Having a Bad Body Image Day? Here's 10 Tips
Written by Isabel Vasquez RD, LDN
Having a bad body image day is normal and doesn’t mean your relationship with your body is doomed. Whether you’re in eating disorder or disordered eating recovery, dealing with decades of body dissatisfaction, or simply a human in this world where it can be so hard to love your body, you are not alone.
Building a better relationship with your body is a journey that takes patience and work. It doesn’t happen overnight. For the days when you’re in a real body image slump, self-care strategies are key.
What to do on bad body image days
Take care of physical discomfort
Oftentimes, bad body image days bring a combination of physical and emotional discomfort, and it’s important to hold space for any discomfort you’re feeling.
If you’re experiencing physical discomfort in your body, what can you do for your here-and-now body to reduce the discomfort? For example, purchase anti-chafing balm (we love this one from Megababe) if you experience chafing. Wear clothes that fit you well. Sit in a comfy chair.
Show yourself that your current body deserves to feel good.
For issues such as digestive discomfort or physical pain, work with a weight-inclusive physical therapist or dietitian to learn what you can do to relieve the pain without needing to center weight.
Tend to emotional discomfort
On bad body image days, a lot of the discomfort is often emotional. We often suppress uncomfortable emotions because, well, they’re uncomfortable! However, if we continue suppressing them we won’t be able to work through it and let the emotions run their course.
There are a myriad of ways you can tend to emotional discomfort (many of which are on this list).
You might try journaling to release your feelings onto paper, give yourself a hug, or put on your favorite feel good music and jam out.
Also, if you go to therapy, this could be a great topic to bring up at your next therapy session.
Consider the triggers
In sitting with your emotions, consider whether there was a trigger that led to the negative thoughts or feelings about your body.
Is there some part of your life that is feeling uncertain?
Are you feeling inadequate in any way?
Did you just experience weight stigma?
Do you have a vacation, wedding, or family gathering coming up that’s sparking fear around comments on your weight or the opportunity to wear more revealing clothing?
If the answer is yes to any of those questions, or you recognize another trigger, this is the perfect opportunity to show yourself compassion!
Sometimes our negative body image days are actually the manifestation of something totally outside of our bodies. Like maybe you had a harder time in a workout class than normal, and you’re taking that out on your body without releasing it.
Whatever the trigger is, it makes sense that you’d experience a rise in body dissatisfaction. Validate your own feelings and know that feelings ebb and flow, so this feeling will probably not last forever. Be kind to yourself while you’re struggling and remind yourself this is temporary.
Wear comfortable clothes
To care for yourself through the discomfort, wearing comfortable clothing is key.
Wear something that makes you feel comfortable, confident, and that fits well. For example, if you experience chafing, try to wear clothing that minimizes that (like long pants instead of short shorts).
If most of your clothing is uncomfortable and you can afford to buy some new clothes, this could be a sign that it’s time to do so.
(However, tough body image days usually aren’t the best day to go through the process of buying new clothes, so you may want to save that trip for another day.)
Do something you enjoy
To get out of your head, try doing something relaxing and immersive! Do something that makes you feel like the best version of yourself or that just chills you out.
Are there activities that captivate you?
What makes you feel most alive and connected to yourself or others?
What makes you feel pampered and comforted?
This would be a good time to try that!
Take a step away from social media
Social media has a lot of benefits and a lot of harms. You may have found people that really uplift you and inspire you on social media, and you may see people on social media who really bring you down or make you feel worse about your body.
If you find that social media has a tendency to bring you down, take a step away from it. Rather than indulge the part of you that may want to search social media for “body goals” or a workout routine to change your body, close the app for the day.
You don’t need to fit the unrealistic beauty standard social media can perpetuate, and if your feed or ads tend to shove those images in your face, being on it will probably only make you feel worse overall.
Use the skill “opposite action”
In Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) there is a skill called Opposite Action, in which we
become aware of the emotion we’re feeling
notice what behavior that emotion is causing us to want to do and
do the opposite to help reduce the discomfort the emotion is causing us.
For example, if you are having a tough body image day maybe an emotion arising for you is sadness. Sadness could cause us to retreat and isolate. So instead, call someone, go out for a walk, or go to your favorite coffee shop.
Dance it out (or do whatever movement you enjoy)
Despite diet culture tying movement to weight loss, movement has so many benefits unrelated to body aesthetics. One of those is that it helps improve various aspects of mental health including self-esteem, and it reduces anxiety, depression and negative mood, per an article in The Primary Care Companion To The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry (CW: stigmatizing language about weight).
So, if you are struggling with your body image, it may help to move your body in a celebratory way. Dance it out to your favorite Lizzo song to combat those negative thoughts. Use a punching bag to release your anger at the negative voice in your head.
Whatever it is that will bring you joy or a release, go for it! And feel the endorphins flow.
Practice acceptance
It can be really hard to accept the uncomfortable emotions. If you’re anything like me, you often want to just bypass the discomfort and move to the part where you feel better in your body.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work that way. We often have to sit in the suck for a bit before we feel better.
Over time, as you continue working towards body acceptance, body respect, or even body love, you may have less and less negative thoughts about your body and less bad body image days. However, when they do happen, it can help to accept what’s going on.
If you push away the feelings or deny them, it will only give them more power and prolong them. If you can accept yourself in the ups and the downs, it can improve your relationship with yourself and your body.
Eat enough
While bad body image days can spark thoughts like “I should start restricting again” or “I knew I shouldn’t have eaten that ice cream last night”, restricting your food will not help in the long-term.
Restricting often leads to irritability, fatigue, and food obsession.
One of the most basic forms of self-care is eating enough. When you’re feeling vulnerable, self-care is key. So push past the discomfort and make sure you feed yourself enough.
Final Thoughts
Tough body image days are normal and don’t mean your relationship with your body is doomed.
Body image is fluid. It can change from day to day. Become okay with sitting through the discomfort, processing it, taking care of yourself, and knowing that it will pass. You got this!
For more support, we offer a 3-part masterclass on intuitive eating to help you improve your relationship with food, your body, and movement.
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