Let’s face it. Body image is so much about what you’re telling yourself. If you’ve ever spent a whole day bashing your body, you know exactly what I mean. Instead of letting obsessive thoughts about your body get you down, try replacing negative thoughts quickly with something more rational. I don’t mean a flowery statement that you find hard to believe (like, “I look great,” or “I love my body”). I mean–something rational that you can believe right now.
Here are 22 statements that I have found helpful in turning around your body image thoughts.
- I am choosing not to beat myself up over having body image issues in the first place. That only makes it worse. What I need right now is gentleness with myself.
- I am not loving my body right now, but doesn’t mean that I am unlovable.
- Not loving my body doesn’t mean that the rest of my life is awful–or that I’m awful. Body image is one small part of my life.
- I can endure these difficult thoughts about my body without turning to diets. I can do hard things.
- The weight my body is supposed to be is not determined by my doctor, a number, the BMI scale, a magazine, or anything outside of myself. Only my body knows where it needs to be in order to be optimally healthy. I’ll have to wait and see what my weight wants to do once I have healed my relationship with food. I can’t rush this process.
- I will put my thoughts about my body high up on a shelf just for today so that I can function and bring light into the world. Tomorrow if I feel the need to take them back down I can.
- If I am waiting for someone else to say something about my body to make me feel better, then I am setting myself up to feel bad.
- I can find 3 nice things to say about myself today that I believe right now. (Something simple and believable like “I am strong,” “I like my new haircut,” and “I have always liked my eyes.”)
- I am not all fat, not all ugly. I am some parts gorgeous, some parts neutral, too.
- My body image is part of my life. It’s not my whole life.
- My body does not define my worth as a human being.
- It feels uncomfortable to do things in the world that require me to wear clothes that I don’t feel confident in, like going to the pool in a swimsuit, or walking on a hot day in shorts. I can do these things anyway. Uncomfortable feelings will not kill me. At the end of the day it feels better to have lived life.
- Feeling better about my body is important. But it’s hardly urgent (despite what diet culture would have me believe).
- It is not normal for anyone to feel thin, sexy or beautiful all the time. This is an unrealistic expectation set up by diet culture.
- Being comfortable in my body is nice, but it is not necessary for me to enjoy my life right now. I can find pleasure in lots of things.
- I can find 3 good things about myself each day.
- People love and appreciate me for who I am being, not for the size of my pants.
- People are going to remember me for how I made them feel, not for my body size.
- I can be OK with my imperfections.
- 1/3 of people are going to love me. 1/3 of people are going to hate me. 1/3 of people are going to be completely neutral about me. I can be OK with this.
- The first thing I notice about other people is not their body size. Why would I think that it’s the first thing they notice about me?
- Some days the most effective strategy for body image is just not to look in the mirror and carry on with my day. This is what I choose today.
