Your body image is how you see yourself when you look in the mirror. People with a poor body image obsess about minor things that they see as imperfect. It really doesn’t matter if you are obese or have perfect health. Body image is the way you see yourself, even if what you see is not reality. Having a negative body image can affect all aspects of your life. Your love life, career, social interactions, etc. It’s important for those who picture themselves in a negative light to work on changing their perspective. Get started doing this by adoption the following 7 powerful strategies to improve your body image.
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7 Strategies To Improve Your Body Image
1 – Keep A Love Me List
If you have a poor body image, then chances are you focus or even obsess about what is wrong with your body. When you do this, it’s difficult to see the great things about yourself and your body. To help with this, it’s good to keep a ‘Love Me List’. Write down a few things that you love about your body or personality. What have you been complimented on before? Do you have beautiful eyes? Do you have great hair or skin? Do you dress nice? Every person has something that they can be proud of. Find yours and write them down. Keep this list with you all day long and make it a habit to look at it when you start thinking negatively about yourself.
2 – Stop Comparing Yourself To Improve Your Body Image
When you compare yourself to others, you are setting yourself up for failure. Improve your body image by focusing on being the best you, instead of trying to be someone else. It’s okay to use other people’s success as motivation and inspiration, but it’s unhealthy and realistic to think you can be exactly like them.
3 – Exercise
If you want to change the way you think about your body, then start exercising. Some things we can’t control, such as genetics. But you do have some control over your health and fitness. If you are unhappy about your weight, guess what? Unless you have a medical condition that says otherwise, you have 100% complete control over how much you weigh. Besides keeping your body in shape, exercise does wonders for your self-esteem and confidence. Try to sweat every day.
4 – Quiet Your Inner Critic To Improve Your Body Image
You know that voice in your head that says you look ugly and fat? Tell it to shut the heck up immediately. When you let that voice overrun your thinking, you will always have a poor body image. There are fit, sexy people today that have an extremely poor body image. Why? Because they never got their inner critic under control. It still tells them they are ugly and fat, even though people like us envy them and their looks. Don’t let this be you. When that negative voice starts talking in your mind, quiet it with positive affirmations. This is an effective strategy to quiet your inner critic and improve your body image.
5 – Clean Your Friends List
Surround yourself with positive friends and family. Get rid of the people who don’t support you. This means in the physical world and on social media. Many people keep friends that body shame them or make them feel inferior in some way. Do you have “friends” like this? If so, it’s time to clean out your friends list. If you do not want to be drastic about it, you can do it gradually. Start spending less and less time with them.
6 – Find Inspiration
There are plenty of success stories out there about people who have overcome a negative body image. Do a search and find a few who inspire you. See how they overcame their issues and started feeling better about themselves. My wife finds inspiration in Ashley Graham and I personally like AlphaM. Both of them are really inspiring. Remember, don’t compare yourself just find inspiration.
7 – Avoid Triggers
Keep track of when you are feeling especially down about your body. Is it when you watch a certain television show? How about when you read a certain magazine or when you see a specific person? Try to identify the things that trigger your negative thoughts towards your body. When you have done this, try to avoid them. If you feel less than stellar after reading Vogue Magazine, for example, avoid it. Until you can start thinking more positively about your body, it’s not a good idea to expose yourself to these things.
Conslusion
Improving your body image takes time and effort. If you have a poor body image at 400 pounds, you’ll probably have a poor body image at 120 pounds as well. It comes from what your mind sees when you look in the mirror. This is what you should work on. The 7 strategies highlighted will help you improve your body image. Make them a part of your everyday life and start feeling better about yourself.
If you could improve your body image, how would your life change? Let me know in the comments below.
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