8 Tips for Better Body Image this Summer
Summertime can be a difficult time to love your body. With tank tops, swimsuits, and shorts comes the revealing of more skin along with body insecurities. Many, if not most people, find that their body image worsens in the summer months.
Some reports suggest that over 90% of women are dissatisfied with their body and resort to dieting in attempt to change their body shape and size. This pursuit of thinness can develop into restrictive dieting and over-exercising that can quickly spiral into disordered eating and eating disorders. Poor body image is also linked to low self-esteem and depression. In other words, disliking your body is sucking the life out of you!
If you’re new here, hello and welcome! My name is Hannah and I am a non-diet dietitian here to help you improve your relationship with your food and finally find food freedom.
What causes poor body image?
There are various factors that contribute to poor body image.
Family and friends that talk poorly about their own body
Weight-related teasing or bullying
Peer pressure to engage in dieting and weight loss efforts
The cultural tendency to compare your body to others
Media promotion of an “ideal” body type
Public health campaigns promoting weight loss
Perfectionist personality traits
8 tips to improve your body image this summer
You were not born disliking your body. This was a learned mindset. The good new is that this means you can un-learn these negative thoughts and rediscover a positive relationship with your body. Here are a few tips to help improve your body image.
Engage in body positive self-talk
When you notice yourself having a negative thought about your body, try to replace it with a positive one. Here’s an example:
Negative thought: “My arms look bigger in this tank top than they did last summer.”
Positive self-talk: “I give my body permission to change. My arms allow me to lift weights, carry my groceries, and play with my nieces and nephews.”
Write out body positive statements and place them on mirrors
The more you are exposed to positive body messaging, the more you will start to believe it. Here are a few you can try:
My body is not a reflection of my worth.
My body is valuable to me and I will treat it as such.
I deserve to be at peace with food and my body.
I am not going to spend any more of my life feeling this way about food and my body.
No matter what my body looks like, I will still be ME.
I forgive myself for always trying to shrink my body and I will do my best to nourish my body today.
Wear clothes that feel good
It is difficult to have positive thoughts about your body when you are wearing clothes that don’t fit right. Get rid of clothes that do not fit or are not comfortable.
Focus on what your body can do
An important piece of body positivity involves respecting what your body is capable of, even if you don’t love the way that it looks. Remind yourself regularly of what your body does for you.
Spend time with supportive people
As able, say “buh-bye” to people that body shame you or others. Choose to spend your precious time with people that are supportive and loving, despite what your body looks like. Your body size shouldn’t be a prerequisite for friendship.
Use social media intentionally
Unfollow accounts that make you feel worse about your body. I have more tips on doing a social media detox here.
Unpack your beliefs about body size
How do you view larger bodies vs. smaller bodies in general? If you view larger bodies as “bad” or “wrong”, it may be time to challenge these beliefs and get curious about why you feel this way. I recommend looking into the Health at Every Size (HAES) movement.
Learn to accept body diversity
It is okay to want to make changes to your body. You have body autonomy and can make any changes that you wish! If you wish to lose weight, that is your prerogative. That said, it is important to remember some strong statistics:
As much as 70% of an individual's weight is dictated by genetics.
95% of people fail on diets, and 60% of them end up gaining more weight than they lost.
Dieting is the number one predictor of weight gain. You may lose weight at first, but then what happens?
There are zero randomized control trials that show sustained weight loss for two years with any diet.
Weight does not equal health. If it did, everyone in a smaller body would be healthy and everyone in a larger body would be unhealthy. You are worthy and deserve love and respect at any size. All bodies are different and that’s a wonderful thing!
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