Dealing With Body Image
Body image is such a common problem that many females and males struggle with, however, it is more common amongst females. The question comes, why? Why is it that so many women struggle with body image and eating disorders in today's society? What exactly is causing women to put an enormous amount of pressure on themselves to reach the "perfect" body image? Many will say...the media...others will say low self-esteem, comparison to other peoples bodies, or simply jealousy. What ever the reason behind negative body image is, it needs to stop because negative body image leads to harmful things down the road, one of them being eating disorders.
In order for one to deal with body image it is important for them to first realize that the body they have is the body they will always have. It can be toned, worked, and shaped to the best of its ability but by no means can it be changed into something else. Also meaning that ones body cannot end up looking like another persons body. In other words, stop comparing your body to the body of other people because, you are not the same person, meaning your body is built differently and operates differently. Everyone is different and that is the beauty of each and every individual.
The second thing that is important for one to realize is that a "good and healthy" body takes work, effort, and time. It does not happen overnight and it is most certainly not easy to achieve. To achieve the body one has always wanted, one must start by putting in all the work necessary to achieve it and understand that it will not be easy. But, the effort, hard work, and dedication certainly pays off.
The third thing to dealing with body image is getting rid of the magazines and avoid looking at bodies of other people ( get off of tumblr and grab a piece of fruit). It's so important that people do not compare themselves to the unrealistic photos that are displayed along the silky papers of high fashion magazines. These images are unreal and have been photoshopped and altered to the point where the person displayed in the photo looks nothing like the person in reality. Now tell me, why would you compare yourself to something unreal?
The fourth thing to dealing with body image is learning to love yourself for who you are and avoid the negative comments that people say and continue to say in regards to your body. A lot of times negative body image occurs do to comments that have been made about ones body either by their closest friends, family members, school kids, or even random people. It's important to dismiss those comments or face them head on and what I mean by facing them is literally facing the person who continues to comment about your body. A person who is overweight knows that he/she is overweight and they do not need the commentary about their weight. In fact that negative commentary leads a person to eating disorders and other severe problems like suicide. Insulting someone about their body is never the answer to motivating someone to lose weight. For the person that is overweight and wanting to lose weight, he/she must love him/herself first in order to do so. Transforming ones body is more mental than it is physical and that is why it's important for one to develop the positive mindset and comfort in their own skin before they begin to transform their physical body.
The fifth thing to dealing with body image is understanding that health comes first. A lot of times we have the "perfect" image of how we want our body to look like, but more often than not that "perfect" body image that we have photographed in our head cannot be achieved healthily. Everyone's body is different as we all know. There are people who build muscle, others who gain weight fast -and everyone is different to which part of the body they gain weight-, and then there are those who are always stick slim. There is also those who are naturally plus size and cannot do anything about it. Developing that positive mindset as mentioned above is key and getting rid of the unrealistic body images in our head. Also, understanding that health comes first, meaning starving oneself and going on extreme diets is never the answer. Eat healthy, balanced, nutritional meals and keep active. The body you achieve by doing so is the body you were meant to have.
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