Your Body Image is Impacting Your Health - Here’s How
Many of the ideas and concepts shared in this post are derived from Anushka Rees’s Book, Beyond Beautiful - A Practical Guide to Being Happy, Confident, and YOU in a Looks-Obsessed World.
What is body image?
Your body image is the portion of your overall self-esteem that relates to your appearance. It’s likely influenced by your perceived “body type” such as pear shape, athletic build, etc, as well as the messages you’ve received about your appearance from early childhood and on. Our body image is the mental picture we have of our body and how we perceive it to look. Psychologists believe that body image makes up 1/3 of someone’s self-esteem.
The 3 Components of Body Image
In Beyond Beautiful by Anuschka Rees, she explains the three components of body image according to psychologist Joel Kevin Thompson. They are….
Perception - your mental picture or perception of the way you look
Interpretation - the judgment you make on that picture or perception
Behavior - the action (or inaction) in response to your interpretation
How does your body image impact your health?
You can see in the diagram below that your perception or thoughts will trigger your emotions (or interpretation) and your emotions trigger your behavior. So ultimately, your body image will impact your behaviors. This is how your body image can directly impact your health on both a day to day and long-term basis.
A key point to understand is that each of these components reinforce eachother. A negative body image can ultimately lead to a cycle of self sabotaging behaviors whereas a neutral or positive body image will likely lead to a cycle of behaviors that support a healthier lifestyle. The bad news is that because this is cyclical– it can be tough to break a cycle of negativity. On other hand, if we can focus on improving just one of these factors, the other two will be positively influenced as well.
A Myth about body image:
MYTH: Improving your body image is about learning to L-O-V-E your body
but…
Spontaneously deciding to L-O-V-E everything about our body is unrealistic
Our appearance is not the gateway to happiness
Sometimes, body neutrality or appreciation is a more feasible place to start than body L-O-V-E.
If our goal is to be happy and confident, understanding we are more than our bodies is they key.
You are more than a body.
Thanks to the culture we live in, many of our self worth barometers greatly overvalue our appearance. For many of us, how we feel about our appearance dictates how we show up at work, what clothes we decide to wear, what social events to attend and even how we feel about our worth as a person. It’s totally normal and valid and even important to want to feel good about how you look and feel good in your body. We just want to avoid basing too much of our self esteem on our appearance. What’s wrong with deriving confidence solely from the way you look?
Your body is a living thing and it will change over the course of your life – whether aging, pregnancy, an illness, accident, weight loss or weight gain – your appearance will evolve. Our appearance is volatile and not a steady foundation to build our self-worth on.
You’re not giving yourself credit for all the other reasons that you’re truly valuable – your character, your values, your positive qualities as a human being – all the things that actually matter.
To improve our overall body image, it's important to address all three areas.
Perception:
Debunk the idea that there is just one picture of beauty or one body type that is considered beautiful. Challenge the social norm of "beauty."
Social media - follow a wide variety of bodies and beauty on social media, unfollow bodies and people who trigger you to self-judgment and comparison
Every time you leave the mirror, think of one thing you like about your appearance
Interpretation:
Often our self-talk can tend to be hyperbolic and dramatic. Rephrase your inner judgey voice to be neutral or objective.
Ex: “My thighs are huge” - Neutralize as “I am working on becoming more comfortable with my thights.”
Ex: “I look pregnant!” - Objectify as “My abdomen is bloated today.”
Don’t try to match or one-up your friends when they tell you about their insecurities.
Don’t present your body insecurities as facts – they are feelings.
Behavior:
We all have bad body image days. The goal is not a life without bad body image days – this is unrealistic. The goal is that despite a bad body image day, it doesn’t affect how you take care of yourself.
Negative or critical self talk will likely trigger self-sabotaging behaviors. By neutralizing or objectifying your self talk, you can positively influence your health behaviors.
Unfortunately, transforming our body image won’t happen overnight. But by taking action on these ideas and maintaining awareness of the quality of your thoughts, you can start positively influencing your health TODAY. I also created a free Improving Body Image Worksheet HERE. Once you complete the worksheet, I encourage you to post it up somewhere you can see it and revisit it regularly.