Body image is more than how we see ourselves. It is an ongoing stressor for many of us, and we don’t even realize it because of how subconscious it is. We pick up cues during childhood, from our mothers, our sisters, our culture.
I share often about the connection between nutrition, physical heath, and mental health, and body image falls smack into that mental health category. We need to address the mental and emotional struggles we have with our bodies and our health in order to ultimately heal.
We can eat all the healthy, balanced meals, get enough sunlight, exercise, and sleep. But if we are constantly negatively talking to our bodies, we’re not going to get anywhere. We need to replace and reframe the negative views we have about ourselves with statements that we can grow into and believe.
What goals can we set for ourselves that have nothing to do with our bodies? What positive mantras can we tell ourselves each day?
Once we start to speak truth to ourselves, we can start to BELIEVE that truth. And beliefs direct our actions which lead to outcomes that are sustainable. We can start taking care of ourselves well when we believe we are worthy of it. And when our body believes it can heal itself, it finally will.
This has been a HUGE struggle for me the past few years. I’m still working on this. But I know that I am not alone in this endeavor, so I’m sharing this in the hopes that it can help others heal as well. For more discussion into the mindset and negative thoughts aspect of this, check out my mindset highlight on Instagram.
My Body Image Struggle
For me, the struggle comes from the fact that I am still holding onto ALL the baby weight at 3 years postpartum. Some of it came off, but then it came back. Because I was doing every single stressful thing and zero helpful things for my body. I recognized this and made changes. And yes, I’m now doing everything “right,” but what if it never comes off? Am I not going to live the rest of my life because my body doesn’t conform to what society says it should be 3 years postpartum? Am I going to hate my body for the rest of my life and fight against it because it isn’t what someone else says it should be?
Do we hear how ridiculous that is?
Now I’m not saying it’s easy to reframe my thoughts around this. I honestly didn’t even realize until recently HOW deep rooted this was for me. But I can also look at what my body DID and CAN do now. It grew and nourished a baby. It then ran 13.1 miles at 4 months postpartum. It can back squat over 130 lbs. It can chase my kids around the yard. It can run alongside my daughter as she trains for her cross country meets.
Therapy helped me see that my stress struggles didn’t start when I had kids. I had awful, ongoing, high stress habits LONG before I got pregnant. Which means my body is going to need a lot of time to recover. I can’t expect to treat it like crap for a decade and then have it bounce back in a month or even a year. And even if it finally heals on the inside, what if the number on the scale is the same?
Am I going to wait around to love my body and live my life for YEARS while it heals? Or am I going to be grateful for what it can do for me TODAY?
So many clients come to me because they don’t like the number on the scale. And while I don’t work in weight loss, and I don’t track the number on the scale or inches around the body with clients, I understand the body image struggles rooted underneath.
For me, it’s just being uncomfortable in my body. And THAT is something that is more than nutrition can help with. Even if I head every nutrient imbalance, I could still feel that way. And that’s where our thoughts and our body image come into play.
What if I lose every single extra baby pound? Will I still feel uncomfortable in my body? Probably, if I ONLY focus on the scale.
Weight loss to me is neutral. It shouldn’t have a positive or a negative charge. What matters more is being able to have a healthy mindset and habits around how we fuel our bodies and nourish our days.
If we are implementing all the healthy habits and have a heathy mindset and are eating to optimize our metabolic health and the scale changes and we are happy with that, GREAT. But if it doesn’t, WHY does it matter to us? What about our body image do we need to reframe and replace?
Let’s dig into that.
If this is something you also struggle with, I’d love to chat with you!
