Embracing Body Love This Summer: 8 tips to cultivate self-acceptance and boost your confidence
Summer is here! So, along with longer days and warmer weather, we start getting bombarded with images of heavily photoshopped women, frolicking at the beach in their itsy-bitsy bikinis, promoting 21-day fad diets to get ‘beach body ready’.
This is SO detrimental to our mental health and sets up an expectation for women to quickly change the shape of their body so they can feel acceptable and fit in; this is somehow a measure of belonging and worthiness and it makes me so mad! Having the summer deadline also suggests we need to change our figure in a short time period which can lead a lot of women to look into quick fixes.
Ugh!
As you start putting on your shorts and arm-baring tank tops, remember you only need two things to have a beach body: your body, and a beach! That’s it, that’s all.
BUT it can be hard to remember our worthiness, value and to love ourselves as we are when social media, TV, radio and magazines have bold headlines showing us how to change our body to slim down for summer. We are bombarded with this messaging and it’s hard to ignore!
In my online therapy practice and in-person North Vancouver counselling office, this time of year is typically when clients seek support for weight management, body love and self-esteem. So here are 8 tips to consider as you deflect all that negative messaging and move towards body love!
Focus on non-scale victories
The changes you experience mentally and emotionally can be even more powerful than anything that shifts physically. Studies show higher success rates for women wanting to lose weight when they look to change for lifestyle reasons rather than the numbers on the scale. For example, my client Lisa, focused on cultivating a positive self-image before anything else. Through the practice of self-acceptance and love she was able to achieve her weight and lifestyle goals with ease and celebration along the way. Her new, loving relationship with herself will be something that never fluctuates!
Practice gratitude
Put your attention on what your body can do for you rather than what it looks like or how much it weighs. I’m regularly amazed at how my body has recovered from multiple surgeries and grateful at how it carries me up the mountainous Grouse Grind here in North Vancouver!
Watch your language!
And I don’t mean $*@$! Pay attention to how you talk to yourself. We get enough negative messages and photographic insults from society and social media. It is important that we are kind and compassionate towards ourselves. Be your own cheerleader! If you’re having a hard time with positive self-talk, a therapist can be your cheerleader until you can be that for yourself.
Curate what you consume
Not just food but social media. Stop following accounts that are highly edited and filtered and follow people who show multiple aspects of their life. When you connect with others who are realistic and honest in their journey toward self-acceptance, you will feel less alone and in good company.
Give up the fad diets
I know! The promise of these diets seem irresistible but they promote rapid weight loss that is not sustainable in the long term. Research also shows that as restrictive behaviors with food increase, the obsession with food also increases (as does guilt and shame). Developing a healthier relationship with your body will help you stick to a healthier lifestyle and diet more than fads will.
Bodies come in all shapes and sizes
Media images of bodies are often highly photoshopped and manipulated - they don’t exist in real life. We all have a unique shape and figure. For example, I will never achieve a “thigh gap” (not that I would want to) given my skeletal and muscular structure and that’s okay! Plus I will never lose my phone down the toilet - IYKYK!
Change your mindset
Society needs to change their views but until then you can change your thinking. You can start by shifting negative self-judgements and focus on the strengths of your body.
Try Hypnotherapy
It’s hard to do all these things alone. Try talking to a therapist who will always be on your side! Hypnotherapy in particular has been shown to be extremely effective in tackling the underlying issues contributing to low esteem, worthiness and body image. It can help you identify and resolve emotional triggers and negative thought patterns. By reprogramming your subconscious mind, hypnotherapy helps you develop healthier habits and more positive relationships with food and your body so that you can feel free and empowered to live your best life. Best of all it does so quickly and efficiently and most of the time in just one session!
Body acceptance can be complex depending on our histories and how we understand ourselves by what we look like on the outside. However, we can all move towards a healthier relationship with food and our bodies.
The path can be bumpy and I know that these things are often easier said than done BUT take it one step at a time and you can and will feel at home in your body.
I promise.
If you are ready for change, book a free strategy session and together we will create a plan so that you never feel stuck in your body again.