What's Your Body Image?

Having high self-esteem means you feel good inside your own skin, flaws and all. Learn how to improve your body image.

By Kelly Williams   Talk to the Author.

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What's Your Body Image?

Are you punishing yourself for being imperfect?

Do you love your body? I can hear you saying, "well...yeah, but my thighs are too big and I have this spare tire and..." No, that isn't loving your body. Having high self-esteem means you feel good inside your own skin and accept your flaws. It is possible to feel good about yourself by changing your body image.

What is Body Image?

• How you feel about how you look
• How you see yourself
• How you think others see you
• How you feel IN your body.

Body image is influenced more by self-esteem than how we actually look. Imagine it like this: I have some jeans that fit me perfectly and, whenever I wear them, my husband says "those aren't very flattering." After I kick him in the shins for saying such a thing, I realize he's right--I have other pants that are more flattering. But, I FEEL like I look good when I put them on and because of that, I don't care how I look to others. I'm convinced it's possible to feel this way all the time, even without the jeans and you can too.

Are You Punishing Yourself?

Talk to people around you and you'll find that most are unhappy with their bodies. They punish themselves for not having the perfect body by:

• denying themselves food
• obsessing about eating or not eating and never enjoying a meal
• obsessing about exercising or not exercising instead of enjoying being active
• following diets that never work (and never will)
• worrying about how they look rather than their health and quality of life

Wouldn't it be nice to love your body so much that you want to take care of it? To exercise and eat right, just because it feels good? Wouldn't it be amazing if you were comfortable in your own skin and didn't give a hoot about what other people think? It sounds impossible, but it isn't and you don't even need a perfect pair of jeans to do it.

 

Improve Your Body Image

Working on your body image is a long-term job. Many of us have spent years comparing ourselves to models and Hollywood stars and we're so used to dogging on ourselves that it's a difficult habit to break. Follow these steps:

1. Stop nitpicking. When you pick your flaws apart with all the intensity of a brain surgeon, you only increase your anxiety at not being perfect. Try to see your body as a whole and concentrate on what you love about yourself.
2. Eat. Food is an inanimate object--it cannot hurt you, it doesn't hate you and it isn't there to make you crazy or fat. Stop looking at food as the enemy--you're the one who decides when, what and how much to eat.
3. Get real. No one is perfect and, unless you're at in a Victoria's Secret photo shoot, you'll notice that perfect bodies are few and far between. The real world is not Hollywood. Revel in your uniqueness.
4. If you can't say anything nice... Think of the negative things you say to yourself each day. Would you say that to your best friend? Your child? Your worst enemy? Then why treat yourself that way?
5. Find the perfect jeans. Okay, so this one's pretty tough. But, you know you have that one outfit you love...try to fill your wardrobe with clothes that make you feel good.
6. Exercise. It's a proven fact that people who exercise have a higher self-esteem. Period.
7. Lighten Up. Are your imperfections so important that they deserve all that attention? Stop taking yourself so seriously because, trust me, no one else is.
8. Take it with a grain of salt. The media shows perfect bodies all the time but that perfection is usually due to lighting, tailored clothes, professional make up artists and airbrushing. It's all a fantasy.
9. Get a life. If you obsess about your body, you probably spend a lot of time talking about it. Here's a thought: that's boring. If you have a well-rounded life, you'll have interesting things to talk about instead of the 2.31 pounds you gained. Your friends will thank you.
10. Get a clue. You only get one body and one life (I assume). Don't treat it like crap because then all you're left with is a crappy little life. When you're 80, do you think you'll care about your thighs? You'll be so glad they still work that you'll thank them--saddlebags and all. Every moment that passes is your life--how do you want to spend those moments?

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