Caring About Being Fit Isn't The Same Thing As Negative Body Image

A lot of the time I am asked about the possible conflict between wanting to exercise and lose weight or look a certain way, versus positive body image and accepting yourself the way you are. This is a tough question and I understand why people ask it! What I say is that there is nothing wrong with wanting to be fit, healthy, and look the way you want to look, as long as you are not hating yourself or not losing the right perspective on where you are along the way. I found this great article that talks about this concept. In the article they say that doing things like covering your freckles, or working out, or getting your hair done a certain way doesn’t mean you necessarily have a negative body image. Instead, healthy body image means you are comfortable with the body you have and it doesn’t mean you think you are perfect but you accept it where it is and are committed to loving and caring for it. I love that description! If you are feeling shame, or you are overly worried about what you think is a body flaw, that is when you are getting into negative self image.

Healthy body image means you are comfortable with the body you have and it doesn’t mean you think you are perfect but you accept it where it is and are committed to loving and caring for it.

The other thing I really liked about this article was that it also talked about something else that is important to body image and that is social media. A lot of the time some of the standards of what is an attractive body is, is just not not something everyone can achieve. You can't make yourself be taller, or grow a bigger chest, or change the shape of your nose, at least without spending a lot of money and taking a risk. So you have to rely on your personal strengths and ignore all these images in the media the best you can.

These messages may be harmful because the standards of physical attractiveness portrayed by the media are sometimes fairly inflexible and may not be attainable by all.

FInally, I loved that the article talked about how cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, is a great method to deal with body image problems. When I interviewed Steven Dalbey, a licensed therapist, we talked about how the "You-Turn" part of my program is a form of cognitive behavioral therapy! This article actually gave an example of how therapists might work with different people in treatment for body image problems.

You can see the article at https://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/issues/body-image.