What to do on bad body image days so you can navigate these moments of feeling bad about your body and cope with poor body image
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Having a bad body image day? I’m so sorry!
Here are 20 tips on how you can navigate these moments and take helpful steps to cope.
If this is something you are commonly struggling with, you might find the post on What To Do When Your Body Changes helpful as well.
Quick note: please ask for help if you have eating disorder symptoms. You deserve to get help no matter of how sick you feel, and anyone can have an eating disorder regardless of age, gender, race, body size, socioeconomic status, etc.
20 Tips for Bad Body Image Days
Here are the 20 ideas:
- Validate Your Feelings
- Wear Clothes that Feel Comfortable
- Speak Kindly to Yourself
- Take Care of Your Body
- Find Support
- Nurture Yourself with Nature
- Write It Out
- Don't Compare
- Minimize Social Media
- Skip the Mirror
- Avoid Drastic Measures
- Rewrite the Negative Thoughts
- Thank Your Body
- Practice Breathing Exercises
- Prepare a Meal
- Move Your Body
- Distract Yourself
- List Your Favorite Qualities
- Embrace Your Creative Side
- Aim for Body Acceptance
Be sure to scroll down to read more details about each suggestion.
Why You Have Bad Body Image Days
Feeling bad about your body often comes from the pressure society puts on us, the unrealistic standards of beauty, and the beliefs we absorb about how we should look.
Constant exposure to perfect images in media drives us to comparison and dissatisfaction.
Additionally, past experiences, traumas, and comments from others can contribute to bad body image moments. Hormonal fluctuations, life transitions, and stress also influence your body image.
Luckily, there are steps you can take to help you through your bad body image days...
Here are 20 tips for you to pick and choose from. Some might be more helpful on different days, and some might not apply to you at all. That’s ok!
What to Do First
Validate Your Feelings
Remind yourself that feeling bad about your body is normal and understandable. Validate this uncomfortable feeling; then, you can take steps to cope and feel better.
Unfortunately, we live in a world that stigmatizes anyone with a larger body. So it's understandable when you have negative feelings about your body.
The societal pressure to have the "perfect body" makes it incredibly challenging to accept your body.
Wear Clothes that Feel Comfortable
Wearing comfortable clothes is so helpful in feeling a little less physical distress on bad body image days.
If you are physically uncomfortable, it can exacerbate your negative emotions about your body.
Grab your favorite pair of comfy leggings or whatever comfortable clothing you prefer, and help yourself feel physically comfortable.
If you can't change clothes, try to find a way to alleviate some of the discomfort like removing your shoes, untucking your shirt, etc.
Speak Kindly to Yourself
Negative self-talk is not going to help you feel better; it'll only make you feel worse.
Talk to yourself like you would to a best friend or child that was experiencing this pain.
Self-compassion is really helpful, so I highly recommend checking out this post on self-compassion in eating.
Take Care of Your Body
Take simple steps to care for your body. This doesn't have to be fancy "self-care" you see on social media.
Simply focus on taking care of your body. Brush your teeth, wash your face, make up your bed, eat, etc. It might sound boring, but it's so important to continue to take care of your body even if you don't love the way it looks.
Find Support
A supportive friend or family member can be very helpful on days you're feeling body dissatisfaction.
It's important that you talk to someone who you know has the ability to hold space for your struggles. You might find it helpful to ask for the person to simply listen and support as opposed to giving advice or minimizing how you're feeling.
Nurture Yourself with Nature
Open a window for fresh air, step outside, listen to the birds chirping, or look at a nature scene.
Outdoor air and sunshine can help you feel better. Even if you can’t make it outside, there are still benefits to listening to nature sounds like birds or looking at a nature scene.
Time in nature has been linked to positive mental health like decreased anxiety, rumination, and negative affect, with increased positive affect. And a change of scenery might help stop a poor body image spiral.
Write It Out
Try journaling. Check out these journal prompts that might help you get deeper into your poor body image.
Journal Prompts for Bad Body Image Days
- Describe how you are feeling about your body, physically and mentally. Try to be specific.
- Are these feelings true?
- Is there anything deeper that these feelings are trying to show you?
- Reflect on any instances that led you to feeling negatively about your body today.
- How can you avoid these in the future so it doesn't spiral into a bad body image day?
- List the ways that your negative thoughts are affecting your day.
- Reflect on the impact of negative self-talk on your mental and emotional well-being.
- How can you cultivate a more positive inner dialogue?
What to Avoid on Bad Body Image Days
Don't Compare
A quick way to feel even worse about your body is by comparing yourself to friends, family, celebrities, people on social media, or even a previous version of your own body.
Do your best to avoid situations where you'll compare your body.
Minimize Social Media
Social media often leads to comparison, so try to avoid getting on social media.
Using social media to distract yourself will likely end up making it worse. For example: seeing other people enjoying their life can lead you to feel even worse about yours.
If you do decide to hop on social media, try to make sure you are following diverse accounts that promote positive body image.
Look for accounts that celebrate larger bodies and bodies that look different than yours. Follow people of all shapes, sizes, colors, identities, and abilities.
Skip the Mirror
If your physical appearance is negatively affecting you, don’t spend the entire day looking in the bathroom mirror critiquing your appearance. It won’t help, and it’ll likely worsen your bad body-image day.
Use the mirror as needed to check that you don't have any toothpaste on your upper lip, but try not to stand in front of the mirror for extra time than needed.
Avoid Drastic Measures
Feeling bad about your body can lead you to take drastic measures to change how you look. This likely won't help though.
Remember that body change will not improve poor body image long-term, so please try to avoid trying to lose weight to feel better. Because it ultimately won’t help.
Don't try to drastically cut calories or engage in excessive exercise. They won't help you feel better.
Try not to change your eating habits drastically on a hard body image day. You don’t need weight loss to feel better. Your current body is good enough. No matter how your body looks, your body is always enough.
More Ideas
Rewrite the Negative Thoughts
Similar to the journal prompts above, you can do this with pen and paper or simply in your head.
Start by noticing the negative thoughts you are having about your body.
Next, investigate whether these thoughts are actually true. (HInt: they are usually not true. For example: you are not disgusting for having a larger body. All body sizes are good)
Now, rewrite that thought by saying something like, "I feel like I am disgusting based on my body. However, that's not true. No one is bad or wrong because of their body size. It's understandable that I feel that way, but I am good enough. My body is enough."
Thank Your Body
I know I know. The last thing you want to do is be thankful when you’re having a bad day.
But practicing gratitude has a lot of benefits for physical and mental health.
You don't have to feel thankful for your body; you can simply start by appreciating different body parts (ex: you appreciate your feet for helping you walk around0.
Practice Breathing Exercises
Take some deep breaths, or try a breathwork or meditation practice.
Focusing on your breath can help you get into the present moment and out of the rumination.
Prepare a Meal
No need to cook an elaborate meal but try to eat something.
Whether it's a home-cooked meal or cheese & crackers, your body needs nourishment and energy.
Move Your Body
You can stretch, dance around your house, shake out your feelings, or go outside for a walk. Don’t make this a chore; think of it as a celebration of what your body can do.
Not as punishment but just to get your blood flowing. This can also help increase your energy.
Distract Yourself
Is distraction always a good idea? No. But it definitely has its place in helping you cope. If you are feeling overwhelmed by negative body image thoughts, and you don’t have the capacity or energy to journal, meditate, etc., you can try distracting yourself.
Watch a funny show or movie, start a puzzle, plant a garden, or read a captivating book.
List Your Favorite Qualities
It might be more helpful to do this when you are feeling better about yourself, but having a list of things you like about yourself can help you feel good.
If you have trouble coming up with things, ask your friends what they love about you.
This can be nice to revisit any time you aren't feeling your best or you need extra motivation (like before a presentation or event).
Embrace Your Creative Side
Paint, color, draw, take photos, knit, etc.
Find something that helps you feel creative or lets you express yourself creatively.
Not only will it help you shift your focus onto something more enjoyable, it can also boost your mental health.
For example, some studies show that coloring can help decrease anxiety.
Aim for Body Acceptance
Body positivity is great in theory, but can feel too daunting, especially on bad body image days. No need to pull out the hard-to-believe positive body affirmations if they don’t feel true.
So work on accepting.
It doesn't have to be accepting your body completely. You can start by finding body parts that you accept and moving on from there.
I hope you found these ideas for what to do on bad body image days helpful!
Citations:
*Dias Alves, Manuel et al. “Coloring complex shapes decreases patient anxiety in three care environments: a pilot study with color analysis.” Frontiers in psychology vol. 15 1336202. 21 Feb. 2024, doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1336202
*Bratman GN, Hamilton JP, Hahn KS, Daily GC, Gross JJ. Nature experience reduces rumination and subgenual prefrontal cortex activation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015;112(28):8567-8572. doi:10.1073/pnas.1510459112
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