Seven tips to improve your body image today

During this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week the focus is on body image.  Harriet Frew, Highly Specialised Eating Disorder Counselling Practitioner for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust – who also runs www.rethinkyourbody.co.uk – offers top ways to re-think how you feel about you…

1️⃣ CRITICAL THOUGHTS
We have 60,000 plus thoughts per day and many of these are repetitive. Start to notice, what your body image mantra sounds like. ‘You’re so fat; you’re ugly; you have no self-control?’. I work with people daily who FEEL fat and hateful of their bodies. These comprise people of ALL shapes, weights and sizes. SO PRESS PAUSE ON THESE THOUGHTS. You would never speak to a friend in this way.

2️⃣ MIRRORS
When you look in the mirror, how do you observe your body? Do you zoom in on your perceived imperfections? Or do you view your body as a whole and notice the parts you can be more accepting of? How you observe your body will affect your mood and thinking.

3️⃣ ILLUSION OF PERFECTION
The Internet is crawling with pictures of thin or super-fit bodies. The body has become a construct to be perfected and admired. Photoshop and airbrushing are the norm. No wonder this stuff massively erodes confidence. UNFOLLOW unhelpful and triggering accounts.

4️⃣ COMPARE AND DESPAIR
Do you walk into a room and immediately compare yourself with others? This is a no-win situation. Even if you are a 6ft supermodel, there is always possibly going to be someone younger, prettier and thinner coming along. Work on stopping the comparisons.

5️⃣ REAL BODIES
Take a walk down your local high-street tomorrow and have a genuine stare at the bodies around you. I promise you, very few, if at all, will have your definition of a perfect body. Sometimes we forget what real bodies look like.

6️⃣ ATTRACTIVENESS
Who looks attractive and vibrant? Is it really all about body shape? What other things make someone look appealing and what can you learn from this? Make-up, clothes, posture, confidence – they all play a vital role.

7️⃣ KEEP PERSPECTIVE
Ok, you may dislike your belly. However, for most people reading this, your body is likely to be healthy; full of movement and agility and strength. It can do amazing things. Spending time beating yourself up is a waste of time and stops you fulfilling your true potential. When you look back on your life (at hopefully ninety plus years old!); you are not going to worry about the size of your thigh gap. Work to hold the bigger picture.

There’s more from Harriet Frew on www.rethinkyourbody.co.uk and follow Harriet on Instagram @harriet_frew_therapist