Body Image

Overview

It is very common for people to struggle with their body image and their relationship to their body. Body image is defined as how you see your body. While it is common to think about body image as the way you think you look, it also encompasses all of your thoughts, feelings, behaviors, assumptions, value, and judgments of your body. Our body image is formed by our life experiences, the messages we have heard from family, friends, school, and our community, cultural standards and ideals, the media and diet culture.

While the definition of beauty is changing, it is still being reinforced that your body is the most important thing about us, and focusing on the appearance of our bodies is the issue. While noticing flaws that society deems as flaws is ok at times, but noticing your body’s resilience, uniqueness, how it feels to be grounded in your body is much healthier. When we only consider and are concerned about our body’s appearance, we are objectifying ourselves and setting ourselves up for failure, because our appearance is inevitably going to change over time. As much as we would like to think otherwise, we can’t change our biology.

These factors make it difficult to develop and/or maintain a healthy body image. If you are experiencing body image distress, talk to someone you trust about it (it’s likely they are experiencing some level of body image distress too!) or talk to a professional, like a counselor or medical professional. While we cannot completely ignore the messages from society, it can be helpful to think about and appreciate all the parts of yourself, with your body being only a small part of you, and to appreciate your body outside of its appearance.

Symptoms

  • Repetitive dieting behavior (e.g. fasting, counting calories/kilojoules, skipping meals, avoidance of certain food groups)
  • Compulsive or excessive exercise patterns (e.g. failure to take regular rest/recovery days, experiencing distress if exercise is not possible)
  • Valuing appearance as essential to self-worth (e.g. the belief that others judge you based only on how you look, and that you cannot be successful, valued or loved if you are not ‘attractive’, ‘fit’, ‘built’ or ‘beautiful’)
  • Checking behaviors (e.g. checking appearance in reflection, measuring body parts, pinching skin)
  • Spending a lot of time on appearance, hair, make-up or clothing
  • Thinking or talking a lot about thinness, muscles or physique
  • Consistent negative talk about themselves and/or people with higher weight
  • Self-surveillance (e.g. monitoring own appearance and attractiveness)
  • Self-objectification (e.g. when people see themselves as objects to be viewed and evaluated based upon appearance)
  • Aspirational social comparison (e.g. comparing themselves, generally negatively, to others they wish to emulate)
  • Body avoidance (e.g. avoiding situations where body image may cause anxiety such as swimming, socializing).

Tips:

  • Focus on your positive qualities, skills and talents, which can help you accept and appreciate your whole self
  • Say positive things to yourself every day
  • Avoid negative self-talk
  • Focus on appreciating and respecting what your body can do, which will help you to feel more positively about it
  • Set positive, health-focused goals rather than weight-related ones, which are more beneficial for your overall wellbeing
  • Avoid comparing yourself to others, accept yourself as a whole and remember that everyone is unique
  • Unfollow or unfriend people on social media who trigger negative body image thoughts and feelings

Resources

Podcasts:

  • Eating Disorder Recovery Podcast by Dr. Janean Anderson: https://coloradotherapyassessment.com/podcast/
  • The Body Image Podcast with Corinne Dobbas, MS, RD
  • Nutrition Matters Podcast
  • Becoming Wise
  • On Being with Krista Tippett
  • Centre for Appearance Research
  • Talking Body with Amy Porterfield
  • The Body Grievers Club
  • She’s All Fat
  • Body Kindness Podcast by Rebecca Scritchfield
  • The Body Love Project by Jessi Haggerty
  • Dietitians Unplugged with Aaron Flores and Glenys Oysten

Books:

  • 52 Ways to Love Your Body by Kimber Simpkins
  • The Body is Not an Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor
  • Eating in the Light of the Moon by Anita Johnston
  • The Body Image Workbook by Thomas F. Cash
  • The Self-Esteem Workbook by Glenn R. Schiraldi
  • Living with your Body & Other Things You Hate by Emily Sandoz & Troy DuFrene
  • More Than a Body by Lindsay Kite, PhD & Lexie Kite, PhD

Instagram:

Websites:

Back to The CAPS Resource Library