This isn’t easy to share but none of this ever is. These are 15 things I remind myself on bad body image days/weeks like the one I’m currently in:
1. I don’t see myself the way others see me.
2. The fear of being larger is internalized fatphobia. There is nothing wrong with being in a larger body (even though I recognize that, objectively, I am not one in)
3. My body is a vessel that lets me enjoy everything around me. I do not need to objectify myself and live outside of it. I am a soul and this is my shell.
4. Society has taught me that thinner/fitter is better. This is not something we are born thinking. I need to ACTIVELY work to unlearn it. Happier is better, regardless of size. Click here to read more about Health at Every Size
5. No one else is thinking about my body as much as I am. Period.
6. While my struggles are real and legitimate, not a single person has harassed me or shamed me because of my size. I have thin privilege. Preoccupation with my body makes it harder for me to fight against the oppression of people in larger bodies (or anyone being marginalized). I care and I want to help.
7. This will pass.
8. I want other women to be happy and comfortable in their bodies. I bet they want that for me, too.
9. If I give in to my eating disorder voices and force myself to crash diet or overexercise again, I’ll remember how miserable that life is. I’ll have to start recovery all over again and I’ll be further away from what I really want— which is to just accept myself.
10. It’s ok to feel this way. It’s not my fault. It’s impossible societal standards, diet culture + susceptibility to
11. Body acceptance isn’t believing your body looks good, it’s believing your body IS good. Like how every cell in my body is working as we speak to keep me healthy. That’s incredible.
12. Even at my smallest size, I felt miserable in my body. Probably more so. Weight loss changed nothing.
13. If you have to restrict and overexercise regularly to stay at a certain size, your body wasn’t meant to be that size.
14. Comparison is the thief of joy.
15. What would Lizzo say?