Taking on the task
of learning to love your body more is a big job. With plenty of
outside influences telling us that we aren’t good enough, it takes
real work to tune out the external noise and tune into your own inner
voice. The road to positive body image is not a one-size-fits-all
journey, which makes expected because we are all different in
beautiful ways. And learning to love yourself doesn’t have to be
conquered in a day. If this mental transformation about the way you
see yourself is really going to stick, take your time to increase
body positivity in healthy ways. To learn how to conquer and commit
to a positive self-image, check out these 7 small steps to learn to
love your body.
Treat yourself as
nice as you treat others
The golden rule is
to treat others the way you want to be treated, but likely what no
one ever told you is that you must first treat yourself well. The way
you treat yourself is the way others will treat you, because they
will mimic your own standards.
Don’t buy into
trying to be a certain pant size
One huge way to
improve the way you feel about your body is to get away from
society’s “one-size fits all” beauty standards. One size does
not fit all, and that’s a good thing because every size and shape
is beautiful. So try to gradually stop applying a sliding scale of
good or bad depending on your pant size.
Stop obsessing
over the scale
Let’s face it. It
is a guilty pleasure to look at the scale frequently to gauge how
your weight is fluctuating. But if you are trying to repair your body
image, obsessing over how many pounds you weigh is not healthy. Try
to stop looking at the scale on too regular of a basis. And if this
proves difficult, then toss the scale out all together for now.
Say positive
affirmations in the mirror
Now this may sound
silly, but talking to yourself in the mirror is a simple way to start
changing what your inner voice says to you daily. If you start
training yourself to speak positively when you look in the mirror
every morning, eventually you may internalize that positivity within.
Start with small affirmations and continue to manifest body positive
ideas.
Stop crash
dieting
Crash diets may work
for a short while, but most who use them can attest to the fact that
the results never last. Putting your body through the stress and
agony of crash diets not only sends a mental message to your psyche
that your body is deserving of neglect, it is usually dangerous. If
you want to lose weight, try gradual but consistent changes that will
help you shed weight and also maintain a healthy body and mind.
Don’t compare
yourself to other people
Yes, this is easier
said than done. But it is essential to start the process of embracing
your body. If you are constantly comparing yourself to Instagram
models or celebrities, you will always give yourself an impossible
standard of beauty to attain. This is not to say that these people
are impossibly beautiful, but that many online images we assign as
standards of beauty are heavily photoshopped and filtered. So make
yourself your only competition. If you have to, unfollow a few people
until you can healthily interact with others and not compare
yourself.
Treat yourself to
something special
Whether it’s a spay day, a cup of frozen yogurt or a new dress, give yourself some love. If you are on this road to repairing your body image, chances are you are pretty hard on yourself. Show yourself and your efforts some appreciation and be proud of yourself for how far you’ve come.
