How To Handle Bad Body Image Days
Bad body image days happens to the best of us.
We wake up one morning not feeling great, look in the mirror and immediately feel like it’s the end of the world.
Statements or questions you may ask yourself are:
“Do I look heavier today?”
“How did I gain this much weight?”
“I am gross”
“I hate my body”
The truth is, most of the time we have not gained weight and nothing about our body has changed, but mentally we don’t feel great. It’s rarely ever a physical feeling like “fat” that causes us to have a bad body image day, but actually the emotional and mental situation going on inside our head that leads to us feeling like it is a bad body image day and taking it out on our body.
So, here is how to handle a bad body image day:
1. Do something that makes you feel good right now. Maybe that is putting on makeup, curling your hair, going for a walk, playing a game… whatever it may be for you, honor it! This helps you feel good in your body and distract you from the emotional feelings you may be going through
2. Remind yourself that these feelings are temporary. You will not feel this way forever and you may even feel better in the next few hours or at least by tomorrow morning. We wouldn’t do something drastic like cut off our hair when we have a bad hair day so don’t do anything drastic today like start a diet.
3. Eat like you normally would. If you enjoy bread with breakfast, then eat bread with breakfast today. There is no reason to start a diet or change your eating habits. If you do so then you are giving the irrational side of your brain the power and we don’t want that! So, nourish your body, honor your cravings and eat like you normally would.
4. Wear clothes that are comfortable! There is no need to force yourself to fit into tight clothes or any clothes that make you feel uncomfortable right now. Even though your body has not changed (as we discussed before), it is important that you take care of yourself and feel good. So, wear those comfortable stretchy pants, a loose fit shirt and feel good.
5. Handle today like you would recommend your daughter to handle a bad body image day. Be the role model for your daughter and don’t start a diet or shame yourself in the mirror. Instead say, “Hi body. I see I am having a mentally challenging day and I am going to accept it right now. I will take care of you like I normally would.” Acknowledge your feelings, accept what is going on and move on.
The point is, bad body image days are challenging, and they emotionally hurt, but remember they are triggered by other things going on in our life. Did you have a fight with your partner, are you having a challenging time parenting, did your mom say something that triggered you? Though this part is challenging, when we can figure out the emotional cause for our bad body image day, we will see how we immediately start to feel better. Remember, it is rarely that something has really changed about our body, but rather something emotional that has happened and is hiding behind a bad body image day.
