Diving Deeper
As mentioned by Alice Boyes, there are several ways to feel better about yourself and improve your body image.
Mirror Exposure - describe what you see. Both good and bad.
Situation Exposure - list things that frighten you when it comes to body image on a scale from one to 100, with 100 being the worst.
Weigh yourself right - Weigh yourself once a week. Track your emotions in comparison to your weight each week. Tracking shows areas of improvement and identifies emotional imbalance.
Experiment - Eat other foods outside of your normal tastebuds.
Plan - Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and maybe a few snacks in between. Never overeat or undereat.
Self esteem pie chart - Make two pie charts. In one put your current sources of self-esteem and in the other out your ideal sources of self-esteem.
Show Your Support
Sources and Read More
Bulimia and Depression - Gregory Jantz
Positive Body Image - Alice Boyes
"Say goodbye to your inner critic, and take this pledge to be kinder to yourself and others." Oprah Winfrey